132 Ml'. G. R. Wateihouse's Descriptions of 



IX. Descriptions of Scymnus discoideus (Family Coccinel- 

 lidae) and two allied Species, and Description of a new 

 Species o/'.Bryaxis {Fam. Pselaphidse). By G. R. 

 Waterhouse, Esq., F.Z.S., &c. 



[Read March 4th, 1861.] 



Scymnus discoideus, Illiger, Gyll., Mulsant, &c. ; ByrrJais 

 Pin'i of Marsham. 



Sc. ovatus, niger, pilosus ; elytiis crebre subtiliter punctatis, 

 fnlvo-rufis, sutura nigricante ; corpore subtus fortius minus 

 crebre punctato, pectore canaliculate ; antennis, palpis, ])ecli- 

 busque plus minusve nigricantibus ; thoracis angulis anteri- 

 oribus plerumque rufescentibus. 



Sc. discoideus is by nearly all authors said to be a pine-tree 

 insect. I have just examined sixty specimens from various loca- 

 lities, all taken from pine-trees — of thirty-six specimens in my 

 own collection, many are from the neighbourhood of Erith, and two 

 dozen specimens which I examined from Dr. Power's collection 

 are from Weybridge. The insect is said to be very variable in 

 colour, &c., and both Gyllenhal and Mulsant have devoted con- 

 siderable space in their works to the description of these varieties. 

 Among the specimens above alluded to, however, and many 

 others which I have beaten out of pine-trees, I have not met with 

 such varieties ; whilst, on the other hand, I have met with Scymni 

 from other situations, which correspond very closely with the 

 varieties above alluded to. The pine-tree insect, according to 

 my experience, is black, with brick-red elytra ; the suture of the 

 elytra is more or less indistinctly, and narrowly edged with dusky, 

 and not unfrequently the base of the elytra and the outer margin 

 are narrowly edged with dusky or brownish, but in no case well 

 defined, and, on the outer margin, the darker colour is confined 

 to the fore-part of the elytron. The thorax is sometimes entirely 

 black, but generally there is a trace of dull red at the sides, and 

 more especially at the anterior angle. The abdomen also is 

 usually tinted with rufous at the apex. The legs are sometimes 

 black, with pitchy tarsi, but usually the coxae, tibiae and tarsi are 

 more or less rufescent. The chest is always distinctly canalicu- 



