ACOCEPHALUS NERVOSUS. 15 



Signoret describes the apical border of the last 

 ventral segment nearly straight, with the angles 

 notched (arrondis), more or less sinuous at the sides, 

 forming as it were two large lobes with a separating 

 notch. He remarks that, by proper attention to the 

 variation in the forms of the sexual organs of the 

 Acocephahdse, we may correlate the sexes, notwith- 

 standing the discrepancies they show as to the straight 

 or convex forms of the sides of their heads. 



In a general manner we may group varieties 

 thus : — 



Frontal bands one on the vertex and one on the 



pronotum. A. transversus, Fabr. 

 Elytra brown, with pale nervures. A. striatellus, 



Fabr. 

 Elytra yellow, and punctured with brown on the 



claval nervures. A. costatus, Panz. 



Mr. Edwards, in August, 1883, discovered in the 

 salt marshes at Wells, Norfolk, a remarkable race of 

 this species, in which the males were pale yellow- 

 brown with a greenish tinge, "finely irrorated with 

 fuscous, "and with the crown decidedly sublunate. The 

 females, however, seem to have been of the normal 

 forms. 



I have received some finely marked and large speci- 

 mens from the Eev. A. Brenan, who captured them. ' 

 These with other species were kindly forwarded to me 

 from Cushenden, County Antrim, Ireland. The vertices 

 of these insects are much extended, even sufficiently 

 so to recall the forms of Eupelix. 



The figures in my plate show the extreme variation 

 in colour, except that some examples are even darker 

 than those shown on fig. 4 of my plate. 



Common everywhere in England, Ireland, Europe, 

 and Algeria. 



Size, with elytra, 0-20 to 0-31 inch, or 5-0 to 8-0 

 millimetres. 



Mr. Douglas possesses a British specimen labelled, 



