10 MANDIBULATA. — COLEOPTERA. 



arcuate, rather obtuse : mentum emarginate anteriorly, the emargination with 

 an acute central lobe. Antenna with the two basal joints naked, the rest 

 pubescent, the fourth longest : head small, ovate : thorax transverse, the sides 

 regularly rounded, as wide posteriorly as anteriorly, the hinder angles pro- 

 minent, acute : elytra rather broad, ovate : body somewhat convex : anterior 

 tarsi of the males with the basal joint dilated. 



Ocys (a MS. name applied by Mr. Kirby to designate the Bem- 

 bidiidse long since) I have restricted to those insects of the family 

 which have the sides of the thorax gradually rounded, as in Tachys 

 and Philochthus, but the hinder angles acute and prominent : the 

 labrum broader, and nearly quadrate : the antennae with the fourth 

 joint longest; the elytra considerably dilated on the sides, and the 

 terminal joints of the external maxillary and labial palpi longer 

 than in those genera. The form of the thorax obviously disunites 

 it from all the following genera, which have that part attenuated 

 posteriorly. 



Sp. 1. currens. Mneo-niger, elytris cyaneis punctato-striatis, striis laterum et 

 apicis evanescentibusy antennis pedibusque rufo-testaceis. (Long. corp. 2 — 2\ 

 lin.) 



Oc. currens.— Kirby, MSS.—Steph. Catal. p. 37. No. 357. 



Brassy, or greenish-blue ; shining : head smooth, with an obscure impression on 

 each side, between the eyes : thorax smooth, greenish-black, with a rather 

 faint longitudinal channel ; the base with a transverse impression, terminating 

 in a moderately-deep foveola : elytra of a rich immaculate blue, or slightly 

 greenish : deeply punctate-striated at the base towards the suture, the striae 

 vanishing before the apex, and the outer ones nearly obliterated ; the two 

 sutural ones, however, are produced to the tip itself, which is sometimes nar- 

 rowly edged with reddish : body beneath pitchy black : legs and antennae 

 testaceous red. 



Not a common insect; generally met with in damp, marshy 

 situations: on the 1st January, 1825, I found three specimens in 

 moss, at the foot of Ockham-park wall, near Ripley. It likewise 

 occurs in Norfolk and Suffolk. " Battersea-fields. r> — Mr. Westwood. 



Sp. 2. melanocephalus. Plate 10. f. 2. Rufo-ferrugineus, capite elytrisque 

 obscurioribus, his plerumque cyaneo-nigris, antennis fulvis, palpis pedibusque 

 pattidis. (Long. corp. 2\ — 2\ lin.) 



Be. melanocephalum. — Leach, MSS. Ocys melanocephalus. — Steph. Catal. p. 37. 

 No. 359. 



Rusty-red, shining, rather convex : head dusky ; faintly rugose anteriorly, and 

 with two moderately impressed sulci in front: thorax somewhat convex, 

 bright ferruginous-red ; with a moderate dorsal channel, and two deeply 

 impressed striolae at the base, towards the centre of the margin : elytra dull 



