ANISOTGMIDiE. PHALACRUS. 159 



maxilla with the apex strongly bidentate : Antenna? rather slender, distant 

 at the base, a little elongate, the capitulum oblong, tri-articulate, the terminal 

 joint ovate-conic: head small, triangular: thorax gibbous, with the hinder 

 angles ovate: body hemispheric-ovate, or ovate: elytra entire: legs short, 

 compressed ; tibia short, straight, not spinous ; tarsi slender, the penultimate 

 joint bifid. 



Like Cercyon, and in fact most genera composed of minute species, 

 this genus has been greatly neglected, especially in Britain ; few 

 persons, until lately, troubling themselves with collecting other 

 than a few of the more remarkable or finely coloured species : by the 

 valuable assistance derived from the possession of Mr. Marsham's 

 cabinet, and the authentic specimens contained therein of his and 

 the species named by those justly celebrated entomologists, Messrs. 

 Kirby and Spence, as well as from other specimens discovered by 

 myself, I hope in this as in other genera to introduce many novelties. 

 The Phalacri are usually rather brilliant insects, and are very fre- 

 quently adorned with metallic colours, unlike the other genera of 

 this family : their body is generally very convex, and incapable of 

 being contracted into a ball, as in Agathidium ; the club of the an- 

 tennae is three-jointed, and the penultimate joint of the tarsi bilobed : 

 the species are mostly found in flowers. 



Sp. 1. maritimus. Plate XV. f. 1. Ovatus, nigro-ameus, nitidus, capite 

 Icevissimo lined Jrontali exaratd, elytris profunde punctato-striatis, inter stitiis 

 thoracisque disco vage punctatis. (Long. corp. 1^ — l^lin.) 



Ph. maritimus mihi. — Steph. Catal. p. 67. JVo. 695. 



The largest species of the genus: of a deep brassy-black; head impunctate, 

 with an impressed line down the front: thorax with the anterior angles 

 smooth, the disc thickly and irregularly punctate, the punctures rather deep : 

 elytra rather deeply punctate-striated, the sutural stria oblique and abbreviated, 

 the interstices thickly and deeply punctured, with irregular impressions : body 

 beneath shining black ; breast deeply punctured ; legs, antennae, and palpi 

 deep black. 



The superior bulk and deep jet-black legs, antennae,, and palpi, with the size and 

 depth of the impressions in the thorax and elytra, and the deep excavation 

 in the forehead, well distinguish the species. 



Taken by myself in profusion in June, 1819, at the base of the 

 cliffs between Dover and St. Margaret's Bay : I have never seen it 

 elsewhere. 



Sp. 2. aeneus. Oblongo-ovatus, virescenti-aneus, nitidissimus, posteriics angus- 



tatus, subtus piceis elytris bistriatis. (Long. corp. f — 1 lin.) 

 Ph. aeneus. Pay kul— Steph. Catal. p. 61. No. 696. 



