8610 Insects. 



than the humerus; radius obsolete; cubitus of the usual length; stigma extremely- 

 small. Length of ihe body \\ line[; of the wings 2 lines. 



Tetrastichus decisus, Walker. 

 Fcem. La)te viridis ; antennae nigra?, clavatae, thorace breviores ; thorax ellipticus; 

 abdomen sublanceolatum, thorace longius, segmentorum maiginibus posticis 

 cupreis; femora tibiaeque apice, tibiaeque basi flava; alee limpidae, venis nigris. 



Female. Dark igneous. Head and thorax extremely minutely punctured. Head 

 a little broader than the thorax, slightly impressed between the eyes. Antennae black, 

 subclavate, inserted near the mouth, almost as long as the thorax ; first joint tawny, 

 long, slender; second elongate-cyathiform ; third and fourth exiremely short; fifth 

 and following joints short, successively decreasing in length to the tenth ; club lanceo- 

 late, longer than the ninth and tenth joints. Thorax nearly elliptical. Prothorax 

 very short. Scutum somewhat depressed ; sutures of the parapsides very indistinct. 

 Metathorax greenish, of moderate size, with three slight keels. Abdomen subsessile, 

 elliptical, blackish cupreous, concave above, flat beneath, aeneous-green at the base, 

 acute at the tip, a little longer than the thorax. Legs tawny; coxae aeneous. Wings 

 limpid, with a diffuse indistinct brownish patch behind the ulna; veins brown ; ulna 

 about half the length of the humerus ; radius shorter than the cubitus, and hardly half 

 the length of the ulna. Length of the body \\ line; of the wings 2 lines. — F. W. 



Capture of a Bembidium neiv to the British Fauna in the North of England. — On 

 the 2nd of this month I had the pleasure of capturing three specimens of Bembidium 

 [Tachys] Focbn, Hwmnel, beneath stones on the sea-shore near South Shields. It is an 

 insect of a very peculiar form, with broad, short and convex elytra. Some difficulty was 

 met with in determining its genus, owing to the peculiar shape of the maxillary palpi, 

 which have the second joint very large, and apparently without a minute terminal 

 joint. Mr. Waterhouse, however, with his usual acumen, detected this joint, and 

 furnished me with its specific name. It appears to be nowhere common, but never- 

 theless is very widely distributed, France, Tyrol, Switzerland, South of Europe, 

 Madeira, Caucasus, Algiers and Syria being given as its habitats. — Thomas John 

 Bold ; Angus 1 Court, Bigg Market, Newcastle-on-Tyae, April 23, 1863. 



The British Species of Helophorus. — Some remarks made by Dr. Schaum, during 

 his late visit to England, led me to think some confusion existed in our species of the 

 genus Helophorus, particularly in H. dorsalis; for the species standing as H. dorsalis 

 of Marsham in our collections and those described by Erichson and Mulsant are all 

 three different. When in Paris, in the winter, I took the opportunity of comparing 

 a series of our British species with the rich collections there, and came to the con- 

 clusion that we have eleven species, viz. : — 



1. H. rugosus, Oliv. Common. 



2. H. nubilus, Fabr. Common. 



3. H. intermedins, Muls. This I found not rarely at Liverpool last autumn in 

 brackish water. 



4. H. aquaticus, Linn. Common and very variable in size. 



5. H. dorsalis, Muls. I obtained a fine series of this species at Liverpool. It is 

 readily distinguished from H. granulans by its superior size and crenate striae. 

 H. lapponicus, Thorns., must be very near this species from the description. 



6. H. griseus, Herbst. The largest of the common small Helophori, and recog* 

 nisable by its generally unicolorous elytra. 



