NITIDULID^E. 105 



DESCRIPTION. 



Body oblong, flat, ferruginous, resembling greatly, as De Geer has observed, the common bed- 

 bug. Head thickly punctured : prothorax deeply emarginate for the reception of the head, thickly 

 punctured ; lateral margin sloping, reflexed : disk of the elytra with six elevated ridges gradually 

 diminishing in length from the suture outwards ; between the ridges is a double row of punctures, 

 each pair of punctures being connected by a transverse furrow ; outside the discoidal ridges are several 

 irregular rows of punctures ; lateral margin reflexed ; epipleura linear at the apex, gradually dilated 

 at the base. 



Family NITIDULIDJE. Nitidulidans, 



LIII. Genus NITIDULA. Fab. 



(150) 1. Nitidula obscura. (Fabricius.) Obscure Nitidula. 



Nitidula obscura. Fab. Gen. Ins. Mant. 215, 1-2. Syst. Eleuth. i, 348, Gyll. Ins. Suec. i, 221, 9. Illig. Kaf. Preuss. 

 i, 383, 7. Payk. Fn. Suec. i, 349, 3. Oliv. Ent. ii, 12, 5, 3, t. i, /. 3. Herbst. Ins. v, 230, 2, t. liii, /. 2. Thunb. 

 Ins. Suec. 70. Ross. Fn. Etrusc. i, 58, 141. Panz. Ent. Germ. 124, 3. Scbneid. Mag. 510,5. Goeze Eur. Fn. viii 

 295, 3. Marsh. Ent. Brit, i, 130, 3. Walck. Fn. Paris, i, 107, 2. Latr. N. D. D'H. N. xxiii, 9. Steph. Cat. 78, 832.' 



Silpha rufipes. Linn. Syst. Nat. ii, 573, 24. 



Nitidula rufipes. Steph. Illustr. Mandib. iii, 35, 8. 



Dermestes fuscipes. Fourc. Ent. Par. i, 22, 21. 



Length of the body 2|— 2j lines. 



Several specimens taken in Lat. 65°. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Body subdepressed, black, with its lustre obscured by inconspicuous decumbent subcinereous hairs. 

 Head minutely punctured, transversely impressed between the eyes ; occiput elevated ; mouth and 

 stalk of the antennas piceous : prothorax minutely punctured, most visibly at the sides, which are 

 depressed ; lateral margin reflexed ; elytra very obtuse at the apex, they have the appearance of 

 being acuducted which seems to be produced by the pubescence : legs piceous or rufo-piceous. 



The legs in the American specimens, as to colour, appear to agree better with Olivier's term 

 piceis, than with Paykull's and Gyllenhal's ferrugineis, and rufo-ferrugineis ; but the difference is 

 so slight that I have little or no hesitation in giving it as their N. obscura. 



