116 Proceedings of the 



a variety of that species. It is well known that carcase-feeding 

 beetles are always more subject to variation than others, owing 

 to the chance of the food of the larvse becoming exhausted before 

 they are full fed. This species may be a starved variety. The 

 particulars however by which it is most readily distinguished 

 are its smaller size, the strongly rounded edges of the thorax 

 innexed towards the base, and perhaps more than any other, the 

 more strongly marked punctuation or rather granulation on the 

 thorax ; but none of these distinctions appear to me sufficient 

 to justify its being kept as a distinct species. As to its size, 

 although it is only about half the size of grandicollis, I have un- 

 doubted specimens of tristis quite as small as it ; and even of 

 grandicollis I have seen a specimen received by M. Kraatz from 

 Thuringia not much larger. The general cut of the thorax is 

 that of tristis, but broader in front. The elytra terminating 

 sharply is a character also shared by tristis. The bluish or purplish 

 bloom on the elytra is perhaps not quite so marked a feature as 

 in tristis, but it is still well developed, and the yellow pubescence 

 on the thorax and along the base of the elytra is the same. The 

 distinction most appreciable is the punctuation or rather granu- 

 lations on the thorax. To the naked eye, or under a weak lens, 

 the thorax looks as if it were more coarsely punctate and of a 

 coarser texture than in tristis. Under a higher magnifying power 

 it assumes the aspect shown in fig. 19, Fig. 19. 



and a comparison of that with fig. 15 

 and fig. 20, exhibiting the marks on the 

 thorax of tristis and neglectus (next spe- 

 cies), will showthat it occupies a medium 

 place between them. This punctuation 

 in rotundicollis however is not always 

 equally coarse, showing gradations to the feebler granulations of 

 tristis. 



It is not a rare variety, and is found under dead birds, &c. 

 both in England and Scotland and all over the Continent. 



15. C. neglectus, Kraatz. 

 Catops neglectus, Kraatz, Stett. Ent. Zeit. xiii. 434. 20. 



Ovatus, nigro-fuscus; antennis obsolete clavatis pedibusque rufo- 

 piceis ; thorace transverso, postice angustiore, variolariter 

 punctata ; elytris apice substriatis. 



Long. \\ lin. 



Shape entirely that of tristis. Antennae obsoletely clavate, 

 reddish brown. The head is black, deeply, densely and distinctly 

 punctate. The thorax is in the middle almost of the breadth 



