5974 



Insects. 



Notes on the British Species of Blaps, By T. J. Bold, Esq. 



It will, without doubt, surprise tnany of our collectors of Coleoptera 

 to be told that neither of our common species of Blaps is the mor- 

 tisaga described by Linneus : such however is the case ; and although 

 Gyllenhal most carefully described it in 1810, yet subsequent authors 

 have so bungled the matter that the synonyms of mortisaga, and our 

 other two species (Chevrolatii and fatidica), are but a tissue of con- 

 fusion. 



Having now before me native examples of the true mortisaga, I 

 will endeavour to point out distinctive characters for it and its con- 

 geners. The synonyms are part of those given in Mulsant's Coleop. 

 de France, Latigenes. 



1. Blaps gigas. Linn.; Steph, Illust., Mand. v. 23; Mulsant, 



Coleop. de France^ Latigenes^ 109, ]. 



The bulk of this rare insect will lead to its immediate recognition. 

 I have not seen a British specimen. 



2. B. mortisaga, lAnn.; GylL Ins. Suec. ii. 595, 1; Mnlsant, 



Coleop. de France^ Latigenes^ 117. 

 Tenebrio mortisagus. Linn. Syst. Nat. ii. 676, 15; Faun. Saec. 

 822. 



Cylindrical, depressed, black: head large, finely punctured, labrura 

 slightly emarginate, ciliated with fulvous hair : clypeus without a me- 

 dian line : thorax convex, finely and distantly punctured ; obsoletely 

 canaliculate ; subquadrate, strongly margined, dilated and rounded 

 anteriorly ; narrowed behind ; hinder angles acute, and having an ob- 

 lique impressed fovea on each side behind : elytra depressed, finely 

 but distantly punctured ; very little broader at the base than the 

 thorax ; sides scarcely dilated, greatest width before the middle, at- 

 tenuated behind, apical processes much developed. Length 9—^11 

 lin. 



Male. — Opaque ; thorax much dilated anteriorly ; elytra narrow, 

 acuminated behind, with the apical processes elongate ; a tuft of red- 

 dish hair between the first and second segments of the abdomen 

 beneath : the legs somew^hat longer in proportion than in the female, 

 and with the hinder tibiae slightly bent. 



Female. — More glossy and less opaque than the male. 



