THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



55 



spot at the side margin by a streak of the 

 ■ same colour. It only occurs very spar- 

 • ingly in the fen counties. 



DEMETRIAS. 

 Of this genus we have two British species, 

 both fairly common and generally distri- 

 buted. Atricapillus has the elytra pale with 

 the suture sometimes a little dusky ; monos- 

 tigma has the suture, and a spot before the 

 apex of each elytron black. 



DROMIUS. 

 This is a somewhat difficult genus for a 

 beginner, especially if he obtain some of the 

 smaller species, and as several of these are 

 desiderata with myself, I have to do my 

 best to describe them from other descrip- 

 tions. The genus may be artificially divided 

 into seven groups of species, according to 

 the colour and markings of the elytra. 

 Gr. I.— Elytra entirely yellow : 



Head black, thorax red; length ^ inch. 



D. melanocephalus. 

 Gr, 2. — Elytra yellowish, the suture dark, 

 this colour widening behind to the apex. 

 Head and thorax very long, D. longiceps 

 Gr. 3.— Elytra brownish-yellow, darker at 

 the apex ; head and thorax not long . . 



D. Ii7iearis. 



Gr. 4. — Elytra brown, without light spots, 

 and not darker at the apex. The two 

 species of this group agilis and meridio- 

 nalis (the latter of which Mr. Dawson 

 believed to be a variety of the former), 

 are very difficult to separate. In agilis 

 y the elytra are said to be wider behind 

 ^ and to have impressions on the third 

 ,^ and sixth interstices of the striae ; whilst 

 ^ meridionalis is parallel sided, and has 

 j ^ impressions in the sixth interstice only. 

 ( Cox's HcmdhooTi.) 

 Gr. 5. — Elytra dark brown, with a light spot 

 at the base (not reaching the side mar- 

 4 • gin), and another light spot near the 

 le apex. 



le Posterior light spot involving almost 



the whole of the apex; size 2 J lines .. 



D. quadrimaculatus. 

 Posterior light spot small and round ; 



size to 2 lines D. quadrinotatus. 



Gr. 6. — Elytra yellowish with dark mark- 

 ings, the scutellum and shoulders dark. 



D. quadrisignatus. 

 Gr. 7.— Elytra yellowish, with dark mark- 

 ings, but the shoulders are yelloro 



D. nigriventris, D. vectensis, D. sigma. 

 These species which, I have no doubt, are 

 easily distinguishable when compared to- 

 gether, are difficult to separate on paper ; 

 nigriventris (which is often almost without 

 markings), has the front half of the elytra 

 pale, with a black suture, the hinder half 

 being more or less dark, with a small light 

 spot behind, near the apex; vectensis and 

 sigma have the elytra pale, with a dark 

 toothed band across the middle, the end of 

 this band ceasing at the side margin in 

 sigma whilst in vectensis the band is pro- 

 duced at the sides as far as the apex. All 

 three species are about | inch in length. 



The species of the genus Dromius are 

 found generally beneath bark, on herbage, 

 or at the roots of grass. They vary con- 

 siderably in their distribution : D. longiceps 

 and sigma are principally fen insects : D, 

 vectensis, an insect comparatively new, has 

 occurred only in the Isle of Wight ; D. nig- 

 riventris is found, according to Dawson, in 

 damp places (we take it sparingly under 

 heather in hilly places; ; D. quadrisignatus 

 is not very frequently taken ; whilst J), line- 

 aris, agilis, meridionalis, quadrimaculatus, 

 quadrinotatus, and melanocephalus are com- 

 mon and generally distributed. 



BLECHRUS. 

 The only species of this genus, B. maurus, 

 is easily distinguished from species of the 

 two following genera by its small size (i^ 

 lines), by its entirely black colour, the elytra 

 being nearly smooth, or with very faint 

 traces of strias near the suture. This beetle 

 seems fairly common, but if found on clayey 



