56 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



ground which is full of cracks, and with the 

 sun shining upon it, as I first made its 

 acquaintance, the collector will well deserve 

 all he bottles. 



LIONYCHUS. 



The single British species, L. qnadrillum, 

 has the head and thorax black, the latter 

 having a very small, but acute tooth near 

 each posterior angle ; elytra nearly square, 

 black, with a round light spot at each 

 shoulder, and another (often indistinct or 

 wanting) near the apex of each elytron ; 

 the interstices between the striae have a 

 row of distinct punctures. This species 

 appears to be common where it does occur, 

 but very local. 



METABLETUS. 



The peculiar obliquely narrowed thorax 

 in this genus is sufficient to distinguish it 

 from any other of the Lebiidce, but this has 

 to be seen to be understood as its appear- 

 ance cannot well be described on paper 

 without a diagaram. We have three British 

 species : 



M. truncatellus has the body perfectly 

 black and the elytra without any depor.ssions ; 

 the base of the antennae and the tibiae are 

 pitchy. 



M. ohscuro-guttatus and M foveola are 

 bronze or bronze-brown, the elytra with two 

 distinct depressions in the 3rd interstice 

 {i.e between the 2nd and 3rd striae), but 

 the former has a light spot at the shoulder, 

 and sometimes another at the apex of each 

 elytron, while the latter is unicolorous, and 

 with the two depressions very distinct. 

 M. obscuro-guttatus occurs only sparingly, 

 but several localities have been recorded ; 

 M. foveola is very common everyw4iere. 

 About Liverpool it is very common 

 among the dead sallow leaves on our Sand- 

 hills. 



LEBIA. 



I. Elytra blue or green. Antennae black, 



with only the basal joint red , . 



L. cyanocepliala. 

 Antennae black, with the ist, 2nd, and 

 part of third joints red . . L.chlorocephala 



2. Elytra black, with a large red spot at the 



shoulder L. turcica, 



3. Elytra red, with a transverse band reach- 



ing across the middle and extended to 

 the scutellum forwards and to the apex 

 backwards, black, thus forming a dis- 

 tinct black cross on a pale red ground. 



L crux-minor. 



Of these species L turcica is questionably 

 British ; L. crux-minor is very rare indeed ; 

 L. cyanocephala is very local ; and L cMoroce- 

 pTiala is common in many places. These 

 beetles seem to have a partiality for the 

 roots of gorse and broom. 



CYMINDIS. 

 Thorax red ; elytra black, with a yellow 

 spot at the shoulder, and yellow side 



margins C. axillaris 



Thorax and elytra brown, the latter rather 

 lighter towards the base 



C. vaporarium. 



MASOREUS. 



The only British species, M. Wetterhalli, 

 bears very little general resemblance to the 

 other Lebiidce ; its elytra are only very 

 slightly truncate behind, and are only a little 

 shorter than the abdomen. The head and 

 thorax are pitchy red, the latter being very 

 short, and nearly twice as broad as long ; j 

 the elytra are yellow red at the base, but 

 pitchy red on the hinder three-fourths ; the 

 antennae and legs are reddish, the anterior 

 tibiae, as described above, being furnished 

 with strong spines. Its length is slightly 

 under ^ inch. This species, which Mr. Daw- 

 son, in his " Geodephaga Britannica," 

 classes along with Harpalus, is local, Mr. 

 Dawson's localities being the Chesil bank, 

 near Weymouth ; the Deal Sandhills ; and 

 near Sheerness. 



