fetid scent when touched. The genus Silpha has been very 
much divided since the days of the immortal Swede, and the 
group as it now stands is characterized by its antennae ; Phos- 
phuga having the 3 terminal joints alone incrassated, and in 
Oiceoptoma the club is abruptly formed. The following are 
British species, which I have thus divided. 
1. Hinder spurs of tibiae simple. 
* Anterior margin of thorax concave . 
1. laevigata Fab. — Oliv. v. 2. No. 11 .pi. l.f. 1. 
May, June, and July, sandy places, Norfolk ; under stones, 
Isle of Portland. 
** Anterior margin of thorax concave or truncated. 
2. quadripunctata Linn. — Don , 2. 56. 2. — Sam.pl. 2 .f 7. — 
Panz. 40. 18. 
May, on oaks, Norfolk, Enborne, Coombe, Darent and 
other woods ; also in putrid animals and under moss in the 
winter. 
3. obscura Linn. — Don. 2. 63. 4. — atrata Herb. 
April, pathways in corn-fields, Sandwich, Norfolk, Suffolk, 
and elsewhere, common until August. 
4. tristis III . — granulata Thunb. — recta Marsh. 
June, Settle, Yorkshire; Carlisle, Mr. Heysham; Parley 
Heath, Mr. Dale ; October, under a stone near the beach, Tor- 
quay, Devon ; Swansea, Mr. Dillwyn. 
5. Griesbachiana, Step. III. 3. 26. 
44 Larger than S. tristis , from which it chiefly differs by the 
abbreviation of the exterior elevated lines on the elytra, and 
the different position of the central one at the apex : it may 
be the S. granulata , Oliv.” 
The specimen in the British Museum was taken by Mr. A. 
Griesbach near Winchester. 
6. nigrita Creut . pi. 2 ,f 20. b. — bicolor Haw. Ent. Trans., p. 
82. var. 
June, common in meadows and roads at Ambleside and in 
various parts of Yorkshire, also at Birmingham. 
7. reticulata Fab . — rugosa Panz. 5. 9. — obscura Herb. — gra- 
nulata Mars. 
June, corn-fields, Epping Forestand the neighbourhood of 
London ; Parley Heath, Mr. Dale ; Crwmlyn burrows, Mr. 
Dillwyn. 
2. One of the hinder spurs bifid, the branch curved. 
8. opaca Linn. — Curt. B. E.pl. 742 S • — tomentosa DeGeer. 
Obs. some specimens of the female are black, probably 
from the pubescence being worn off 
February, roots of trees ; the beautiful specimen figured I 
took out of a dead bird in April, which I found in Suffolk ; 
another on Kersall Moor; May, under stones in sandy places, 
Norfolk, and in flowers of the mountain-ash, Rev. J. Burrell. 
The plant is Arrhenatherum avenaceum , Avena elatior, 
Linn,, Oat-like Soft Grass. 
