72 
BRITISH BEETLES. 
as belonging to tbe tribe ; tbe members of the latter 
genus delight in salt or semi-saline marshes ; one of 
them, P. luridijoennis, is remarkable for its brilliant 
green head and thorax and testaceous elytra; the 
Patrobi are moderate-sized usually dark insects which 
occur under stones, more especially in hilly or moun- 
tainous districts. 
The Truncatipennes have a constant character in 
their wing-cases not reaching to the end of their 
abdomen, and being cut straight off at the apex. 
Their front tibiae are notched on the inner-side. In 
most of them the ligula and paraglossia are united, 
and the basal joints of the front tarsi are not widened 
in the male ; and in some the first joint of the antenme 
is very elongate. The body is never very convex, but 
usually more or less depressed ; none are very large, 
and most of them small. Their chief habitats are in 
and under reeds, &c., in clay and mud-cracks, under 
bark, and beneath stones and shingle. The type, and 
most elegant of the family, Lebia crux-minor, is very 
rare ; only occasional specimens having been found, 
in different parts of the country, until some numbers 
were taken in moss at Holme Bush, near the Devil’s 
Dyke, Brighton. It is about a quarter of an inch 
long, with the thorax, legs, base of antennae and the 
elytra (which are broad) orange-red, and the head and 
a broad cruciform mark on the wing-cases black 
(Plate I., Fig. 2). 
Another allied species, L. chlorocephala, is not un- 
common about the broom-plant at times ; it is rather 
smaller than crux-minor , and has brilliant blue or 
green elytra and head, the thorax and legs being red. 
