5169915561

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than thc typical form and by ha ving thc mesosternum and last

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abdominal ąuently a little infuscated.

The var. oblitus Sharp, which has not yet been recorded from Poland, is a smali insecl brightly aenescent with the mesosternum and last abdominal segment a elear red but having the punctures of the elylral striae deeply and almost uniformly

segment

t cl us

red. The epipleurs are also fre-

impressed. The median lobe of the aedeagus is very slightly nar-rower than in the typical G. substriatus.

The typical G. substriatus is brightly aenescent and po-lished, without fine punctures on the pronotum and elytra. The mesosternum and last abdominal segment are a elear red and the epipleurs are yellow. It varies considerably in size and shape but is usually rather morę convex and morę rounded

the var, siculus Reg-

O

The varieties may be separated as follows:

1,    (4) Pronotum and elytra with fine puncturation,

2,    (3) LJpper surface duli black, crenulated, with very deeply im

pressed fine punctures; var, schatzmayri Ochs.

3,    (2) Upper surface polished, not crenulated: var, siculus Reg,

4,    (1) Pronotum and elytra without fine puncturation except a few wi-

dely separated smali punctures,

5,    (8) Mesosternum and last abdominal segment red; epipleurs yellow

brightly aenescent,

6,    (7) Size smaller, puncture of elytral striae uniformly and deeply

impressed: var, oblitus Sharp,

7,    (6) Size larger, punctures of elytral striae subdelete, or at least finer,

towards the suture: substriatus.

8,    (5) Mesosternum and last abdominal segment black, epipleurs infus

cated, shining black above; var, fowleri 0,-C,

The majority of the specimens from Poland were finely punctured and some had the fine punctures very well marked and the body rather elongated and slightly morę depressed than in the typical G. subsłriatus. Some of the 9 9 were diffi-cult to distinguish from G. distinctus Aube. These agree well with specimens of the var. siculus from Sicily and also in ha-ving the body darker benealh, the mesosternum being frequently infuscated. A few specimens of typical var, schatzmayri occur-red and numbers of ab. B, an aberration which appears to occur in every species and variety of the European Gyrinus. The typical G. substriatus appears to be absent. Some speci-