LABI A MINOR. 33 



R. S. Bagnall states* that "on Nov. 1, whilst 

 examining a manure-heap in Aswell Park for cole- 

 optera, Professor Beare and myself turned it up in 

 large numbers. I was struck with the peculiar super- 

 ficial resemblance of L. minor to a rather common 

 beetle, Lithocharis ochracea Gr., found with the ear- 

 wig." It is stated that L. minor is frequently attracted 

 to light. 



Writing on 11 March 1916, 0. Whittaker told me 

 that when in camp with his regiment at Exning in 

 Suffolk, not far from Newmarket, L. minor occurred 

 very commonly during October and the end of 

 September 1915, the ground outside his tent often 

 revealing the presence of at least three per square 

 foot. He took two dozen in a couple of minutes one 

 evening as he sat at tea and still there were more. 

 Writing again on 19 May 1916, he said that two days 

 before he was at Bury St. Edmunds and at 5.30 p.m. 

 there were dozens upon dozens of L. minor on the 

 wing. About half-way back to Newmarket the Red 

 Cross car broke down, and he had to wait for an hour 

 by the road-side until another car came. It w^as a 

 beautiful evening, and still more L. minor were to be 



seen. Had he had collecting materials he could have 





 obtained a hundred or two without wasting much 



time. Previous to these two occasions Whittaker had 

 taken only a couple of single examples. My own 

 captures have been single ones also, and probably not 

 a dozen in all. 



DISTRIBUTION.--!}, minor is a native of the Palasarctic 

 Region, and is common throughout Europe. It has 

 been introduced into North America, and is now 

 firmly established there. In Africa it is to be found in 

 Cape Colony, as well as from Somaliland to the Congo. 



p 



BRITISH LOCALITIES. 



ENGLAND. Berks : Aldworth (Tomlin) ; Reading, July 1911, 

 common in garden (Tomlin}; Tubney (Holland).' 'Berwick- 



* ' Ent. Record/ vol. xx, 1908, p. 305. 



3 



