BOTANICAL NOTES AND NEWS 121 



had caught two in his traps, some distance from water, on Maimes 

 farm last week ; and he said he had never caught any before. Last 

 autumn the artichokes and carrots in my garden were all eaten by 

 some rodent, and I begin to suspect these Water Voles. There can 

 be no doubt that they are spreading to the fields. J. STUART, 

 Chirnside. 



Niptus hololeueus, Fald., in Caithness. On the nth February 

 Mr. Donald Doull sent to the Museum, for identification, several 

 specimens of this beetle, taken in a house at Thurso. So far as I 

 can ascertain, this species has not hitherto been recorded further 

 north than the Moray area, being mentioned for that district by Dr. 

 Sharp in his paper on the Coleoptera of Scotland, " Scottish Natural- 

 ist," vol. iv. (1877-78), p. 322. Its occurrence in the Sutherland 

 area may therefore be of interest. PERCY HALL GRIMSHAW, 

 Museum of Science and Art, Edinburgh. 



BOTANICAL NOTES AND NEWS. 



Orobanehe eruenta, BertoL, " Rar. it. pi.," Dec., iii. 56. = (9. 

 gradlis, Smith, in " Linnrean Trans.," iv. 672. 



For some years I have had in my herbarium a specimen of 

 Orobanehe named " O. elatior" ; the plant, I expect, on which the 

 doubtful record of "Argyll" for O. elatior rests. I merely noted 

 on the sheet "certainly not elatior" ; and so it has been left, until 

 last autumn my friend Mr. Miller kindly sent me specimens of many 

 gatherings of Orobanehe from the Channel Isles. These evidently 

 contained one, or probably two species that had not been reported 

 from these isles, or from Britain proper ; hence I was led to ex- 

 amine and dissect all my doubtful Orobanehe material, with the 

 result that the Argyll one proved to be O. eruenta. 



Until regathered it seems best to merely publish this note to 

 call attention to the plant, leaving for a future time a full account 

 of the species, and only giving such helps as will assist in refunding it. 



It is localised from " near Oban " ; and the date of collection is 

 " 1845, Miss Harvey." 



It grows on Genista tinctoria, Hippocrepis comosa, Lotus cornicu- 

 latus, Lathy r us pratensis, Anthyllis Vulneraria, Ononis arvensis, 

 Hedera Ifelix, etc. 



The occurrence of this species in Scotland may seem somewhat 

 anomalous at first ; but the species of this genus are extremely un- 

 certain in appearing, one year occurring in abundance, the next scarce, 

 and sometimes hardly to be found. 



O. rubra, Sm. (which Solms-Laubach in Herb. Kew makes a 

 variety of O. epithymum, DC., under the name of var. rubiginosa} is 



