78 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



intelligence, and the change of colour as apparently produced under 

 passional excitement is always remarkable. When trawling two 

 years ago in Loch Creran I came upon a small bunch of ova about 

 the size of peas and opalescent, that appeared to me to belong to 

 this species. Afterwards, outside Mull, a similar bunch came up 

 attached to the roots of tangle, or rather deposited carefully in the 

 interstices. These were so near maturity that we were able to hatch 

 them out, when their character was clearly proved, the little 

 Cephalopoda showing exact duplicates of their parents. I have not 

 satisfied myself as to their food, for although I have kept them in con- 

 finement they did not seem to accommodate themselves to a restricted 

 area. I should say that this is really the most common Cephalopod 

 on our Western shores, for although Loligo may be more numerous at 

 times, one may fish, trawl, and dredge persistently without ever 

 obtaining a specimen or a sign of its presence. It is of course just 

 possible that, during the season when we procured the greater 

 number of Rossia, there may have been a special influx of this 

 species. It is really impossible to judge from single seasons, as 

 exceptionally favourable conditions occasionally produce remarkable 

 quantities of otherwise comparatively rare forms. But the extremely 

 widely dispersed habitats of the species would point to it as a really 

 common West Coast species. W. ANDERSON SMITH, Ledaig, Oban. 



Saperda eareharias, Z., in Elginshire. On 3d September 

 last, while staying at Cromdale, near Grantown, Strathspey, my son 

 brought me a longicorn beetle which he had captured at rest on an 

 aspen. Being unable to name it satisfactorily, I sent it to Canon 

 Fowler, Lincoln, who has kindly informed me that it is a "small 

 gray male of Saperda carcharias" which he adds is " very variable " 

 and " extremely rare in Scotland." In Murray's " Coleoptera of 

 Scotland," published in 1853, the only locality given for the species 

 is Sutherlandshire. To this Dr. Sharp, after characterising the ins'ect 

 as " very rare," adds Moray (vide " Coleoptera of Scotland," " Scottish 

 Naturalist," v. 375); and Canon Fowler in his recently completed 

 "Coleoptera of the British Islands," merely copies Sharp. WILLIAM 

 EVANS, Edinburgh. 



Monoehammus sutor, Z., in Midlothian. In September 1878, 

 I obtained a longicorn beetle in Colinton Dell, near Edinburgh, 

 which I could not find figured or described in any of the books on 

 British Coleoptera to which I then had access. Not being at the 

 time particularly interested in beetles, I took no further trouble in 

 the matter beyond attaching a label, with locality and date, to the 

 specimen, and placing it in my insect cabinet, where it remained 

 unnamed till October last, when, on Mr. Eagle Clarke's suggestion, 

 I sent it to Mr. C. O. Waterhouse of the British Museum, London, 

 who kindly wrote me as follows : " Your insect is Monoehammus sutor, 

 a reputed British species ; probably the specimens found from time 



