NOTES ON SOME COLEOPTERA FROM FAIR ISLE Si 



NOTES ON SOME COLEOPTERA FROM 

 FAIR ISLE. 



By Prof. T. HUDSON BEARE, B.A. B.Sc. 



DURING his stay on Fair Isle in the autumn of 1905, for 

 the purpose of studying bird migration, Mr. W. Eagle 

 Clarke collected Coleoptera, and I have now had the 

 opportunity of going through this interesting collection in 

 order that I might name the captures. 



Fair Isle was described by Mr. Clarke in the last 

 number of " The Annals," so that no further remarks on its 

 physical features and geographical position are necessary. 



I give a complete list of all the species in the collection, 

 with some notes as to their general distribution in Great 

 Britain. The numbers in brackets after the specific names 

 indicate the number of specimens of the species in the 

 collection, and therefore give some indication as to the 

 relative abundance of the different species on the island. 

 It will be noticed that, with one exception, the species 

 found by Mr. Clarke are common throughout the entire 

 kingdom, being quite as abundant in the South as in the 

 North. The one species, which is a subalpine form, viz., 

 Otiorkynchus blandus, Gyll., appears to be quite common all 

 over Scotland, especially near the coast. I have taken it 

 in plenty on the island of Inchkeith. 



As perhaps might be expected, practically all the 

 species in the collection are dark coloured, mostly quite 

 black, and there is a distinct tendency for the specimens to 

 be rather smaller than the ordinary forms which occur on 

 the mainland. This is especially noticeable with the four 

 examples of Chrysomela staphylea, L. ; the specimens of this 

 species in the collection are also somewhat dull and not so 

 glossy as specimens which occur on the mainland. 



There is one other point to which it is worth drawing 

 attention, and that is the very large number of specimens 

 of the big Staphylinid Ocypus olens, Mull. In my experience 

 this is by no means a very abundant beetle in Scotland, 

 and it is therefore very interesting to find it occurring on 

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