556 Natural Histort/ in the English Counties : — 



Hel6phorus nubilus Hydrae^na elongata Hydrdbius fuscipes 



Ochthebius pygmae^us testacea orbicularis 



Enicdcerusviridi-ae^neus pulchella bipunctatus 



tristis melanocephala globulus 



Gibsoni Limnebius ater minutus 



obscurus MSS, truncatellus striatulus 



Hydrae^na riparia nigricans new species, 



pusllla 



Hydroporus Davisz? has been so named by Mr. Curtis m 

 honour of Mr. A. H. Davis, a correspondent of yours, who, 

 at p. 86., of your present volume, has a communication which 

 I should not have noticed, if Mr. Davis had confined himself 

 to facts. The insect there mentioned never was in the pos- 

 session of that collector, whose honesty I believe no one has 

 any reason to doubt. The fact is, " the highly respectable 

 gentleman " in question purchased from that collector about 

 400 species of the several orders. These were given to Thomas 

 Gibson, a boy about twelve years of age, to name. At the 

 same time, Thomas Gibson had another box of insects, be- 

 longing to another collector, to name ; and, in referring the 

 insect to my specimens, he, by accident, took the Hydrophilus 

 [? Hydrobius, so in Curtis*s Guide, column 24-3., and in this 

 Magazine, p. 86.] lateralis from one box, and placed it in 

 the other, instead of a specimen of Colymbetes chalcon5tus. 

 A short time after, the Colymbetes was carefully returned to 

 me, when I went without delay to that " highly respectable 



fentleman," and wished him to take his insect, and return the 

 lydrophilus [? Hydrobius] to the owner : the reply was, 

 " No : if I were to give up the insect, you would say you had 

 taken it, and so have the honour of taking a new one." — 

 Samuel Gibson. Hebdenbridge, Yorkshire, Feb. 23. 1832. 



Rarer Plants in the Neighbourhood of Doncaster. — Sir, I 

 have not seen it noticed that the neighbourhood of Doncaster 

 is peculiarly favourable for the study of botany. That a great 

 variety of rare plants should be found within a few miles of 

 this place is not surprising, when the various kinds of soil and 

 situation are taken into account. In addition to above an 

 average proportion of common and second-rate plants, a great 

 variety of the more esteemed ones is found abundantly in 

 certain localities. 



The varieties of soil in the immediate neighbourhood are 

 peat or car earth, limestone, heath and sand land, and the 

 alluvial soil formed on the banks of the river Don, called 

 warp. 



Potteric Car has long been known as a locality of numerous 

 rare plants; but I am not aware that any even tolerably 

 perfect list of such plants has been made public. This car 



