Lewis — On New Zealand Coleoptera. 201 



in a cucumber-frame where woodlice are unpleasantly numer- 

 ous, but they are apparently free from the mite in the frame. 



Some time ago Captain Hutton remarked to me that it 

 would be interesting to know if U. vegetans is indigenous or 

 was introduced with Porcellio. It has only been detected in 

 certain districts within the last few years, which indicates its 

 being an introduced species now rapidly dispersing in New 

 Zealand. The so-called "red-spider" (Tetranychus telarius), 

 so destructive to fruit-trees, is also an introduced mite, common 

 in America, Europe, and Australia. 



The habit of some species of beetles and moths of conceal- 

 ing themselves in damp cool places during the day where the 

 mite inhabits would readily enable the latter to attach itself to 

 its host and become parasitic on many species. The milder 

 climate of New Zealand will unquestionably favour its rapid 

 dispersion and increase, as it has done many other both bane- 

 ful and beneficial species of insects. 



Art. XXI. — Notes on Coleoptera. 

 By J. H. Lewis. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 5th November, 1901.] 



With the exception of moths and butterflies, none of the 

 orders of insects occurring in New Zealand can be considered 

 to be catalogued in even a moderately satisfactory manner. 

 The most extensive order, that of Coleoptera, is in almost as 

 bad a state as any, for although much has been done and a 

 long list of species published, yet the number of coleopterous 

 insects occurring here is so great and the students so few 

 that it will be many generations before all the forms are 

 described. Description, though a dry and tedious process, is 

 a needful preliminary to the elucidation of the problems con- 

 nected with distribution and variation, which are the most 

 attractive portions of the study of natural history. 



As in other orders, so among beetles, the male insect is 

 often different in form from the female. Not sufficient cog- 

 nisance has been taken of this fact, except where the describer 

 of a species has himself been able to study the insects in their 

 homes, or where he has attached some weight to the obser- 

 vations of the field naturalist who has collected for him. 

 Some results of this are evident in Captain Broun 's list, and 

 a few are noted below with other synonyms. The frequent 

 description of identical species in New Zealand and England 



