92 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



THE COLOUR OF HUITFELDTIA RECTIPES 



SIG THOR. 



By William Williamson, F.R.S.E. 



Hnitfeldtia rectipes Sig Thor, was first recorded from 

 Norway, and afterwards from the Orkney Islands. Now 

 it has been found in the north of England. The earlier 

 records were from preserved material, so that no definite 

 statement could be made as to the colours. This lack has 

 been supplied by the English specimens. Mr C. D. Soar 

 writes me that the colour is an orange-brown with brown 

 markings. In the centre of the dorsum the colour is slightly 

 lighter in tone, without any trace of the T-shaped figure 

 indicating the Malpighian vessel, which is usuall}- so con- 

 spicuous in the closely allied genus Fiona. 



79 Morningside Drive, Edinburgh. 



Hylastes cuuicularius, Er., in Peeblesshire. — On 7th 



October 191 5, while collecting Hylastes ater on newly planted 

 larch trees at Eddleston, Peeblesshire, I found, feeding side by side 

 with them, a solitary specimen of H. cunicularius. I have since 

 revisited the locality and examined numerous young conifers 

 attacked by Hylastes^ and also Scots pine stumps in which they 

 were breeding, but while H. ater was common, I found no more 

 cunicularins. So far as I am aware, the last record of H. cuniciilarius 

 in Scotland is that of Professor Beare from Innerleithen. Three 

 species of Hylastes occur in Scotland — H. ater, H CKnicnlarins, and 

 H. palliatiis. All three may, it is highly probable, occur together; 

 certainly I have found H. ater in company with each of the others. 

 H. palliatus is easily recognised by its smaller size and the stunted, 

 pear-shaped prothorax. H. ater and H. ainicularuis, on the other 

 hand, closely resemble one another. The best characters for 

 identification are the configuration of the prothorax and the breadth 

 of the elytra. In // ater the sides of the thorax are sub-parallel. 

 In cunicularius the sides are obviously rounded and the punctures 

 coarser (granulate). In H. ater the elytra are long and narrow, in 

 cunicularius they are distinctly broader and proportionately shorter. 

 — James W. Munro, Edinburgh. 



