113 



southern form of Bruchiin mfiinanux or a distinct species. It ma)'' 

 be mentioned that a preliminary examination at the Pathological 

 Laboratory would seem to suggest that rufinianus and the Mediter- 

 ranean species are distinct, but further specimens are still required 

 to settle the point satisfactorily. In general appearance the Medi- 

 terranean insect is larger, more robust, and usually more distinctly 

 marked than B. riifiniaitus, but no constant character is yet avail- 

 able to distinguish them. The characters given in Fowler's " Cole- 

 optera of the British Isle," do not appear to be constant. From the 

 information at present available the Mediterranean form does not 

 appear to be reproduced in England, or ever to be found in English 

 grown seed." 



" Bnichtis obtecti.is. — A species of doubtful origin but now almost 

 cosmopolitan, extending from tropical to temperate regions. Fre- 

 quently introduced into Britain in French bean seed. Existing 

 information seems to show that the insect cannot stand the English 

 winter in the open, though it undoubtedly breeds in seed stores. In 

 its life-history Brnchits obtect us d'lEevs from all indigenous species in 

 the fact that it can breed on dried beans. In America it is a well- 

 known pest, and is there the chief bean-beetle. 



" Ant I 10 nomas cinctiis. — Anthoiimnus ci)ictiis, of Roller, was first 

 recorded as British by Mr. Harwood, in the "Entomologist's 

 Monthly Magazine" for October, 1921, from a specimen he had 

 obtained the previous August in Kent. The insect had, however, 

 in the spring of the same year been bred by Mr. F. R. Petherbridge, 

 of Cambridge, from larvae found by him in Norfolk. These larvae 

 were feeding in the unexpanded truss or leaf buds of apple. In the 

 present year further specimens have been obtained from the Norfolk 

 locality, where the beetle is doing appreciable damage. Anthoiionms 

 cinctus is well known on the Continent, where, however, it is a pest 

 of pears rather than of apples. It is not yet possible, of course, to 

 Bay whether the new species will prove of the same economic im- 

 portance in Great Britain as the Apple Blossom Weevil. It is also 

 difficult to suggest whether the insect is a recent importation or an 

 undetected resident. In this connection it would be of assistance if 

 Coleopterists would be on the look out for the beetle and record any 

 discoveries. The insect appears to be more easily taken in the larval 

 than in the adult stage. 



Mr. Stanley A. Blenkarn exhibited four drawers of British 

 Coleoptera, containing species of BeinhiiUuin and other ground 

 beetles, many species of water-beetles and of Chri/tioineliilai', including 



