62 [March, 



Hah. : Portuguese West Africa : Ochileso (about 250 miles 

 to the interior of Benguella) at about 5000 feet. 



Three males of this remarkable insect were very kindly sent tome 

 for identification by Dr. F. C. Wellman, of Benguella, who forwarded 

 them W'itli the accompanying note :— " My attention was called to 

 them by the fact that the blacks fear them and scramble out of their 

 way in the same manner they avoid scorpions, centipedes, &c. I'hey 

 state that the creature ' bites at both ends ' and is very poisonous." 

 Mr. Wellman adds that he did not personally see any one bitten by 

 one of them.* 



The specimens arrived in alcohol, but even then the contrast 

 between the deep black and the pale testace.ous made them very 

 striking in appearance ; probably when fresh the bleached .testaceous 

 is a bright yellow. Superficially, in size, form and pattern, they 

 resemble some of the larger Asiatic Pygidicrana, but a glance shows 

 the entire absence of even rudiments of any organs of flight. They 

 lack the thick antennae of the KdrscJiiellidce, and do not resemble 

 Bormansia in any respect except their winglessness ; I have therefore 

 felt obliged to erect a new genus for them. 



Koyal Societies' Club : 



February Uh, 1907. 



" Heredity and Sexual Dimorphism in Abraxas grossulariata, var. varleyata :" 

 a correction. — As is obvious from the wording of the note (Ent. Mo. Mag., 

 January, 1907, p. 12), the first word of tlie heading should be " Heredity," not 

 " Hereditary." The word was written rightly in the MS., and was also distinctly 

 corrected in the proof copy, but for some reason the printer insisted on giving the 

 wrong word. — G. T. Poeritt, Huddersfield : February, 1907. 



Onthophilus sulcatus, F., in a mole's next — Since the publication of Dr. Joy's 

 paper on the species of Coleoptera found by him inhabiting the nests of moles (Ent. 

 Mo. Mag., vol. xlii, p. 198) I have investigated some of the numerous nests on the 

 Downs in niv immediate vicinity. The most interesting species I have yet met with 

 (in addition to Heterothops nigra, Kr., and Quedius vexans, Epp., which occur in 

 almost every nest) are Onthophilus sulcatus, F., and Ateochara spadicea, Er. ; of 

 the former seven specimens occurred in the foulest nest I have yet unearthed, and 

 three more in another close by. My experience of Aleochara spadicea, Er., differs 

 from that of Dr. Joy as regards the number of specimens in a nest ; he remarks that 

 he has " never taken more than two in one nest," whereas my tally at present 

 stands 1, 3, 7, 4, 1, and 3. All the nests in this locality appear to be made entirely 

 of grass. — E. C. Bedweii, Coulsdon, Surrey : February 6th, 1907. 



* Cf. Ent. Mo. Mag., vol. xli, p. 223 (1905), as to the dread with which the white inhabitants 

 of the lUawarra district near Sydney, N.S.W., regard the large earwig Anisolabis colosaea, 

 Dohrn.— J. J. W. 



