1904.] 5 



LS5(5, |). 052. Mr. Waterhouse was ut" opinion that the insects could 

 not be this sj)efies, because in the description the scutelluui was said 

 to be covered with white pubescence, which was not the case in the 

 insects taken \iite\y in London, and again he could not satisfy himself 

 in regard to the agreement of our insect with another part of the 

 (lescripfion, viz , " quatre dents obtuses, peu sailhintes, les exterieures 

 un peu plus elevees." However, 1 have just heard from Mr. Water- 

 house that Mr. Newbery has found one example with a whitish 

 scutellum, and M. Bedel has seen this and other specimens, and is 

 convinced that they are all P. tecfus, and since he possesses the type^ 

 this settles the matter. It may be stated that M. Reitter and M. Pic 

 both concur in this decision. 



My six specimens, which were exhibited for me by Mr. Champion 

 at the October meeting, were taken in a granary at Strood, belonging 

 to Messrs. Horsnaill and Eeyuold, on May Llth, 1901. The insects 

 were common, running about on empty sacks in a long shed, in which 

 there were stored a great amount of beans in sacks, which 1 under- 

 stood came from the Levant. At the time I mistook them for Niptus 

 crenatus, which they superficially resemble, and they were, owing to 

 my move to Edinburgh (preparations for which were then going on), 

 laid aside and forgotten. 



Quite recently Mr. C. J. C. Pool, of Edmonton, took the species 

 in numbers in a baker's shop in North London, and as he recognised 

 that it was not any insect in our list, he is entitled to the credit of 

 having drawn attention to the occurrence of this introduced beetle. 



Of course the Ptinus is introduced, but as it occurred as far 



back as 1901, and again lately in numbers in two widely separated 



localities, it is probably establishing itself, and is therefore entitled to 



entry into our list under the heading of introduced species.* Many 



of its congeners, such as Nijyfus hololeucus and H. crenatus, and others 



have undoubtedly been introduced by commerce ; they have, however, 



so thoroughly established themselves, that they are now included in our 



list as a matter of course, and it appears to me that Ftinus tectus will 



probably sooner or later share the same position. Mr. "VVaterhouse 



thinks its original home is Tasmania. 



10, Regent Terrace, Edinburgh : 

 December 11 th, 1903. 



[ * As a new List of British Coleoptera is in course of preparation, 1 cannot 

 avoid expressing the hope that no heading of " introduced species " will appear 

 tlierein unless under a time limit. The advisabilitj of this is indicated by our 

 correspondent's concluding remarks. — R. McLaculan.] 



