44 [fehruary, 



classic district. A sense of recuiTent disappointmeiit at failing to rediscover those 

 most desirable species — recorded in the past froni almost every piece of woodland 

 and every township there — is far more likely to be his portion. Hence any little 

 interest which may attach to the present note will be derived from the record of the 

 Coleopfera taken at odd limes during so dismally abnormal a year as that which we 

 have just experienced, rather than from the locality of their capture. 



The spring and early summer of 1903 were indeed, from a collector's point of 

 view, the very worst in my expeinence. After July, however, an iuiprovement was 

 discernible, and the autumn was distinguished in its finer moments by several 

 unusual captures in more than one Order tliroughout the country, some of which 

 may have been the results of involuntary migration. 



At West Wickham Wood — that favourite collecting gvonnd— Cyrtotriplax 

 bipustulata was not uncommon in boletus on stumps in June, and in rotten wood 

 Syntomiitm feneiim and Bolitochara lucida frequent. Bythinus curtisi occurred in 

 the same place, and in dead leaves a single specimen of the rather uncommon Homa- 

 lota silvicola. Under heather in April Acalles jjtinoides and Csenopsis tvatloni 

 were not rare, but the only species obtained by beating and sweeping worth notice 

 were Cryptocephalus punctiger and Atactogenus exaratus. 



At Shirley the best capture was Cwnopsis fissirostris among damp and rotten 

 twigs, Euplectvs piceus, Mycetoporus clavicornis, and Hahrocerus capiUaricornis 

 occurring in the same situation, and in moss a single specimen of Coeliodes exiguus. 



Sweeping among the herbage on the chalk downs of Sanderstead produced 

 single specimens of Thalycra sericea and Ccenocara bovistce, several Colenis dentipes, 

 Phullodecta cavifrons, Rhinoncus denticollis, Oalerucella viburni, and Longitarsus 

 ballotee ; here also in September a single example of Ceuthorrhynchidius frontalis 

 was swept, a singular locality for this usually littoral species. Agathidium Ixvigatum 

 occurred under bark, and Fsylliodes dulcamara; by beating its food-plant. 



At Woldingham in June Malthinus fasciaius and M. balteatus, Malthodes 

 Jibulatus and M. pellucidus, and Apion flavimanum were taken. Longitarsus exo- 

 letus and Meligethes murinus were very abundant on Echium, but Ceuthorrhynchus 

 echii very rare. 



I was able to pay but one visit to Box Hill, a very tempestuous day in August, 

 when the sweeping net was useless. In moss on the hill side Chrysomela gaettin- 

 gensis was not uncommon, but very local, and I was pleased to secure a specimen of 

 the iorm oi JSarpalus ^a^w* with steel-blue elytra, the var. metallescens of Rye. 

 Under hedge trimmings in the road Licinus depressus and Ocypus compressus oc- 

 curred, the latter very plentifully. A visit to Mitcham Common resulted in Poly- 

 drusus confluens, beaten from furze. — Id. 



ICHNEUMONOLOGIA BrITANNICA : THE ICHNEUMONS OF GbEAT BEITAIN. 



IcHNEUMOHiN^ : by Claude Moeley, F.E.S. 366 pp., extra demy 8vo, cloth. 

 Plymouth : J. H. Keys. 



A book like this could only be adequately reviewed by an all-round entomologist 

 who was also a specialist in the group of which it treats. I can speak of it only as 



