1916.] 109 



H. ivalkeri is pecxiliarly liable to be covered with a sludge that 

 obscures its characters, and is very difficult to remove ; in some cases 

 this substance eats into the interior of the elytron through the punc- 

 tures and cannot be removed, even by a sharp knife, without destroying 

 the surface of the elytron ; sometimes when dry this forms a glaze on 

 the surface. 



In our own country the species occurs from the North of Scotland 

 to the South of England, and I ex])ect will prove to be a fairly 

 common insect. I have named it in honour of Commander Walker 

 who sent me from Sheppey specimens of it that looked, he thought, 

 different from ordinary aeneijjennis. It has also been found at Epping 

 by Mr. Pool, and stands in the Champion collection fi'om Woking, 

 Guildford, and Christchurch. I have myself found it in various 

 localities in Engkmd and Scotland, and at Brockenhurst it is abundant 

 in the drying-up ditch that I have mentioned as producing H. laticollis 

 and ytenensis, and in which Meghelophoms aqnatiens and aequalis 

 occur together in plenty. 



The females of H. walJceri appear to vary even more than the 

 males, and are consequently difficult of certain identification ; they are 

 as a rule larger than the male, and in some cases become more elong- 

 ate and pointed behind ; and if the punctuation is at the same time 

 more reduced, the resemblance to the large female aeneijiennis is very 

 great. The visibility of the flanks of the elytra is not a very satis- 

 factory distinction, as it varies somewhat in ivalkeri, and occurs to a 

 slight extent in some examples of aeneipennis. 



Although few specimens other than British have come under my 

 observation, and not many of these are with certainty referable to the 

 species, it is necessary to make some remarks about them : 



An example from La Vendee (ex coll. Laferte) has the elytra 

 almost without depression and coloured very much as in the minutus- 

 ajfinis group. As the aedeagus and. epipleura apparently agree with those 

 of H. walker i I have placed it therewith, though the specimen being very 

 old and bad there is doubt about it ; the punctuation too is less coarse 

 than is normal in walkeri. It was mixed with H. iUustris and aenei- 

 pennis in the Laferte collection under the name of H. dorsalis. 



Normandy (Lyons-la-Foret, H. G. Champion), one male has the 

 sculpture of the upper surface finer than in British examples, and the 

 aedeagus narrower. If the Mediterranean examples to be subsequently 

 mentioned, should be considered distinguishable, this might almost go 

 with them. 



