1913.] 255 



Mr. Morice) caught in the same way, btit ah-eady dead. This orchid is evidently 

 intended to be visited by large and strong insects— the form of the landing-stage 

 formed by the labellum also suggests this — and wo have here an interesting 

 ilUistration of the fate that may await unwelcome visitors to a highly specialised 

 flower. Of course, in this case the plant is not in any way benefited by their 

 retention and death, in fact the reverse is the case. — H. G. Champion, New 

 College, Oxford : October 19th, 1913. 



The range of Phosphuga suhrotundata, Steph.—It is many years since I 

 ventured to express the belief that this beetle, which at that time was considered 

 to be a varietal form of Sil^yha {Phosphuga) atrata, L., was in fact a perfectly 

 distinct species. In Ireland, as all who have collected there know, P. subrotun- 

 data is a generally common species, and I have myself taken it from the Hill of 

 Howth to Westport, and from Killarney to Dundalk. . With other Coleopterists 

 I had almost arrived at the conclusion that here at any rate we had an insect 

 really peculiar to Ireland and to Man, and one that assumedly had arrived at 

 specific differentiation within these Islands, and consequently since Pleistocene 

 times. 



I have, however, now been compelled to finally abandon this assumption. 

 For some time I have possessed a specimen of P. subrotundata taken in Orkney, 

 and I have just seen twomoi'e in the collection of Dr. W. J. Fordham of Bubwith, 

 captured in Islay as recently as July last, all three specimens being as perfectly 

 characteristic as any taken in Ireland. 



Canon Fowler (Col. Brit. Isl., Vol. Ill, p. 53) quotes, but only to dismiss as 

 probably erroneous, a record by Eeitter of this Silpha from Scotland, and in the 

 second part of the " Supplement " (Additional localities, &c.) the authors make 

 themselves responsible for the statement that S. subrotundata " is confined to 

 Ireland and the Isle of Man," but I have now little doubt but that the record 

 of Reitter was quite authentic, and that the range of this beetle in reality 

 closely approximates to that of Carabus clathratus, L. It still remains, however, 

 apparently peculiar to these Islands, and a member of the " Celtic " element in 

 our fauna— for to judge by its obtrusive habits (I have picked up half a dozen 

 in traversing half a mile of road in Co. Clare) and general abundance wherever 

 it is found, it seems improbable that it would have remained unnoticed had it 

 really occurred elsewhere in northern Europe. — W. E. Sharp, Charterlea, Crow- 

 thorne, Berks: October ISth, 1913. 



Coleoptera at Grange-over-Sands. — While waiting for a train at Grange in 

 Morecambe Bay last June, I picked up a few beetles on mudbanks, among which 

 two species are worth recording, viz.: — Blcdius atricapillus. Germ., and 

 Polydrusus chrysomela, 01., as being apparently new to Lancashire, neither being 

 mentioned in Mr. W. E. Sharp's Lancashire and Cheshire list published in 1908. 

 I saw but one specimen of the weevil, but the Bledius was abv^ndant. — 

 F. H. DAT, Carlisle : September 2Uh, 1913. 



