1891.1 207 



in marginatus, whereas in Icevigatus it is often occupied by more or less long yellow 

 markings ; in the latter species the second joint of the antennae ends in a whitish tuft 

 of hairs, of which the longest reach the apex of the club. Both these species have 

 the hinder angles of tlie thorax rather distinctly margined. 



Of iT. ir/<a»» tews, Kuwert, I have already given the description in Ent. Mo. 

 Mag., present volume, p. 133, and need not here repeat it. I have received 

 specimens (named H. sericans) from Mr. Bennett, of Hastings, which are considera- 

 bly darker than the Scotch examples, taken in numbers by Mr. Lennon near 

 Dumfries ; it is possible that H. sericans is not British ; it is a larger insect than 

 H. britannicus, with the markings yellow instead of red. I have not seen a British 

 specimen agreeing with the description. 



H. olsoletus. Curt., is one of our most distinct species, by reason of its rather 

 large size (5 mm.), broad form, coarse punctuation, and small but plain mai-kings. 



n. fuscidus, Kies., is an extremely local species, but occurs abundantly at 

 Luccorabe Chine, Isle of Wight. I sent a specimen to Hcrr Kuwert, taken by 

 myself at this locality, and he named it pulchellus, Kies. ; a specimen, however, taken 

 by Mr. Champion at Sandown, is returned asfusculus, and I believe that both insects 

 belong to one species ; another specimen of Mr. Champion's, from Dr. Power's col- 

 lection, without locality, is returned as pulchellus ; and another (rather larger) from 

 the London district s.sJ'hscuIvs. The former is described as smaller than H.fusculns, 

 and always with plainer and brighter markings, but the difEei-ences seem very slight, 

 and I cannot decide, without further material, whether we have both species in 

 Britain. The characters drawn from the colour of the sides of thorax and of the 

 legs are plainly untrustworthy in these closely allied species ; if the species are 

 really distinct, I am inclined to think that all the Isle of Wight specimens must be 

 referred to pidchelhis, and the single specimen above referred to as belonging to Mr. 

 Champion, from the London district, to fnsculus, and that Herr Kuwert is wrong 

 with regard to the Sandown specimens. 



The above notes are more or less fragmentary, but may serve as a 

 help to any one who has time to collect material and really work tiie 

 genus. I do not know of any other small genus among our Goleoptcra 

 which presents so much difficulty, except perhaps Raltica, on which 

 we may hope some additional light may be thrown by the researches 

 of Mr. Edwards, of Norwich, who is now working at it. 



Lincoln : June, 1891. 



PLUSIA BIMACULATA, STEPHENS. 

 BY II. T. STAINTON, F.R.S. 



The Stephensian specimen of this insect is now in the British 

 Museum. 



"When the Stephensian Library was removed here in 1S53, along 

 with the books came one solitary book-box, containing a number of 



