1899.] 4a 



At tlie same date and place, two Ptocheuusa osseella were netted late in the 

 afternoon, fljing over the stunted down-herbage. 



These moths appear to me very interesting additions to the Surrey list, espec- 

 ially so from their being captured in a locality much collected over by the metropo- 

 litan Lepidopterists. — Benj. A. Bower, Lee : January 10th, 1899. 



Some Carnarvonshii-e Coleopfera. — The results of a few days' collecting 

 in the beginning of August last by my friends Messi's. Brockton Tomlin, Burgess 

 Sopp, and myself, in North Wales, may not be without interest to some of the 

 readers of this Magazine. The scene of our operations was the western side of 

 the Conway valley, between Trefriew and Conway, and was principally confined to 

 the devious course of the river Roe, an inconsiderable stream, which, rising in 

 the high mountains above Aber, falls into tlie Conway near Tal-y-Cafn, a district 

 which, as far as I am aware, is virgin ground to the Coleopterist. The weather at 

 the time of our visit was hardly the most conducive to success, as on days when it 

 did not steadily rain, so violent a gale prevailed that collecting, except in the most 

 sheltered corners, was impossible. The time of year also (the first week in August) 

 is not a period propitious to comprehensive collecting of Coleoptera, so that the list 

 of species we are able to enumerate cannot in any sense be regarded as representative 

 of the district. 



Our collecting naturally divided itself into three spheres : — (1) The high moun- 

 tain slopes and summits above 1500 feet ; (2) The lower course of the mountain 

 streams, and beating and sweeping the vegetation of the lower part of the valley ; 

 (3) The banks of the Conway itself — here a tidal estuary — this part of the col- 

 lecting being chiefly confined to an examination of tidal and flood refuse. 



(1) My experience is that collecting Coleoptera on high mountains is a very 

 poor business after the end of June, and we were not surprised that our list of 

 mountain species was very limited. On these summits we failed to take the desired 

 Carabus glabratus, and found that the commonest Geodephacja under stones were 

 Harpalus latus and Patrobus excavaius. We also took Carabus arvensis, Nebria 

 Oyllenhali, Pterostichus vitreus, Olisthopus rotundatus, Trechus obtusits, Stapjhylimis 

 CcBsareus, Corymbites ceneus, C. quercus, and other common species, noticing the fact 

 that all the specimens of Pterostichus madidus at these high elevations had much 

 redder legs than the ordinary lowland form. In moss and reeds we took Homalota 

 eretnita, Mycetoporus angularis, M. lepidus, Othius myrmecophiln.i, Stenus tempes- 

 tivus, S. similis, S. providus, var. Sogeri, Olophrum piceum, Anthohium torquatum, 

 A. ophthalmicum, Atomaria Hislopi, and Donacia sericea, while in wet moss in 

 water courses Quedius auricomtis was not rare. Stenus Guynemeri occasional, and 

 Myllana brevicornis abundant. Here we also took all the Bi'itish species of Lesteva 

 and a Myllcena which may prove to be M. ininuta. The small peaty pools on the 

 high mountain tops yielded Philhydrus melanocephalus in profusion and Helophorus 

 ceneipennis ; we also took in these pools Hydroporus nigrita, H. morio, H. celafus, 

 H. tristis, H. Oyllenhali, and one specimen of H. obsoletus. Tiie only Agabi and 

 Ilybii seen were of the commonest species. 



(2) Further down the valley, where the stream became larger and its margins 

 exposed little beds of shingle, we found Bembidium tibiale, B. atrocctruleum, Homa- 

 lota currax, H. elongatula, Cryptohypnus dermestoides and C. quadrigidiatus com- 



D 2 



