1890.] 291 



The following day I observed a yellowish-white cylindrical body resting on the earth 

 in the box with her ; its length was about 5 mm. and width about 2 mm., with sides 

 parallel and both ends rounded. The day after I was sorry to see that its shell or 

 skin was broken, and eventually it disappeared entirely, and no more like it were 

 seen. Having kept the beetle alive nearly sis weeks altogether, and no further de- 

 velopments occurring, she duly fulfilled her destiny and found a resting place in my 

 collection beside her late companion. I should further say that at the time I tried 

 pretty hard for several weeks to capture further examples without success, and that 

 sugar traps and bottles baited with raw meat and set in the district by the dozen 

 were of no avail. Many of the latter were often found unearthed and broken, 

 turned out as I suspect by dogs, as the place is now very much frequented. I also 

 put the ? alive in a small jar with coarse sample muslin tied over its mouth, and 

 left her for nearly two days and a night near the traps referred to, in the hope that 

 she would prove a lure : the idea was a failure as far as Carabus was concerned, but 

 a nice specimen of Oxypoda spectabilis, which must have entered through the 

 meshes of the muslin, was found in the jar with the female. During the present year 

 I have not searched for the Carabus.— J. H. Keys, 6, Seymour Terrace, Plymouth : 

 November llik, 1899. 



Coleoptera, c^'c, at Mary Tavy, South Devon. — At intervals in August last I 

 spent a good many days at Mary Tavy, Dartmoor, South Devon, and availed myself 

 of the opportunity to work at the Coleoptera of the district. The conditions of 

 climate, however, were quite unfavourable. The season already much behind its 

 time, through the lateness of spring, was made worse by long absence of rain ; whilst 

 the tropical heat which prevailed day after day burnt up the grass, baked the ground, 

 and caused vegetation in general to droop and wither, except under favourable 

 shelter or in wet and boggy places. Needless to say, therefore, beetles, were very 

 scarce, and but few were noticed roaming at large. The only method of successful 

 collecting appeared to be in persistently searching bark. Sphagnum, &c. But perhaps 

 the most disappointing consequence of the conditions in question lay in the extreme 

 immaturity of so many of the species obtained. Of Philonthus niffrita, for example, 

 one or two were hardly tinged with colour, and although carefully brought home 

 alive and tended they made but sorry specimens after all. I was fortunate, however, 

 to secure the following species, not I think previously recorded from Devon, viz. : — 

 Leptusa analis (4) under bark. Of this insect I had previously, in 1893, taken 

 four specimens under bark at Bickleigh. In Canon Fowler's " Brit. Col.," Dean 

 Forest, by Mr. Blatch, is the only English record for the species. Bolitochara 

 lella, Tachinus bipuslulatus, Cryptarcha striyata, Ips 4-yuttata, and Mycetophagus 

 piceus (18), in cossus oak ; Philonthus nigrita, Cytilus varius, and Chrysomela 

 didymata, in Sphagnum ; Homalota divisa (6), in a dead magpie ; Omosita depressa, 

 Necrobia ruJicoUis, rujipes, and violacea, in the remains of a dead cow. The only 

 other species of any interest obtained were — Quedius attenuatus, Cyphon padi, Chce- 

 tarthria semhiulum, and Anisotoma dubia, in Sphagnum ; Gnypeta cceriilea in river 

 moss ; Gymnetron beccabungcB, \ar. veronieeB,hy sweeping ; Thamiaraa cinnamomea 

 and hospita in a cossus tree ; Homalota coriaria, Aphodius subterraneus ; and 

 Phlceocharis subtilissima and Agathidium rotundatum under bark of fir. 



Of Hemiptera the only noteworthy representative taken was Eurygaster maura, 



