134 [June, 



numbers during the present montli. I have not seen any record of this common 

 coast insect from an inland locality, and the present capture therefore is worth 

 noting.— G. C. Champion, Horsell, Woking : Maj/ Vlth, 1900. 



Stylops melittcB, Kirhy, at Woking. — Males of this species have again been seen 

 this year on the wing in my garden, and four captured, on various days between 

 April 24th and May 5th. The weather, however, has been very unfavourable so 

 far, but few mornings having been warm enough for them. Last year specimens 

 were seen in the same spot between May 7th and May 13th. Oddly enough, 

 neither last year nor this, has a Stylopized bee been caught, though many AndrencB 

 have been taken and let loose again. Mr. A. J. Chitty tells me that he also found 

 a S Stylops in his garden at Faversham on May 2nd, the same day that one was 

 captured here. — Id. 



A lituherculate form of Somalota vicina, Steph. — Amongst a batch of some 

 twenty Homaluta vicina, Steph., caught in the spring of 1899, but not examined 

 until December last, I have found four males with a tubercle on the third segment 

 of the hind body, in addition to the usual one on the second segment. This supple- 

 mentary tubercle is quite equal in prominence to that of ordinary examples charac- 

 teristic of the species, whilst the tubercle on the second segment in these specimens 

 is much larger than usual. The beetles were taken in rotting straw which had i)een 

 used as a thatch for a large stock of mangolds for feeding cattle on a dairy farm, and 

 stored out of doors in a sheltered corner of a field. There was also a considerable 

 quantity of damaged mangolds amongst the debris, which added greatly to its 

 attraction for insect life. Mr. Newbery is of opinion that this bituberculate insect 

 should be ranked as a variety ; Mr. Champion, on the other hand, is disposed to 

 regard it as a " very well-developed form " only. Are there any similarly bituber- 

 culate specimens in the collections of other workers at the group which have 

 hitherto passed unnoticed ? — J. H. Keys, (i, Seymour Terrace, Lipson, Plymouth : 

 May Uth, 19C0. 



Stenus opticus, Grav., Sfc, at Flymouth. — A single specimen of Stenus opticus 

 has occurred to me whilst searching a manure heap in a marsh near Plymouth. It 

 is an interesting addition to our local list of Coleoptera, most of the recorded cap- 

 tures being from the fens. The Stenus was probably only wintering in the manure, 

 which I may observe was fairly dry where it was obtained. Three examples of 

 Chlcenius vestitus also came from the same heap. I was much astonished to see 

 them in such a situation. Another rather curious capture this month also is that 

 of Trox scaler, within a mile of Plymouth Guildhall, in a field behind some exten- 

 sive stables. I took a dozen, and might have had many more, if time permitted, by 

 cutting grass around the edges of a manure heap. 1 was told that, within living 

 memory, a dead horse had been interred in the field, and this doubtless accounts for 

 the Trox. I have never seen the beetle alive in the district before, although I think 

 that my friend Mr. J. J. Walker told me he had once taken it at Whit sand Bay.— Id. 



Pyrochroa serraticornis, Scop., in nuntbers in a conservatory. — On April 28th 

 I was visiting some friends at Fclpham, near Bognor, and was told that a red beetle 



