38 [Pebru:iry, 



are of (ixtciit sufricicnt to ensure that the\' do not disappear until the 

 warm season is well advanced, hi such places these Bemhidiiom may 

 be found in great profusion ; but I have never heard of a single ex- 

 ample being found away from the natural habitat, or at an elevation 

 of less than GOOO feet. 



Although these insects are abundant in their native haunts they 

 are not very well represented in collections, and considerable difference 

 of opinion has been expressed as to the number of species, their 

 characters and synonymy. The last edition of Reitter's Catalogue 

 admits five species, two only of which are supposed to occur in 

 Western Continental Europe ; the others are from the Caucasus, 

 Turkey and Corsica. The species from the last locality is known I 

 believe only by a single example in the late M. Reiche's collection. 

 As regards the two species of Central Europe, B. glaciale and B. 

 pyrenceum, much difference of opinion has prevailed. Ganglbauer 

 admits them as valid. I have never found B. (jJnciale, but B. pyrenceum 

 I have come across in several localities, viz., 8avoy (Albertville), East 

 Pyrenees (Canigou), the Cantabrian Mountains (Reynosa and Picos 

 d'Europa). Notwithstanding this rather wide distribution, T think all 

 the individuals from the localities mentioned are one species ; tliough 

 as T have preserved but a small number of specimens my opinion is 

 not a very strong one. 



B. pyrenceum is recorded by Grraells (Mem. Com. mapa geol. 

 Espaila, 1855, Zool., p. 32) as occurring in Central and Southern 

 Spain, " Pirineos orientales, Cataluiia alta y Andalucia, Granada." 



I found specimens on the edges of the large snow-field on the 

 Pico de Peiialara in the Sierra Guadarrama ; and also on an alpine 

 meadow in the Sierra Nevada at an elevation of about 10,000 feet. 

 These specimens show well marked differences from the more northern 

 insects, and I think should be separated. The Andalusian examples 

 are the most distinct ; the specimens from the Guadarrama apj)roach- 

 ing distinctly to those from the Cantabrian mountains. 



AVe may assume the Sierra Nevada form to be B. monfanum, 

 Rambur. It is 4 — 4| mm. long, of depressed form, with the thorax 

 very much narrowed behind, and the basal constricted portion longer 

 than in any of the other forms ; the elytral punctuation is finer, and 

 almost entirely obliterated at the sides and apex ; the antenna? are 

 more slender than they are in the allied forms. Rambur described B. 

 mofitanum from a single individual found, " dans les montagnes de la 

 Sierra Nevada." His description is very poor, and would not lead 

 one to refer it to an ally of B. ylncinlc, though it contains nothing 

 incompatible with the insect I am discussing. It is placed in the 



