174 [July, 



tion of rotten branches and bark has been more productive. In rotten wood my 

 best take has been Oxylemus variolosiis, Duft. I have taken more Diplocoelux fagi, 

 Giier., under bark, also dcones variegatus, Ilellw., DiphifUux lunatus, F., and 

 Limohiux dissimiUs, Herbst (evidently hibernating). Other captui'es of some 

 interest have been Odacantha melanura, Payk., Ilt/ohates nigricollis, Payk., Mega- 

 cronns inclinanx, F., f^iiiicroui/x Reichel, GyW., and at Baughurst in Hampshire just 

 over the Berksliire border, Bemhidium doris, Panz., B. Clarki, Daws., Corifmbitex 

 te.sxellatux, F., Oodes helopioides,F. Canon Fowler lias kindly confirmed two of my 

 last year's captures, viz., Cri/ptopkagn.t validus, Kr., and Orthoperus mundun, Mattli. 

 I took several .specimens of the latter hibernating under bark last winter, and one 

 specimen by sifting near the same spot two years ago. — Norman H. Joy, Bradfield, 

 near Reading : June 14fh, IDOS. 



Blaps gages, L., in Suffolk.— On April 25th I received fi-om Mr. W. H. Tuck, 

 of Bury St. Edmunds, several examples of Blaptidm, a selection from a batch of 

 some tliirty which he had found in a cellar at his residence in that town. Five 

 were B. mucronata, and two B. similis, but in addition to these there was a 

 far larger insect which I at once recognised as B. gages, L. (^= B. gigns, F.). The 

 specimen is a fine ^ in excellent condition, and when I received it, it was quite 

 fresh, only just killed in fact. In the cellar in question had been stored some apples, 

 potatoes, and sweet chestnuts, which Mr. Tuck had brought with him from his 

 former residence at Tostock. It was while removing these from the cellar that the 

 beetles were found, the solitary specimen of B. gigas being amongst the chestnuts. 



This species has been recorded from the South of France, Greece, Morocco, and 

 Algeria, but apparently not from more northern localities, and one is naturally in- 

 clined to fall back on the theory of foreign importation as explaining its presence 

 in this country. Fowler, in his " British Coleoptera" says " in the late Mr. W. 

 Garney's coUeclion there i.s a specimen which was originally in Mr. Griesbach's 

 collection, and was formerly taken in the south of England, but it is an evident 

 importation." Apparently this must be the specimen referred to in Stephen's 

 " Manual," where he encloses the account of the species in brackets, appending the 

 note that it was said to have been taken at Portsca. This, if the record is reliable, 

 may well have been a direct importation ; but, in the present instance, the distance 

 from the coast (from 20 to 30 miles), combined with the retiring and sluggish habits 

 of the insect, makes such an explanation less satisfactory. One can hardly imagine 

 the beetle travelling that distance on its own account, and its unnoticed transport 

 by liuman agency seems unlikely, considering its size. The cellar in question was 

 a sort of head-quarters of the beetles, for several larva? were present as well. The 

 larva) are something like the ordinary mealworms, only larger and darker. The 

 transport of a larva seems more likely than that of an imago, and I strongly incline 

 to the belief that this particular beetle first saw the light on British soil, in which 

 case the species would have as much right (though perhaps no more) to a place in 

 our fauna, as several of those that already appear in our catalogues. — E. A. Butlkk, 

 53, Tollington Park, N. : Mag 2Srd, 1903. 



A black variety of Carahu.i nemoralis, MiilL, on Dartmoor. — On April 14tli 

 last I captured a specimen of Carabus nemoralis, Midi., pei'fectly black in colour; 



