138 [June. 



is spent within funa;us. All the specimens of (snea taken were fully 

 mature, anH amongst them were a few taken from funa;i on yew, 

 aj^reeinff in all respects with cenea, but with the elytra shining black, 

 instead of the usual bluish-green colour. Upon briefly examining 

 one of these holly trees a few days ago (Feb. 5th, 1905) <snea was 

 found in even greater numbers than in the summer, making the 

 fungoid surface beneath the bark one blue glittering mass, and iu 

 a web wherein numbers of cenea had perished, a mutilated example of 

 bicolor was found. Further and more particular search, I am sure, 

 will bring to light bicolor s hibernating quarters. 



One point is quite clear from Prof. Beare's examination of the 

 synonym}'^, i. e., this ])articular species has never before been taken 

 in Great Britain, and therefore it is a genuine addition to the British 

 fauna. 



My sincerest thanks are due to Mr. Holland for having first 

 pointed out this interesting addition to our fauna, and to Prof. 

 Hudson Beare for so kindly and generously supplying me with its 

 literature and history. 



Winlaton-on-Tyne : 



February 8th, 1905. 



Medon castaneus, Grav., near Oxford. — I have recently had the good fortune 

 to meet with two examples of this apparently very rare Staphylinid in the Oxford 

 district. The first was found on April 22nd, under a small stone in a sandy field 

 at Boar's Hill, some three miles from the city ; and a second specimen turned up at 

 Tubney, on the 29th, in a sandpit at the edge of a wood. My friend Mr. W.. 

 Holland has also an unrecoi'ded example of Medon castaneus, which he took in the 

 same sandpit on May 4th, 1902. — James J. Walkee, Aorangi, Lonsdale Road, 

 Summertown, Oxford : May IQth, 1905. 



Hydrohius fitscipes, L., var. xneus, Sol. — Two specimens of this uncommon 

 and handsome variety of an abundant water-beetle have recently come under my 

 notice ; one, a fine purplish-coppery form, being found among the residue of the 

 Coleoptera taken by me in the Isle of Sheppey in August, 1904. The second, 

 bright brassy-green in colour, was taken on May 6th in a small pond near Horsell, 

 Surrey. In the Oxford district the predominant form of H. fuscipes appears to be 

 the variety (?) picicrus, Thoms. — Id. 



Notes on Diptera in the New Forest, 1901. — As regards weather this was a 

 decided improvement on the previous year, and generally speaking a good one for 

 Diptera, but the few collectors I met were all agreed as to the comparative scarcity 

 of many usually common species, to which the heavy and continuous rain of 1903 

 may have been a contributing cause. On the other hand it will be remembered in 



