160 [July, 



Subsequently hearing from Mr. Sharp tliat V. Bedel had proiioutieetl it A. 



anthobia, I set to work to collect fresh specimens, both of A. aiithobia and A.fami- 



liaris for comparison, and, as no Geodephaga were as yet moving in these parts, I 



resolved to dig for them in tlie spot in which I had last seen them in the previous 



autumn. I came upon the two species at once, and my diary shows the following 



entries of the occurrence oi A. anthobia with yainiliar is ; it also contains other 



entries oi familiarls occurring in large numbers without anthobia, which I need 



not record. 



A. anthobia. A.familiaris. 



Sept. 3rd & 5th, 1904 18 15 



March 20th, 1905 32 65 



;, 2l8t 67 42 



„ 22nd 71 (within a space of 3 yards square)... 63 



„ 23rd 35 32 



„ 31st 21 30 



April 3rd 21 50 



„ 15th 2 15 



May 5th 2 2 



269 314 



All these occurred in one place within 100 yards, and the majority within 30 

 yards of each other. Besides these I have made three other isolated captures in 

 difEerent directions with some considerable labour of search ; the latest of these, 

 May I7th, occurring among 92 familiaris. 



I note that A.familiaris and A. anthobia thrive together in the above mentioned 

 spot, far outnumbering other Amaras taken with them, including A. apricaria, 

 Sturm, A. consularis, Duft., A. similata, Gryll., A. tibialis, Payk., and A. trivialis, 

 Gryll. A. fulva, De G., and A. bifrons, Gyll., which I took close by, did not occur, 

 nor A. infima, Duft., which is found a little further off. I have not seen A. lucida, 

 Duft., in this neighbourhood at all. 



As to any previous occurrence of A. anthobia in Britain, it was anticipated 

 from the first, when attention was drawn to its identity, that it would be discovered 

 in British Collections confused with A. familiaris and A. lucida. This has proved to 

 be the case. 1 have contributed series to fifteen representative private collections, and 

 in five of these the beetle occurred ; also to the collections at the British, Edinburgh 

 and Oxford Museums, which did not contain it. Mr. Holland was the first to find 

 two examples in his collection, one of which, a ? , he took at Ogley Bog near 

 Oxford, probably on a sandy ridge bordering on the bog. This specimen is labelled 

 " Ogley, June 1.03, lucida ?" The second, a $ , labelled " New Forest, May, 02, 

 lucida ?" was taken by Major Robertson for Mr. Holland. Both beetles Mr. 

 Holland has sent me to see, and the New Forest insect proves of unusual interest as 

 an aberration exhibiting three pores in the scutellary region instead of the normal 

 two, one occurring at the base of the scutellary stria, and another at the base of the 

 Butural stria on the same elytron. 



This is the only instance of the kind in 28-1' examples which I have examined, 

 and, if I add statistics of other A. anthobia given me by different British collectors, 

 in 325. 



