1905.] 281 



Tfc differs considerably from that of Dyschirlus thoraciciis, in which tlie pro- 

 iiotuni is much longer in proportion, and (he anal process is large and longer 

 than the very short eerci. Superficially it much more closely resembles (in minia- 

 ture) the larva of Svarites Itevigalus, F., which also has the short anal process and 

 long cerci. I did not, unfortunately, take a larva of the Bledius, but I hope to 

 describe it at some future time. The larvae in some of these genera differ very 

 considerably, and it would be a very good thing if more attention were paid to 

 them ; that of Blediuft talpa, Gryll., for instance, which is allied (o B. sub- 

 terraneus, differs very much from that of B. unicornis, the former being stout and 

 comparatively parallel-sided, and the latter much more slender and much contracted 

 in the thoracic region. In time to come many of these characters will probably be 

 used for generic purposes ; there is no reason why they should not be as much 

 taken into account as in the Lepidoptera. — W. W. Fowlkk, Earley Vicarage, 

 Reading : November 4t/i, 1905. 



The British variation of Nebria gyllenhali, Sch. — I have recently been able to 

 examine a considerable number of specimens of this insect from various localities in 

 England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, and find the amount of variation in the 

 species, whether as regards proportion of individuals, or divergence of direction, 

 apparently unusually large. These aberrant forms have been differently named by 

 various authors, either as species or varieties, resulting in great uncertainty and 

 confusion in their synomymy, and it is impossible now to refer each degree of varia- 

 tion to its appi'opriate specific or varietal name Mr. Donisthorpe, however, has 

 already pointed out (Entomologist's Record, xvii, \0'X) that we possess the variety 

 rufescens, Stroem = N. arctica, Dej. {= N. marshallana, Stcph. ?) This form, at 

 any rate, that in which the legs are rufescent as well as the elytra, seems to be 

 generally represented by what are probably merely inmature examples of the type 

 and at best is what might be called a persistent inmaturity of it, that is to say, its 

 difference from the type seems to consist only in an arrested pigmentation and 

 represents a stage included in the normal ontogeny. Many similar instances will 

 occur to the student of Coleoptera— it will suffice to cite the var. brunnea, Herbst, 

 of Silplia atrata, L. Such cases are perhaps comparable with the " undeveloped 

 forms " of the Hemiptera, and hardly seem to merit the name of variety which is 

 more strictly a deviation from the normal, not an antecedent, stage of it. Another 

 form (perhaps N. rufescens, Stroem, with black legs), which occurs in Scotland and 

 in Wales, is of the shape and size of the type, with the thorax and legs black and 

 the elytra distinctly rufescent, especially towards the apex. This is known on the 

 Continent as var. besseri, Fisch., and is probably the var. c. of N. hyperborea, Gyll. 

 This is undoubtedly perfectly mature, and in some localities quite as common 

 as the type. A third form is the " variety with red legs " alluded to by Canon 

 Fowler (Brit. Col. I, 16) as common on Siiowdon. There it is certainly the pre- 

 dominant form. It differs from the type in its rather smaller size and distinctly 

 narrower shape, and so far as my experience extends, in the slightly narrower and 

 more convex elytral interstices. I have only seen it from the Snowdonian moun- 

 tains. Dawson refers to this form as a variety " common on Snowdon, not 

 noticed, with body black and legs entirely red." That this may be the N. nivalis 



