1909.] 267 



the larval state. The crreat majority of them are rather larger than 

 the Glogau form of Leucomelanella, and ako have more white on the 

 fore-wings — thongh not the clean white of Tisclieriella — , but they 

 show me hardly anything [literally, " almost nothing."— E. E. B.] 

 whereby I can separate them as a distinct species. The two posterior 

 opposite spots, of which the upper one, which is the larger and 

 extends further towards the termen, reaches to the lower and smaller 

 one, lie rather obliquely towards one another. The white irregular 

 spot in the middle of the wing is indeed, for the most part, more 

 extensive than in the northern Leucomelanella; but in certain 

 individuals, which, on the whole, show a reduction of the white 

 markings, there is practically no difference. The specimens, more- 

 over, vary considerably inter se, partly owing to the colour of the 

 head, which in some is entirely white, in others is sprinkled with brown 

 scales, and in the majority is as dark as is usual in Leucomelanella." 

 " With regard to this species and its allies, it seems to me that 

 a really exact knowledge of the larva? and their modes of life is 

 urgently needed for the clear differentiation of the species." 



Mr. Durraiit informs me that twelve of the above-mentioned 

 thirteen specimens, collected near Raibl, in Cariuthia, in July, 18G7, 

 are still extant in the Zeller collection, and that they agree with the 

 exponents of vicinella in the Douglas collection : it follows, therefore, 

 that they are similar to the original type specimens of vicinella. We 

 thus learn that, in 1868, Zeller provisionally referred the form, 

 described by Douglas in 1851 under the name vicinella, to his 

 leucomelanella, and a closer acquaintaince with Zeller's species now 

 enables us to prove the correctness of such reference. 



Norden, Corfe Castle : 

 September 6th, 1909. 



A FIFTH PROTEIN US IN BRITAIN. 

 BY DATID SHARP, M.A., F.E.S. 



There are five species of Proteinus'm Europe, and our Catalogues 

 record four of them as British. I am now able to announce that we 

 possess also the fifth species. It resembles P. brachypterus, but is 

 blacker and more shining, and the base of the antenna is not clear 

 red. The male has remarkable characters : the basal joint of the 

 front tarsus being dilated and elongate, as long as the other four 



A A 2 



