1020.] 1 09 



Witliin the scoi)e of tliis brief article I have endeavoured to do 

 justice to a very tliorough and painstaking piece of investigation. Tlie 

 value of comparative morphology very greatly depends upon the range 

 of comparisons instituted, and in this respect, at least, the author has 

 very adequately carried out the task before him. 



Institute of Plant Pathology, 



liothamsted Experimental Station, Ilarpeuden. 

 March PJ20. 



Early sprinrf Coleoptera in the Oxford district. — The fine mild weatlier 

 wliicli prevailed this year up to the end of ^larch tempted me to make 

 several excursions in search of hibernating beetles in the neighbourhood of 

 Oxford. By cutting tufts of grass, mostly in wet places, Bndister sodaiis, 

 Pterostichns c/racilis, Anchomentis puelhis, Fala(/ria sulcatula, Philonthus lueens 

 (also found in flood-refuse, and once in a main thoroughfare of Oxford running 

 on the Y)a,\'emeni),L(tthrohiwn Jt/ifornie (common), Stenus circuhtris, Oxytehisfnl- 

 vipes (1), Doiiftcia impressa, Liosoma ovatulnm var. coilaris, Thryoyenes festucae 

 (common and fine), with many other species of less interest, were obtained. 



At Wytham Park I was much pleased to find Medon obsoletus in some 

 numbers in an unexpected habitat, viz., in moss growing round a small pond, 

 so wet that it had to be wrung out before it could be examined ; with it 

 occurred Tachys hidriutus not rarely, Gyrophuena Incidala, etc. PediacHs der- 

 ineatoides turned up singly under dry bark on a wayside post at Wolvercote, 

 and in fair numbers in tlie Park under bark of ash, elm, and wild cherry, along 

 with a few specimens of Ayathidium niyripenne. Cerylon fayi, a species not 

 previously met with in the district, was taken in a decayed beech stump, and 

 Cryptophuyus rajiconiis among dead leaves. 



On March 31st, an exceedingly fine warm day, beetles were ver}' numerous 

 in species and individuals by sweeping the young herbage in Stow Wood, 

 Oxon, and among those observed were Eusphalfrum priinulae (abundant), 

 Lema cyanella, Lonyitarsus atriceps and nasturtii^ Apion pallipes (in plenty), 

 Liosoma oblonyuluin (1), Balaninus villosus in very fresh condition, etc. 



With the rainy weather of the present month a heavy flood in our two 

 rivers set in on April 11th and still continues ; and, as usual, a great quantity 

 of the floating debris in the Cherwell was intercepted by Sparsey Bridge near 

 Water Eaton. The quantity of insect life in this rubbish equals even that 

 observed during the great flood of April 1908 {cf. Eut. Mo. Mag. vol. xliv, 

 p. lo5), and the number of s>peciniens present of those destructive species of 

 Elateridae, Agriotes lineatus, obscurus, and sputator, may be estimated at tens 

 of thou^ands. Another conspicuous feature ofthe debris is the abundance of 

 Carubiis 7no7iilis, all of the many hundreds seen being of the typical form, 

 presenting little or no variation in colour, and all apparently in the same 

 condition of slight immaturity. As regards the more desirable species of 

 Coleoptera, however, this flood is by no means as productive as several 

 previous ones have been, and the swarms of common things, added to the 



