102 THE entomologist's becord. 



is culled from Moore's Lrpidoptrra of Ceylon, vol. i., p. 1, where we 

 read : " On a fine sunny day when calm, or nearly so, amazing numbers 

 of one or more species of Kit/ih>ea may often be observed wendino- their 

 way in one direction, as if floatino- upon the air a few feet from the 

 ground with an apparently sluggish movement of their wings, though 

 really making rapid progress. Resembling an army, in scattered open 

 columns, they move on instinctively, regularly and simiiltaneously, as 

 if animated by a true migratory impulse. They naturally suggest a 

 most interesting enquiry as to whence these immense numbers come 

 and whither they are tending, whether their course is a straight-ahead 

 one, or is following a horizontal circular direction of greater or less 

 diameter. These insects when thus moving in company show an 

 unwillingness to be diverted from their course, and when attracted by 

 a favourite plant in flower, it is only for a few minutes that they 

 remain upon it, and, after regaling themselves, soon start off to resume 

 their journey with their fellow travellers, moving again amongst them 

 as before and bound for the same destination. It is curious to observe 

 that butterflies of a totally different kind, when they happen to come 

 within range of one of these moving columns are, for a period, carried 

 away apparently by the same impulse and fly in company with it, but 

 are soon seen to be moving oft* independently as at first." 



dfOLEOPTERA. 



The Coleoptera of the " Victorian History of Hampshire." — 

 " The county of Hampshire " is the first volume of this great work, yet 

 published, and is a very charming book, got up in the very best style. 

 It is, therefore, much to be regretted that the list of coleoptera 

 contained therein should be such a poor production. For a county 

 list to be of any use, it should be as complete as possible, an end not 

 difficult to attain if the compiler will take the trouble to look up the 

 records, and apply to those collectors who have worked the districts in 

 question. Several county and local lists have recently been published, 

 notably Mr. Morley's Colcnptera of Suffolk, and Mr. Walker's Coleoptera 

 of tJie liochester (listriet, so that it would have been easy to have found 

 a good model. In place of this, what do we find '? A bare list of names with 

 hardly any references of any kind, and not a single note of any of the 

 creatures' habits in the list. One would have expected from such a 

 county as Hampshire, including such a locality as the New Forest, the 

 very best of lists, but this, alas ! is not the case. It professes, however, 

 to contain all the more local and rare species, which, as will be seen, 

 is by no means the fact. In glancing through this list any coleopterist 

 at all conversant with the distribution of our species will be at once 

 struck by some of the following points : — (1) Of the rarer and local 

 species, one searches in vain for P/ieixphaenus /leiiiiiitenis, Geoff'., which 

 has only occurred in any numbers at Lewes and Southampton in this 

 country. Mr. Gorham has taken it in plenty at times in his garden at 

 Shirley Warren, Southampton. This is perhaps one of the most 

 interesting, if not the most interesting, species found in this county. 

 Cionii'^ loHgicfjllis, Bris., taken by Mr. Moncreaft' on W'rhaHciiin tlui/mis, 

 at Portsdown, has not occurred anywhere else in England. Odontaeas 

 inolilicoryiis, F., one of the rarest British Scarabiieids, has been taken 

 two or three times by Mr. Gorham at Shirley Warren, where it has 



