330 THE entomologist's record. 



one wood borer, as I took my 1895 specimen in the burrows of Melasis 

 hiiprestoides. The other two best things I took were Platydema violacexun 

 and Velleius dilatatm. On the capture of the latter I give a separate 

 note. The former I took in company with my friend Mr. Gorham, 

 seven specimens in all being taken. On August 10th I was removing 

 the bark from an old felled oak, when I obtained a beetle, which I at 

 once recognised to be Plati/dcma, and I shouted the fact to Mr, Gorham, 

 who was close at hand ; we then set to work with the result before 

 mentioned, that seven specimens were captured. It must be some forty 

 years since any number of the beetle was taken. The last record we 

 can find is by Mr. J. G. Marsh, who records two specimens as being 

 taken by James Allen in the New Forest in 1871 {Ent. Mo. Ma;/., viii., 

 248). It was one of the things old Turner used to find, and nearly all 

 the specimens extant are from that source. In the PoAver collection 

 there is only one specimen (labelled " Turner "). It has only occurred 

 in the New Forest in Britain. I was also pleased to take a nice series of 

 Af/rilns riridis. They occurred on sallow bushes and I netted them as 

 they flew and settled on the leaves in the sun. I took them on August 

 9th, and think they must have been a second brood ; some of the $ s 

 are very large. Of other species taken by my friends and myself, 

 Mr. Morley took a specimen of StycuKjalia qnadrifasciafa on Am/elica 

 (this is its first record I can find for the Forest) and Mesom nubila in a 

 fallen bough at the end of August, a very late capture ; the specimen 

 would probably have hybernated. I took a ? Lucanus cerviis on 

 August 23rd, also a very late capture. Leptnra iicntellata and Tomoxia 

 biguttata were not uncommon on beech logs in July ; Htaphylinus 

 erythropterus was picked up on the road ; Pocadius ferrayineiis, Dacne 

 humeralis, and T/iyinaliis liinbatiiti occurred in white Boleti ; Nitidida 

 rufipes was abundant on old bones; Elater pomonae (iinniatns, Gorham) 

 under oak bark, and 77. lythroptcrm in a fallen bough of birch; Aromia 

 moschata was taken in July by Mr. Bouskell on salloAV, in August 

 by Messrs. Gorham and Morley on Anyelica, and by myself on ragwort 

 and Awjelica. It is the first time I have seen this longicorne in 

 the Forest, and its capture makes a total of 25 species of longicornes I 

 have taken there now. Phyllobrotica i-warulata was taken freely on 

 the skull-cap. Orchestes iota was swept sparingly off bog-myrtle by Messrs. 

 Beare, Morley, and myself. Mordellistena huwcralis was common on 

 dog-rose blossoms and M. bninnea on Anyelica. Phloeotrya rufipes 

 occurred in July and August under bark of beech and oak and on beech 

 logs, and the little (Jlinocara tmdidata was very common under beech 

 bark. Bonbidium deconon which is considered rare in the south of Eng- 

 land was found in plenty by Beare, Morley, and myself on the stretches 

 of pebbles in the Lymington River. — H. St. J. K. Donisthorpe, 

 F.Z.S,, F.E.S., 58, Kensington Mansions, South Kensington. 



Tracing Velleius dilatatus, F., to its haunts. — My chief object 

 in going to the New Forest in August was to try and find the interest- 

 ing Velleius dilatatus. I am pleased to record that I was very success- 

 ful, taking in all twelve specimens of this rarity. The first thing I set 

 myself to do was to find a hornets' nest, and this I succeeded in doing 

 after several days' search. I found a strong nest in a hollow birch tree, 

 the hornets entering the tree at a hole about twelve feet from the 

 ground. Sugaring at night proved unsuccessful, though with the aid 

 of my lantern I actually saw a Velleius high up on the tree, but not on 



