4 THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RErORO. 



others, show that the year has been a fairly prolific one for cole- 

 opterists. 



In rcsjard to life-histories and other problems which can only be 

 solved by experiment or careful observation in the field, the year has 

 been only fairly fruitful. In the L'nt. Mo. Mag. there have been notes 

 (p. 181) by Mr. J. Edwards on the pairing of Honialota Uturata, 

 Steph., and on the probable use of the greatly thickened femora and 

 corresponding tibial spines in the males of Osphi/a bipimctata, Fabr. 

 It has been suggested that this development was for the purpose of 

 enabling these insects to retain a firm hold of the leaves or branches 

 uf the hawthorn, but Mr, Edwards states, and my own experience in 

 collecting this insect corroborates his view, that be has not found 

 them difficult to dislodge. There can, I think, be but little doubt that 

 these male characters are to facilitate sexual intercourse. We find a 

 similar state of thmgs in the sculpture of the elytra of the female 

 DytiscHs, &c. Mr. Edwards' locality (East Gloucestershire) is a new 

 district for (hphi/a, which is now known to occur in Huntingdon, 

 Kent, and Gloucestershire. Other similar notes in that journal are 

 those by Mr. E. Saunders (p. !242) on " Antennal Movements in a 

 Decapitated Stag-beetle," and by Mr. C. Morley (p. 249) on " Field 

 Notes on Stridulation." In the Ent. Reconl (p. 100) is a note by Mr, 

 Donisthorpe on " The Changes of Colour during Life of a C'assida 

 [CoptiH-i/chi bUtvi punctata, Herbst)." Professor Poulton suggests, as an 

 explanation of this curious effect, the variation in the thickness of the 

 fiuid layers between the chitinous lamelliP of the elytra, owing to 

 changes of pressure, brought about by expansion and contraction of 

 the body. Another note by the same author (p. 185) deals with 

 some further proofs of protective resemblance of such insects as 

 ■ Liiiiobius iiii.rtiis, Boh., and Hypera punctata, F,, to their environment. 

 Mr. Burgess Sopp (p. 239), who has been rearing that beautiful 

 insect, ( hri/somi'la cerealis, L., dra\vs attention to the fact that though 

 their brilliant colour makes them such conspicuous objects against 

 the white background of the drawer of a cabinet, yet when amongst 

 their foodplant, the wild thyme, they are singularly difficult to 

 find. I suspect that critics of the theory of protective resemblance 

 are too often misled by founding their objections on the appearance of 

 dead insects in a cabinet. There is a total ditterence, for instance, 

 between the appearance of such insects as the British species of 

 l\j(ionoc/u'riis as seen in a cabinet and as seen on the mossy 

 bark of tree-trunks and stems. In the former case they are per- 

 fectly conspicuous and clear, in the latter they become almost in- 

 visible, and such brilliantly coloured insects as ('/irysomela yraininis, 

 L., for example, are not at all readily seen when on their food- 

 plants in their native haunts. In the same magazine occurs a 

 very interesting note by J)r. Chaster, on '• The Habits of Acyialia 

 rufa, F." Owing tf) the extraordinary abundance on the Birkdale 

 sandhills of this nornuilly scarce insect, Dr. Chaster was able to make 

 a series of very striking observations on the assembling of this insect, 

 probably for the purpose of reproduction, and notes of this character 

 throw a good deal of light upon the distribution, and reasons for the 

 apparent rarity of many of our scarcer insects. Mr. Tutt, in con- 

 tinuation of his previous notes, has published further valuable papers 

 on "The Migration and Dispersal of Coleoptera " (p, 73), and has 



