128 THE entomologist's RECOHl). 



whether this were the case under natural conditions, but, although, we 

 were often urged to do so by Mr. Barrett, somehow or other it was 

 never quite convenient to try this interesting experiment. In the heat 

 of the kitchen, brood after brood rapidly passed through all their stages 

 during the winter months, but under this artificial method they rapidly 

 deteriorated in type, and thus frequent excursions for renewal of stock 

 became necessary. 



Such then is the story oi Anilalia i-oiitii/iiaria, like most true stories 

 not untinged with a trace of romance. I trust that you will overlook 

 any technical errors in its narration, since it is told by a layman, 

 standing, alas, outside the magic circle of your freemasonry. 



Pentaphyllus testaceus, Hellwig, an unrecorded addition to the 

 British Coleoptera. 



By OLIVER E. JA.NSON, F.E.S. 



In view of the publication of a new catalogue of British Coleoptera, 

 and in order to render it as complete as possible, the authors have 

 asked me to furnish them with a record of my capture of this insect, 

 which I believe is generally known, although it has never been pub- 

 lished. I found the specimen in June 1876, under a decaying boletus 

 {Pnhjporus sqitaiiiosiin) which I had placed as a trap for coleoptera in 

 the hollow trunk of a partially decayed oak in a hedgerow in a field 

 at Crouch Hill, Hornsey. The locality has since been converted into 

 a " residential estate," and, although I have occasionally since searched 

 for the species in the neighbouring district, I have, up to the present 

 time, been unable to find any other specimens of it. 



The species appears to occur over the whole of Continental Europe, 

 and is said to be found under the bark and in the worm-eaten parts of 

 dead or decrepit oaks. It is fully described by Mulsant, Hixt. Xat. d. 

 L'oUnpt. (le France, Latii/nu's, p. 198, and a good figure of it is given 

 in Duval's Genera den Colrnjiteres (Vl'liirajic, iii.. pi. 73, fig. 36-1, the 

 larva has also been described by Erichson, Wcif/m. Archir, viii., p. 366. 



The genus Pcntaji/n/Uii.s, of which there are only two European 

 species, comes in the Heteromera in the family Tenebrionid^, and the 

 tribe Diaperina. It is allied to Sraji/iidfina, AliiIiito/i/iaiiKs and Plati/dema, 

 from which it is chiefiy distinguished by the abruptly formed five- 

 jointed club of its antenuie, and from which it derives its name. The 

 species, trstarciis, however, bears a much more general resemblance to 

 some of the Anisotomides and especially to A(/aru<>jj/ia(/iis ajdutlotes, 

 for which at first sight it might easily be mistaken, and it is a rather 

 strange coincidence that I captured several specimens of this scarce 

 species, by evening sweeping, close to the same spot. Now that 

 collectors' attention will be called to the occurrence of this insect in 

 Britain, it s probable that other examples will be found, although searching 

 for coleoptera in old decayed worm-eaten oaks in fields is usually very 

 unproductive, and it is to this fact probal)ly that the presence of P. 

 testaceus in Britain has not been before detected. 



Haphazard naming of Aberrations of Lepidoptera. 



By J. W. TL XT, F.E.S. 

 Mr. Front's note {antea, pp. 109-110) shows that we have reached a 

 point where the naming of aberrations of lepidoptera should cease to be 



