104 THE entomologist's record. 



it was true the sea did break through the banks of the Swale, no refuse 

 worth working had been left behind. We had, therefore, to fall back 

 upon hay-stacks in the marshes, and sift the refuse lying around them, 

 though we also did a little work on the grass tufts and moss along the 

 edges of the fresh-water ditches in the marshes. The day was very 

 bright and sunny, with a bitterly cold wind, after a somewhat sharp 

 night frost. We found, as usual, some of the haystacks more prolific 

 than others, and the first one we struck was by far away the best ; whilst 

 a small patch of tidal refuse on the sea side of the banks of the river 

 Swale, a few hundred yards above the railway bridge at Kingsferry, 

 produced a few good insects. The following is a complete list of the 

 captures during the day's work, and during a hurried visit to a hay- 

 stack near Sheerness early on Monday morning, before leaving for town — 

 Monday being a dull, damp day, totally different in climatic conditions 

 from the Sunday. Out of the tidal refuse I secured one specimen of 

 Mecinm collaris, Germ. ; this refuse also produced Haphjdeins coelatns, 

 Gr., Honmlota vestita, Gr. (in plenty), PJtilorhiniun sordidum, Ochtliebiiis 

 iiiariniis, Pk., Hydrobius obhyyKjm, Hbst., ('orypliiiim anfimticolle, Steph., 

 and several other small Staphs, not yet determined. At the roots of the 

 grass by the sides of the ditches, Apion diffhrme, Germ., occurred abund- 

 antly, with Coccidula scutellata, Hbst., Brtjcuds helferi, Schm., and Sci/d- 

 iiiaeuidi ,sci(tellaris, Miill. Out of some half-dead willows, by the side of a 

 fresh-water brook, between Queenborough and Kingsferry, we took 

 several specimens of Hel()])s coenileiis, L. In the hay-stack refuse, which 

 was certainly the most prolific in beetles, the following were obtained : — 

 Apion aclwiiherri, Boh., and A. raripes, Germ., both sparingly; Carto- 

 dere rujicollis, Marsh., which was quite abundant, and varied greatly 

 in size ; Enicuius minutuH, L., fiJ. trmisversux, 01., JMdanojdithalma 

 fiiscula, Hum., and M. fulvipes var. meridionalis, Reit., iJorticaria 

 crenalata, GylL, Atomaria nitiricentru, Steph., A. mwnda, Er., A. 

 bcoialia, Er., A. apicalis, Er., Crrjptophacius acntannulus, GylL, C. 

 (((finis, Stm., C. saginatus, Stm., C. dintinriuendus, Stm., and C. den- 

 tatiis, Hbst., CohjptnmeruH diibim, Marsh., Sericoderns lateralis, GylL, 

 fiJphisU'innH (H/rinoidi's, Marsh., ^[onotoma riifa, Redt., Heterothops dis- 

 siiitilis, Gr., Microf/lossa suturalis, SahL, Oly/ota atomaria, Er., O. 

 piisilliiiia, Gr., and Medon propinqaiis, Bris. — T. Hudson Beare, B.Sc, 

 F.E.S., 10, Regent Terrace, Edinburgh. March 'drd, 1905, 



Platydema dytiscoides and other Coleoptera in the New 

 Forest. — During last year I paid several short visits to the New Forest, 

 and the following are amongst my captures : — Calosouia inquisitor, L., 

 in numbers on trunks and lower branches of oaks ; Carabus catenu- 

 latiis, Scop., C. violaceus, L., C. arcensis, Hbst., under stones and logs; 

 Cychrus rostratus, L., occurred several times under bark and logs ; 

 Aiiiara lunicollis, Schiod., and Aniara similata, GylL, were both fairly 

 plentiful ; Harpalus rubripes, Duft., one specimen in a gravel pit; and 

 H. honestus, Duft., and H. /xrHct/coZ^/s, Payk., were very common under 

 ling in the same spot. Many beautiful specimens of Pterostichns 

 diiiridiatiis, 01., were taken in a gravel pit, in company with a very 

 large and brilliant aberration of P. lepidtis, ¥., which were all males, 

 the females being of the usual type. /'. oblonyopanctatns, F., was 

 very plentiful under oak-chips left by the woodmen who had recently 

 been felling trees, at the sap of which hundreds of (Tcotnipcs sylraticiis, 

 Pz., were lying in all stages of inebriation, (j. vemalis, L., also occurred 



