32 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



or presence, of prescutellary pores, etc. This paper embodies the results 

 of a large amount of careful work, and should prove of great use to any 

 collector who is in doubt as to which of these three species a specimen 

 belongs. 



In " Notes on the coleopterous genus Dacne, Latr." (Ent. Record, 

 xviii.j p. 72), Dr. Joy gives briefly the salient characters of all the 

 European species of this genus, and explains carefully the characteristics 

 which separate I), fowleri, Joy, from the allied species. 



Two species which have long proved a stumbling-block to collectors 

 are Agabus affinis, Pk., and A. unguicularis, Thorns. ; Mr. F. Balfour 

 Browne, in a paper illustrated with two carefully drawn plates (loc. 

 tit., p. 273), goes fully into the question of the characters which can be 

 relied upon in separating the two species. There has been undoubtedly 

 considerable confusion in the record of these two species, and it is very 

 desirable that any coleopterist who has in his collection specimens of 

 either, or both, of these species, should now carefully re-examine them 

 in the light of the information given by Mr. Balfour Browne, and, if 

 erroneous records have been made, correct them. There seems to be a 

 marked difference in the recorded distribution of these two species in 

 Great Britain. 



Life-histories and similar problems have been dealt with in quite a 

 large number of articles. First and foremost are Dr. Joy's extremely 

 valuable papers on the " Coleoptera occurring in the nests of mammals 

 and birds" (Ent. Mo. Mag., xlii., pp. 198, 237). Dr. Joy first drew 

 attention to the matter in a short note (loc. tit., p. 39) in which he 

 gave a list of rare coleoptera taken in birds' nests. Mr. Chitty (loc. 

 cit., p. 115) gave a list of the rare species he had been able to take in 

 starlings' nests by following Dr. Joy's methods. Not only has Dr. 

 Joy been able to add several new species to our list, but, in addition, 

 he has taken, in numbers in many cases, species hitherto considered 

 extremely rare and represented only in a few of our collections by odd 

 specimens, such as Quedius brevicornis, Th. ; Heterothops nigra, Kr. ; 

 Aleochara sjiadicea, Er. ; Microglossa marginalis, Gryll. ; J/, gentilis, 

 Mark. ; Philonthus fuscus, Gr. ; Choleva colonoides, Er. ; etc. Dr. Joy 

 has, in fact, opened up quite a new field of work, and his notes contain 

 records of many interesting points in the life-history of these beetles 

 and of the manner in which they have gradually adapted their means 

 of defence to the ways of their hosts. 



Other notes to which reference may be briefly made are the 

 following : — " Drilus jiavescens, Bossi, and its larva," by Mr. E. G. 

 Bayford (loc. cit., xlii., p. 267), with a description of the larva and a 

 brief account of the rearing of a female imago from the larva ; 

 " Belation between Epuraea angustula, Er., and Acrulia inflata, Gyll.," 

 by Mr. B. S. Bagnall (Ent. Record, xviii., p. 325) ; " Notes on the 

 Stridulation of Cychrus rostratas, L., and on Liodes, Lat., a genus of 

 night-flyers," by the same gentleman (loc. cit., p. 73) ; " Distasteful 

 Carabids," a short note by Mr. Donisthorpe, pointing out that the 

 odour of Carabus violaceus, L., is the same as that of butyric acid (loc. 

 cit., p. 325). The same gentleman has contributed a series of valuable 

 myrmecophilous notes for 1906, summarising all the work that has 

 been done, mainly by himself, with ants' nests during the past 

 year (loc. cit., pp. 288, 317). Mr. W. E. Sharp, in a short article 

 entitled " Some Notes on the Physiological Criterion of Species," 



