GNATHONCUS NIDICOLA, SP. NOV. 



133 



aiders as almost a neglectable quantity the small and rather dubious 

 endemic element in our British fauna. As regards the approximate 

 derivation of that fauna, he appears to be generally in agreement with 

 the conclusions suggested in some notes on the derivation of our 

 British coleoptera which have appeared in this magazine (tint. Rec. ,viu., 

 pp. 147 et seq). He, however, discriminates between a north-western 

 element derived from North America via Greenland and Iceland and a 

 north-eastern derived from Scandinavia in the " Celtic " component 

 ■of our fauna. These are certainly indistinguishable as far as our 

 present evidence goes among the insects, although other groups 

 discover traces of such dualism. 



Dr. Scharff appears to merge the limited " southern " fauna which 

 we possess in the very large " Germanic " component, that is to say, 

 in the case of the coleoptera, such species as Cetonia aurata or 

 ■Geotrupcs. typhaeus, which range across England into Ireland, with 

 Lucanus cervus or Geotrupes mutator, species of a restricted south of 

 England occurrence, and, although as regards their present distribution, 

 the disparity is obvious, yet it would perhaps be difficult to explain 

 that disparity by any theory of independent streams of migration. 

 The Lusitanian element which includes in the coleoptera such species 

 as Exomias pyrmaeus and Otiorrhynchus auropunctatus, Dr. Scharff 

 considers as perhaps older than any other, and as having possibly 

 persisted through the glacial epoch from late Tertiary times. In fact, 

 this point — that of a refutation of the exaggerated importance attri- 

 buted to the Ice Age as a destroyer of faunas, will strike the reader as 

 perhaps the most salient and important feature in the book. To those 

 of us who, imbued with ideas on the subject now perhaps a little 

 antiquated, contemplated the total extinction of all life under vast 

 glaciers and sheets of eternal snow, the suggestion that a large pro- 

 portion of the fauna and flora of northern Europe may have persisted 

 since the Pleiocene age may come as somewhat of a shock. 



In the case of Britain, however, Dr. Scharff contends that such a 

 persistence may be claimed for at any rate the " Celtic " and 

 Lusitanian components of the present inhabitants. 



For the rest, the book is copiously illustrated by photographs of 

 many of the species to which allusion is made in the text and well 

 executed maps of their European distribution, is well printed, and 

 furnished with a good index and bibliography of the works of which 

 the author has made use. 



One might perhaps have wished a more applicable title. 

 " European Animals " hardly suggests the inclusion of floras, and the 

 book treats not of the animals themselves, but of their past pro- 

 ceedings and original homes. To students of one of the most 

 fascinating and difficult of modern biological problems the book is 

 heartily recommended. — W.E.S. 



Gnathoncus nidicola, sp. nov., a coleopterous inhabitant of birds' 



nests {with plate). 



By NORMAN H. JOY, M.R.C.S., F.E.S. 



In all our catalogues of British beetles two members of the genus 



Gnathoncus are included, viz., nannetensis, Mars, [rotvmdatus, Shp. 



•Cat.), and G. punctulatus, Th. However, shortly after the publication of 



