RETROSPECT OF A COLEOPTERIST FOR 1908. jiy 



Evans, will shortly publish a paper on our joint researches into the 

 fauna of moles' nests in Scotland, but I may say at once that Dr. Joy 

 is mistaken in thinking that O.rypoda lonr^ipes, Muls., is not an 

 inhabitant of moles' nests in Scotland; we have found it in many 

 nests and in some numbers — the few taken at large in Scotland have 

 evidently been wanderers from the nests. Mr. J. Edwards has published 

 [Knt. Mo. Mail., xliv., p. 220) a table for the British species of the 

 genus Helophorus, which will, I feel sure, simplify our labours in 

 determining more diiScult species of this genus. Mr. Champion {loc. 

 cit., p. 233) draws attention to the fact that Dermestes aurichalcicus, 

 Kust., and Micrawbe perriai, Bris., are found on the continent in nests 

 made by Bombycid larvae, and he siiggests that search should be made 

 in their nests in this country. 



In the Ent. Record, Mr. Donisthorpe publishes (p. 281) a first 

 instalment of his interesting Myrmecophilous Notes for the year, 

 and Mr. H. W. Ellis and Mr. A. H. Martineau also contribute 

 (p. 56) some notes on the same subject, giving an account of their 

 field work in the neighbourhood of Biimingham. Mr. Balfour Browne 

 in the same journal (p. 25) published a paper entitled " Notes on the 

 British Species of the Genus Phihjdnis, Solier," giving a table for the 

 separation of our species, and notes as to their distribution; lastly, Mr. 

 W. E. Sharp (p. 87) discusses, in a paper on the British List, the 

 vexed question of what constitutes the right of a beetle to a true place 

 in our indigenous fauna. 



In the Transactions of the Entomolofiical Society of London only 

 a few papers dealing with coleoptera have appeared this year. In 

 Part iv. for 1907 (issued February 14th, 1908), appeared Mr. 

 Donisthorpe's paper "The Life-History and Occurrence as British of 

 Lo)nerhusa strumosa, F.," in which the author gave an account of his 

 own observations in the field and in his observation nest, and figured 

 the larva and his dissections of the secretory glands. In Pt. ii. for 

 1908 (issued September 29th, 1908), is a paper by Mr. C. J. Gahan on 

 the larvffi of Trictenotoina childreni, Gray, Melittoinnia insulare, 

 Fairmaire, and Dascillns cervitius, L., an interesting paper in view of 

 the divergence of opinion as to the systematic position of the 

 Trichenotomidae. Mr. Gahan is of opinion, as the result of his study 

 of the larva, that this family should be placed near the beginning of 

 the Heteromerous series — the larva of Dascillus has a general 

 resemblance to those of the Lamellicorns — it is a root-feeder. The 

 only other paper in this part which I have to notice is by Mr. G. J. 

 Arrow on the classification of the coleopterous family Dynastidae ; this 

 paper deals principally with Oriental species, which have been some- 

 what neglected, the new species described are in the British Museum 

 collection ; altogether 11 new^ genera and 25 new species are described. 



The thirty-first Annual Report (1907) of the Lancashire and 

 Cheshire Entomological Society contains two papers of great interest 

 and value — Dr. Bailey's Vice-Presidential Address on the Coleoptera 

 of the Isle of Man, and Mr. W. E. Sharp's list of the coleoptera of 

 Lancashire and Cheshire. Dr. Bailey, after giving a general survey 

 of the Island of Man as a collecting-ground for the coleopterist, and'^a 

 list of some of the more noteworthy species to be met with, discusses 

 very fully the division of the species into the various distributional 

 groups which it is considered we possess in these islands ; this is a 



