34 THE entomologist's record. 



slightly lighter ; head, thorax, and elytra rather dull, hind-body a little more 

 shiny. Head subtriangular, strongly narrowed, from base to front of eyes, about 

 as broad as thorax, slightly convex, very finely punctured. AntennEE somewhat 

 strongly thickened towards apex, points 1 to 3 elongate, third joint, a little shorter 

 than the second, 4 and 5 about as long as broad, (5 and 7 transverse, 8 to 10 

 strongly transverse, last joint half as long again as penultimate. Thorax very 

 slightly transverse, narrowed a little in front, very slightly contracted towards base, 

 from the anterior third, with faint traces of dorsal channel. Elytra transverse, 

 very little longer than thorax, very finely punctured. Hind-body, subparallel, 

 very finely and densely punctured ; last ventral segment furnished with rather 

 long black hairs. Length '2'7mm. to 3mm. 



The most closely allied British species to this insect are those of 

 the H. curellaris group (Fowler, IJrit. Cnleoptera, vol. ii.); it may be 

 distinguished from the members of this group by the triangular shape 

 of the head, the thorax, too, is broader and less convex, but, as com- 

 pared with H. at't/ra, there is, in this last respect, not a great amount 

 of difference, though, of course, in colour, size, and shape of head, etc., 

 it is a very different-looking insect. 



Hoiiialota {Apiiiiela, Mulsatkey) viacella, Cr., found in France and 

 Germany, appears to have a greater natural relationship to the species 

 under con.sideration, than any of our British species, it is, however, a. 

 smaller, narrower insect, with longer elytra, and differently formed 

 antenna^. 



This distinct species makes an important addition to the gen as 

 Homalota, and we owe its discovery to Prof. T. Hudson Beare and Mr. 

 H. St. John Donisthorpe, who found it sparingly in tlood-refuse on 

 the banks of the river Spey, at Nethy Bridge, N.B., in September 

 last. 



A Midsummer's Collecting at La Granja. 



By (Kev.) F. E. LOWE, M.A., F.E.S. 

 Attracted by Mr. Sheldon's account of his successes at La Granja, and 

 still more by certain specimens which he exhibited at a meeting of the 

 Ent. Soc. of London on one of those rare occasions when I was able to 

 be present, we determined to go to Spain. We were fortunate enough 

 to persuade Mr. A. H. Jones to join us, and, but for his cheerful company, 

 I do not know how we should have endured the depressing weather of 

 our first week, and the discomforts, not to say hardships, which awaited 

 us. We were a party of three — Mr. Jones, Mrs. Lowe, and myself — 

 with only six words of Spanish between us, and of these one was the 

 same word, the inspiring word "mariposas," butterflies. With this 

 slender stock in trade, we ventured into this very strange land, and 

 returned in safety, at least, as much of us as was left after nearly five 

 weeks of semi-starvation. Mr. Jones, to our great regret, had the time 

 of his exile shortened, and was only able to stay a fortnight. For this 

 reason he has asked me to include his captures and observations 

 among my own. I am greatly indebted to Mr. Sheldon who put all 

 his information concerning the best hunting-grounds, means of access, 

 and hotel accommodation, at my service. He even provided a most 

 useful sketch-map of the neighbourhood, so that we need lose no time 

 in finding the desirable spots. I fully hoped by going earlier to La 

 Granja than he had done, and staying as late, to make a very large 

 addition to the number of species he had reported. I did something, 

 but was far less successful than I had expected, for I learned that this 



