r 



A SPECIES OF COLEOPTERA NEW TO BRITAIN. 191 



paragraph of p. 157, and somewhat more covertly at the end of the 

 preceding paragraph, when he pronounces against Col. Manders' 

 attitude of neutrality ; yet surely it would be difficult to find a case in 

 which this argument is less applicable ; for Col. Manders' attitude, if 

 I understand it rightly, is not merely permissible, but is actually the 

 onhj scientific one in every matter which is not practically proved, and 

 is known as the attitude of " Scientific Scepticism." [By the way, if 

 the contention that a theory must be universally applicable is tenable, 

 Mr. Curtis would be justified in supposing that I must necessarily be 

 an advocate of Religious Scepticism also, which in point of fact, I 

 hold to be the most unscientific attitude in existence.] It is the 

 bounden duty of every scientific, man to l\eep an open mind until a 

 theory is proved (not mathematically however, which is impossible out- 

 side pure mathematics), and it is quite illogical to regard him as 

 necessarily an opponent because he does so. I should define my own 

 position on the subject as a very friendly neutrality, and possibly Col. 

 Manders' might be defined as an " armed neutrality," though I would 

 not presume to speak positively upon that point. 



Of the immense value of the observations detailed in Mr. Parkinson 

 Curtis's paper it is needless to speak, and not less valuable are his 

 arguments as to the utility of experiments made with regard to the 

 palatability of insects in the case of domesticated birds ; I shall hope 

 on a later occasion to make a few comments on some of these points, 

 mainly with the view of trying to add in some slight degree to the 

 practical value of future experiments of the kind. 



Neuraphes nigrescens, Reitt., Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wieii, 1881, 

 p. 566. A Species of Coleoptera new to Britain. 



By H. St. J. K. DONISTHORPE, F.Z.S., F.E.S. 

 "Like X spansJialli, and coming near to it, peach-black, the thorax, 

 shoulders, and the apex of the elytra sometimes dark red brown, the 

 antennas and legs rust-red, the palpi yellowish, the forehead very dis- 

 tinctly punctured, the thorax, as in A^ siiarshalli, hut before the base with 

 a small central puncture, sometimes also with a very fine short central 

 furrow, the elytra of the same outline as in X. sjiarshalli, on the whole a 

 little more strongly punctured. Long, 1mm." On comparing my speci- 

 mens of JS'. sjiarshalli with some taken recently on Lundy Isle, I was 

 struck by the fact that two specimens had distinct central furrows on 

 the thorax, and, moreover, looked a little different. These were both 

 found to have been taken at Wicken Fen, September 16th, 1909, and 

 March 19th, 1910, in sedge refuse. They agree very well with 

 Eeitter's description, as they possess both the central puncture as well 

 as the central furrow in the thorax. The forehead also is distinctly 

 punctured, more so than in any of my A'. sparshalH. Ganglbauer, in 

 his table, separates nif/resreiiK and ^idcatnhiH, Fairm., by the central 

 furrow, etc., in the thorax. In the latter the head is weakly punc- 

 tured. In my specimens the elytra seem to be a little broader in 

 proportion to the thorax than in s/iarshalli. With such nearly allied 

 species, however, it seems best to regard them as niyrescois, rather 

 than to make a new species. 



