258 [April, 



inference also, iu the face of the latter remark, that longida must bo a thick-clubbed 

 species, because it was recorded as having been taken under a dead bird, is a mar- 

 vellous adaptation of facts to theory. 



Mr. Murray also endeavours to account for the great difference in the antenna; 

 by allowing a certain amount of variation in the thick-clubbed species ; but, ad- 

 mitting that the entire hulk may be influenced, either by the sex of the individual, 

 or its bodily development, I can scarcely believe a difference of relative proportion 

 in the joints ever exists, and much less one of so striking a character as the present. 

 Considerable apparent differences are often exhibited, owing to the various ways in 

 which the joints can be gummed on the card in setting; e. g., — the joints of one 

 antenna, set on their edges, look quite unlike those of the other antenna of the same 

 specimen, if the latter are properly flattened down ; and the mere fact of the joints 

 being jammed close together, or extended to the limit of their articulations, or 

 being much or little clogged with gum, causes a different appearance in the same 

 species. — In the CholevcB, moreover, the usually minute eighth joint acts as a 

 hinge ; so that, without due care, the apical are often set in a different plane to the 

 basal joints. 



C. pilicomis, to which Thomson ascribes longula as a synonym with doubt, 

 would seem to be different from that species, as he places it in a section '' antennis 

 clavd distinctiore;" subsequently, in diagnosis and description, terming the antennae 

 " crassis " and " validiores," — whereas Kellner's words are " antennis obsolete 

 clavatis" and " heule wenig verdickt." Thomson also states the thorax in pilicomis 

 to be a little longer than in tnstis, a difference which I do not find in longula ; 

 and, in his comparison, calls no attention to the length of the elytra. If Thomson's 

 insect be identical with Kellner's, it will show how the endeavour to strengthen an 

 artificial section tends to mislead ; for longula is clearly a natural ally of morio, as 

 much as, or rather more than, of tristis. 



C. longula has been already included in our lists, solely, I believe, on the 

 ground of Mr. Murray's var. B of tristis, — Id. 



Occurrence of Anisotoma Triepkii in Britain. 



Anisotoma Tkiepkii, Schmidt, Germ. Zeits. f. d. Ent., iii., 153, 5 ; Erich., Ins. 



Deuts., iii., 55, 3 ; G. E. Crotch, Cat. Brit. Col. 



I have detected an example of this species among some Anisotomidai belonging 

 to Mr. Hislop, taken near Falkirk, and which that gentleman has kindly ceded to 

 me. It is allied to the A. hrunnea of Wat. Cat., and may be described as follows. — 

 Elliptic-oval, moderately convex ; ferruginous, with the antennae concolorous. An- 

 tennas short, the apical joint narrower than the preceding, the two penultimate 

 joints very transverse, and shallower than usual. Head large ; thorax closely and 

 strongly punctured, with the base sinuate on each side near the hinder angles ; 

 elytra strongly punctate-striate, with the interstices delicately punctured ; the 

 alternate interstices, however, having large scattered punctures. The anterior tibia? 

 are moderately widened, and strongly spinose. In the male, the hinder femora 

 are widened in the middle, with the lower side of the apical end rounded, and the 

 hinder tibiae curved. 



