200 I February, 



for one of them {Olophrum fuscum) was captured in February. Thus, then, it is 

 impossible that the hot weather of 1865 caw have had any influence in adding to 

 our fauna, except in the case of six species. 



But to put it in another way. I have by me the Annuals recording additions for 

 1863, 6-i and '65 ; and, forming as correct an opinion as I can from the records 

 contained in them, the number of species taken for the first time during each of 

 these years to be, in 1863, five ; in 1861, eleven ; in 1865, seven. 



From these considerations it would appear, first, that as regards the actual 

 capture of beetles new to our catalogue, we are not adding to our fauna at so great 

 a rate as would at first sight seem to be the case, but are merely determining with 

 greater precision thei nsects already contained in our collections ; and secondly, that 

 the year 1865 has been remarkable for the amount of examination of Coleoptera by our 

 entomologists, and the use of books on the science. From the first of these con- 

 clusions it would also seem that the number of species of Coleoptera to bo addetl 

 to our catalogue is not so great as we might conclude from the rapid additions 

 made during the last few seasons, for these additions have resulted irom the 

 examination of our collections of previous years, a source which must soon bo 

 exhausted. From the second conclusion we easily understand how it happens that 

 most of the additions to our Hsts are owing to the exertions of a few workers, the 

 number of Coleopterists who examine cai'efully the insects they possess being in 

 this country very small. I would therefore advise any one who wishes to distinguish 

 himself by adding species to our fauna to commence his work at once, and not to 

 wait the advent of another unusually warm year, or he will wake some day and find 

 the work he proposes to begin already nearly completed by the exertions of others. — 

 D. Sharp. 



[The above note of my friend, Mr. Sharp, is marked by his usual accuracy : 

 but I may be excused for deprecating an interpretation so rigidly " aw pied de la 

 lettre" of a mere introductory remark. My only words on the point were — " I 

 presume that the extent of the following list of novelties must in a great measure be 

 owing to the long-continued and excessive heat of the past summer;" and the 

 italicised expressions seem to me rather to modify a very general opinion as to the 

 abundance of good insects in warm seasons. Mr. Sharp sufficiently proves by 

 figures that it is impossible the hot weather can have had any influence in adding 

 to our fauna ; nevertheless (passing over some of the species first taken hero in 

 1865, and also the great number of rare species captured in profusion) I think that 

 the addition to our lists of a Leptura, a Cryptocephalus, a Myrmedonia, and a 

 Bemhidiuvt, during one hot year, by no means weakens the popular delusion. I do 

 not refer to the extraordinaiy capture, by Mr. Sharp himself, of a large Apion new 

 to us, and in great quantities, as I believe two undetermined individuals were taken 

 in former years by himself and Dr. Power. But, abandoning any connection 

 between heat and novelty (although the agency that appears to cause an increase of 

 mere numbers of specimens is most likely to bring to our notice species that have 

 hitherto cscajJcd observation through their rarity), it may bo another question 

 whether a gradual alteration in our climate, especially showing itself by the 

 increased temperature of the winters, may not be causing a corresponding altci'ation 

 in our insect fauna. — E. C. II.] 



