April, 1002.1 73 



COLEOPTERA AND ACULEATE HYMENOPTERA IN EAST KENT 



IN 1901. 



RY ARTHUR J. OIITTTY, M.A., F.E.S. 



Insects have been by no means abundant during the past spring 

 and summer in the part of East Kent about five miles inland from 

 Faversham and Sittingbourne, and elsewhere around Eaversham, in 

 which T have been able to collect ; but as I have always found to be 

 the case, a few good things not previously noticed in the locality have 

 turned up singly. It is difficult to account for these solitary speci- 

 mens. I have at times thought that the ground where I mostly 

 collect (which I may say is very confined) must be an outlying portion 

 of some district where interesting species abound, but inasmuch as 

 the further afield I go the less I get, I think on the whole that these 

 insects must come from a considerable distance, being carried by winds 

 or otherwise on to the high ground, which runs roughly from Maid- 

 stone to Ashford, and being then unable, owing to too great dryness, 

 to maintain a footing. I had hoped that a wet March like that we 

 had during 1901 would be suitable to Coleoptera, but low temperature 

 prevented this, and the subsequent prolonged drought was very un- 

 favourable, except to beetle pests like Phyllotreta, which of late years 

 have been very troublesome alike to farmers and gardeners, and have 

 this year prevented there being any turnips at all in the county until 

 towards the end of September. 



I made several spring visits to the Blean Woods for ants' nest 

 beetles, and on one of these I had the good fortune to be accompanied 

 by Mr. Donisthorpe, who has done so much good work in this con- 

 nection ; but I discovered no beetles beyond those already recorded 

 by Mr. J. J. Walker in this Magazine (vol. ix, 2nd series, p. 208), and 

 I was distinctly disappointed in finding neither of the Histerids 

 mentioned by him. Dinarda also was rare, and only secured singly, 

 requiring a great deal of searching. I found it somewhat away from 

 that part of the nest where the ants were thickest. Myrmedonia 

 humeralis, Gr., was abundant on one occasion only. 



My visit on May llth produced a female of the rare ant, Formi- 

 coocenus nitidulus, Nyl. ; it was taken in a part of a nest of Formica 

 rufa, consisting of old stuff and almost devoid of ants. I have been 

 closely looking out for the insect for some time, and it must I think 

 be rare, but the nests of F. rufa in the Blean Woods are so large and 

 so numerous that it may be overlooked. Except for ants and for 

 those species which either live at peace with them (if there are any 



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