1914.] U9 



Abundance of Haliplus striatus, Sharp, in Yorkshire. — On February 23rd I paid 

 a visit to the Yorkshire side of the mouth of the Tees, the objective being Haliplus 

 striatus, Sharp, which had occurred there in numbers in August, 1913. The 

 locality is by no means an inviting one, much of the road being on the edges of 

 gigantic slag-heaps, or by the side of the dreary waste reclaimed from the river, 

 but not yet occupied by iron works. The insect is found in two very large pools 

 of brackish water, flanked on one side by a slag heap, on a second by a railway, 

 and on a third by an embankment also of slag ! The weather was very cold and 

 blusterous, and as a result the beetles were almost torpid. Consequently shelter 

 had to be taken behind one slag " boulder," while the contents of the net were 

 spread on the flat surface of a second. Though the Halipli were slow in showing 

 themselves, they were there in enormous numbers, the net on one occasion con- 

 taining 70 specimens, while a space five yards long yielded upwards of 200, and 

 would doubtless have given more if time had permitted the search. Dips made 

 in other parts of the ponds showed that the insect occurred everywhere, so that 

 a very modest estimate would put the number of Haliplus striatus in the two 

 ponds as half a million, and very probably it much exceeded the million. — 

 Geo. B. Walsh, 166, Bede Burn Road, Jarrow-on-Tyne : March 14th, 1914. 



Callidium (Pyrrhidium) sanguineum, L., in Essex. — In the' spring of 1913 a 

 local taxidermist sent me a match-box containing three specimens of a beetle 

 which he said had made its appearance on his premises ; he had smashed about 

 two dozen, but as others still continued to come he was anxious to know whether 

 they were likely to prove injurious. The species was Callidium sanguineum, L., 

 and my son at once set off to investigate, and succeeded in tracing the source 

 of the specimens to a case containing a fine wild cat, which was mounted on a 

 piece of wood, and this showed the holes from which the beetles had emerged ; 

 one was still alive within the case, but no others appeared afterwards. The cat 

 had been sent to be set up by Dr. J. H. Satter, of D'Arcy House, Tolleshunt 

 D'Arcy, Witham, Essex, to whom I recently wrote for further particulars. 

 Dr. Satter was greatly interested, and called upon me yesterday, when he 

 informed me that he received the piece of wood, which was black poplar, with 

 the wild cat, from Nancy. This beautiful beetle was recorded by the late 

 S. Stevens as having been taken many years ago at Plaistow, and was probably 

 then, as now, of Continental origin. — W. H. Hakwood, 62, Station Road, 

 Colchester: March 18th, 1914. 



Philhydrus halophilus, Bedel, from Sussex. — Only a few weeks ago, in- 

 dependently of Mr. Newbery, I identified two specimens of a Philhydrus which I 

 took at Newhaven, Sussex, in April, 1904, as P. halophilus, Bedel. I would add 

 to Mr. Newbery's note the fact that this species differs from P. maritimus, Th., 

 in having the side-borders of the elytra much narrower, and P. haloimilus 

 being a more convex insect they are scarcely visible from above ; in both 

 these characters it resembles P. nigricans, Zett. The aedeagus in P. halophilus 

 differs markedly from that organ in both the above-named species. — Norman 

 H. Jot, Bradfield, Berks : April 6th, 1914. 



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