1888.] 181 



Carabid, Pseudotrechus mutilatus, 'Kosh., in company with the equally curious 

 Oochrotus unicolor, Luc, Merophysia carinitlata, Rosh., Colnocera aU<B, Ktz., and 

 Dinarda nigrita, Rosh. The still more wonderful Paussus Favieri, Fairm., was 

 found in the nests of a smaller brown ant (Pheldole pallidula), but this insect and 

 the Pseudotrechus were met with more frequently in February and March. 



Early in January I left for England, and returned to Gibraltar on February 15th. 

 The weather was then cool and showery, with warm sunny days at intervals, and I 

 found that vegetation had made much pi'ogress during my absence, and a few of the 

 early butterflies began to put in an appearance. Thus, on the I7th, Papilio Machaon, 

 Euchloe Belemia, E.,* and hibernated Gonepteryx Cleopatra, L.,* were on the wing, 

 reinforced at the end of the month by Lyccena Icarus, Eott.,* Astrarche, Berg.,* and 

 Thais rumina, L.* The latter beautiful insect abounded both on the Rock and in 

 the Cork Woods, frequenting open bushy spots where its food-plant, Aristolochia 

 glauca, Desf., grew in plenty, and it could be caught without much difliculty. 

 Euchloe Belemia, on the other hand, usually cost a hard run before it was secured, 

 being (as might be judged from its robust build) as swift and strong on the wing as 

 Colias PJdiisa. Thestor Ballus, Hb.,* appeared on March 9th, and Eiichloe 

 euphenoides, Stgr.,* on the 11 th, but the weather in Mai-ch was not favourable for 

 collecting, and it was not until the 26th that I was able to make my first excursion 

 of the year to the Cork Woods. On this day, which was warm and sunny, the 

 profusion of insect life was very remarkable, and I noticed no fewer than 25 

 species of butterflies on the wing. Leucophasia sinapis, L., was common, Pieris 

 Daplidice, L.* (very pale), was not rare, and Euchloe euphenoides, flitting quietly 

 from flower to flower, made quite a feature in the scene : with it wei-e a few E. Belia, 

 var. Ausonia, Hb., and one or two of what I take to be E. tagis, Hb., but am not 

 quite sure. Thecla rubi, L., although common, was getting worn, and I noticed one 

 or two of an early brood of Lyccena Telicanus, Hb., besides nearly all the other 

 species of butterflies as yet mentioned. Chelonia villica, L., occurred singly, and 

 worn males of Saturnia carpini, S. V., were rushing about in all directions in the 

 Cork Woods. Among the Coleoptera were Cicindela campestris, var. maroccana, 

 F., &nd Jlexuosa, F., Melolontha papposa, 111., flying by hundreds near the ground in 

 shady places, a flne black Bolhoceras, and the curious Sepidium bidentatum, Sol., 

 previously found by me in abundance at Malaga in 1876. Towards the end of the 

 month I met with the singular little flat yellowish weevil, Derelomus chamaropis, 

 F., plentifully in the male flowers of Chamcerops humilis on the Rock. 



The chief entomological feature of April was the abundance of the large Ateuchi 

 (sacer, L., variolosus, F., and more rarely semipunctatus, F.), which were to be seen 

 everywhere on the wing, or else, in paii-s, busily providing for the future by rolling 

 up and burying balls of stercoraceous matter much larger than themselves. The 

 queer long-legged Sisyphus Schafferi, L., appears to be quite rare here, but 

 Gymnopleuri of two species, and Oniticellus, abounded on their food, with the large 

 black Onitis Olivieri, 111. Conspicuous everywhere in the open ground was the huge 

 red-striped Meloe maialis, L., and in the Cork Woods, EndophlcBus, Cerylon, 

 Colydium, Plegaderus, Platysoma, Liodes, Hypophlceus , and Platypus, were more or 

 less copiously represented under bark. Here, too, I had the good fortune to find the 

 remarkable Brenthid weevil, AmorphocepJialus coronatus, Q-erm., in an old cork tree 



