go [March, 



XYLOPHILUS BREVICORNIS, FERRIS, A BRITISH INSECT. 

 BY G. C. CHAMPIOff, T.Z.S. 



The XylopJiilus from the New Forest doing duty for X. neglectus, 

 Duval {nigripennis, Villa), in my British Collection has nothing what- 

 ever to do with that insect. It agrees well with the description of 

 X. hrevicornis* Ferris (L'Abeille, vii, p. 20 [1869] ), from Sos, Lot et 

 Garonne, and I refer it to that species without hesitation. This so- 

 called X. neglectus I obtained many years ago from Mr. Janson. The 

 true X. neglectus, Duval, of which an excellent figure is given by the 

 author in his "Genera," iii, t. 85, fig. 421, differs totally from the New 

 Forest insect in the form of the antennae, sculpture, pubescence, &c., 

 and though it belongs to the same section of the genus (Olotelus, 

 Muls.), it is not at all closely allied to X. hrevicornis. X. neglectus 

 is fully described by Aube in Grenier's Cat. Col. de France, p. 91, and 

 also by Mulsant, Colligeres, p. 28. Crotch, Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 

 (3), V, p. 449, originally introduced it in our list upon two specimens 

 from the New Forest, which he says agree tolerably w^ell with Aube's 

 description ; the species, however, must be erased from our list. E-ye, 

 Ent. Ann., 1867, p. 84, mentions a specimen in the late Mr. G. E-. 

 "Waterhouse's collection as probably belonging to X. neglectus ; I have 

 examined this insect, and it agrees perfectly well with my own. The 

 Eev. Canon Fowler, in his " British Coleoptera," v, p. 91, correctly 

 describes X. neglectus, but his description cannot have been taken 

 from British specimens. He gives as localities " New Forest (Crotch, 

 Power, Janson)," and "Wandsworth (Waterhouse)." The last men- 

 ntioned locality, however, is incorrect, and refers to X. populneus. 

 Dr. Sharp informs me that there is no representative of the 

 New Forest insect in Mr. Crotch's collection at Cambridge ; but 

 I believe there are examples of it in the collection of the late 

 Dr. Power, and also in that of Mr. Janson. I obtained specimens of 

 both sexes of the true X, neglectus, Duval, in June last, on the 

 mountain slopes below Vernet-les-Bains, Pyrenees-orientales, by 

 beating evergreen oaks, Scraptia duhia, Oliv. {fusca, Latr.), occurring 

 in abundance with it. 



The following is a description of the New Forest example in my 

 collection. Perris does not mention the sex of the specimen described 

 by him. The species may be easily distinguished from all others of 

 the section Olotelus by the remarkably short antennae in the male sex, 

 joints 4 — 10 being strongly transverse. 



* Misprinted brevicollis in the Munich Catalogue. 



