102 



[May, 



Erichsoni is the very first species enumerated under " Nematus " in 

 Mr. Cameron's Monograph, but I was (and, indeed, still am) in some 

 doubt whether N. erichsoni, C, can be the real erichsoni, Htg., above 

 recorded, because Mr. Cameron not only in Vol. II groups his erichsoni 

 with quercus (a Pristiphora) and says nothing of its much closer 

 affinity to lucida, crassa and cceruleocarpa, but also in Vol. IV, p. 199, 

 refers it to Lycjceonematus, Kuw., a genus with whose species the true 

 erichsoni can hardly be said to agree in a single character, except 

 those which all Nematids have in common. 



(To he continued). 



DRYOPS (PARNUS) LURIDUS, Er., 

 A SPECIES NOT HITHERTO RECORDED AS BRITISH. 



BY JAMES EDWAltDS, F.E S. 



On looking through Ganglbauer's account of this genus (Kafer 

 von Mitteleuropa, iv, pp. 102-107), it appeared to me probable that 

 we had in Britain both luridus, Er., and auriculatus, Fourc. (prolife- 

 ricomis, Fab.). The two species are only to be distinguished with 

 certainty by refereuce to the male genitalia, though here the differences 

 are well marked and easy to appreciate : in auriculatus the basal half 

 of the penis is compressed into an almost knife-like edge, and the 

 side-pieces {paramera), which form the bound- 

 ary of the suboval opening at the apex of the 

 a.u.Ticuli.tu£, Fouic ^ a?deagus, are thickened and widened at the 

 base ; in luridus the penis is not compressed 

 on its basal half, and the paramera are not 

 l l x.YLdii£,EY.cK*. thickened or widened at the base. I give an 

 outline diagram of the lateral aspect of the sedeagus in each, x 27. 



It may possibly be useful if I describe, for the benefit of those 

 of my colleagues who have less experience in this kind of investigation, 

 the rough method which I find sufficient to display the parts in 

 question. Eelax the specimen, take off the abdomen, and then from 

 its upper surface dig out the sedeagus (a large subcylindrical corneous 

 body), and fasten it for future reference on the same card as the spe- 

 cimen to which it belongs. These remarks apply to dry specimens ; 

 I believe that in fresh ones the axleagus might beexserted by pressure. 

 The sexes cannot be distinguished until the abdomen is taken off, but 

 one may save oneself the trouble of getting out the knife-like appa- 

 ratus of the female by noticing beforehand the upper surface of the 

 last dorsal segment ; in the male this is evidently more closely pubes- 



