woe.] 155 



Aphodius sct/balarius F.,ab. nigricans Mul*., at Deal.— My friend Mr. R. A. R. 

 Priske has recently shown me a Bpe< i nen of the above rather striking aberration of 

 A. sct/balarius, which might, easily at first sight be taken for another species. This 

 insect, ha9 the elytra entirely dark, with the exception of the first and second inter- 

 stices on each side of the suture, which are lurid-testaceous for part of their length, 

 as is also the extreme apex. The specimen thus sufficiently agrees with Mulsant's 

 description of his var. nigricans (" Lamellicomes," 1st ed., 1842, p. 179) to be 

 included under it. This melanic form is known as British, having been taken by 

 Dr J. IT. Bailey on the sandhills at Wallasey, Cheshire, as recorded in a paper on 

 the variation and distribution of the British Aphodii by Mr. F. Bouskell, read some 

 years ago before the Leicester Literary, &e , Society. There is in the Power Collec- 

 tion at South Kensington a specimen of A. sct/balarius from Weybridge in which 

 the elytra are entirely suffused with brown ; this, however, presents a much paler 

 appearance than Mr. Priske's specimen, with which I have compared it. The 

 latter was taken by him in company with the typical form during a visit we paid 

 to Deal sandhills on June 23rd, 1907. -F. B. Jennings, 152, Silver Street, Upper 

 Edmonton, N. : April 6th, 1908. 



Some interesting Coleoptcra at Hendon.— At Easter I paid two visits to the 

 manure heap at Hendon, which two years ago yielded me a fair supply of Eumicrus 

 rufus. On each occasion I brought away a bag of siftings, and the result of their 

 investigation was certainly unexpected. Trichopteri/gidse were present in conside- 

 rable numbers, the most remarkable being unquestionably Ptenidium punctatum, 

 which was fairly plentiful. This species, so far as I know, has hitherto been re- 

 corded only from decaying seaweed on the sea coast, and its occurrence in a manure 

 heap so far away from the sea is difficult to explain. I have subjected the insects 

 to the closest scrutiny to see if there could be any doubt as to the correctness of 

 their identification ; I also showed them to Mr. E. A. Newbery, who agrees with 

 me that they are certainly P. punctatum. The manure comes from a neighbouring 

 farm, and I could detect no seaweed in it ; nor indeed is it very likely that seaweed 

 would be brought so far inland for use either as manure or in other ways. I cannot, 

 therefore, throw any light upon the presence of the insect in such a habitat. 



The second species of interest was Alphitophagus quadripustulatus, of which I 

 got two specimens. This insect, according to Fowler, is usually found amongst 

 meal, flour, and fragments of bread, and Mr. Newbery tells me that it has also been 

 recorded from amongst bones and the refuse near chemical factories, so that its 

 tastes seem to be rather ill-defined, and hence its occurrence in a manure heap is 

 less difficult to explain. Just as Alphiiobius diaperinus, another flour-loving species, 

 has been found in stables in the coal mines of Northumberland, having been proba- 

 bly introduced in the horses' food, so Alphitophagus may similarly have been 

 introduced into the stables and thence into the manure heap. 



The third noteworthy species was Holoparamecus caularum, which was so 

 common, that one bag of siftings of no great size yielded about 150 specimens. 

 Probably many others escaped notice on account of their small size. It was indeed 

 difficult to detect them, as they were not very active in their movements, and seemed 

 disinclined to leave the fine dust of the siftings. T had to spread this out in the 

 thinnest possible layer on a white dish ; at first no specimens would be seen, but 



