RETROSPECT OF A COLEOPTERIST FOR 1903. 31 



Sturm., which Mr. Morley rather prematurely pronounced to be 

 extinct, has reappeared in its old locality. Of nitroduced species, we 

 have a record of Blajhs i/af/es, L., taken by Mr. W. H. Tuck, at Bury 

 St. Edmunds {Ent. Mo. Ma;!., vol. xxxix., p. 174). 



The Rev, W. F. Johnson (Eut. Mo. Ma;/., vol. xxxix., p, 96) again 

 discusses the much-vexed question as to whether Silpha utihrdtumlata, 

 Steph., which certainly appears to occur only in the Isle of Man and 

 in Ireland, is entitled to specific rank ; he evidently thinks that it is, 

 and I must say I agree with him. 



Two papers of interest to coleopterists have been contributed by 

 Dr. Sharp to the Ent. Mo. Ma;/., one on "New Coleoptera from the 

 Chatham Islands and New Zealand" (p. 105), in which he discusses 

 the necessity of taking steps to preserve the unique fauna of these 

 islands, and the other on " Coleoptera from the Faroe Islands " 

 (p. 249). 



Though the number of papers on coleoptera published in the 

 Transactions of the Entouiolot/ical Soctett/ of I.jmdon for 1903, is not 

 great, they are, I am glad to say, memoirs of much interest, as we 

 have now each year valuable papers treating of life-histories and of 

 the development in the earlier stages, a welcome change from the 

 purely descriptive papers which were for so long the only contributions 

 to these Transactions by British coleopterists. 



Mr. M. Jacoby, in continuation of a paper published in the 

 Transactions for 1901, has (on p. 1) " A further contribution to our 

 knowledge of African Phytophagous Coleoptera," in which he deals 

 with the Galerucinae and Halticinae, and describes about fifty new 

 species. Mr. Crawshay's paper (p. 39), on " The life-history of Drilus 

 fiavescens, Rossi," I commented on last year (see antea,\o\. xv., p. 34), 

 and, on a careful perusal, found it most interesting in every way. It is a 

 fascinating record of painstaking observations, and I can only 

 express the hope that we may soon have the life-history of 

 some other of our parasitical beetles worked out on similar lines. 

 Mr. Champion and Dr. Chapman contribute (p. 87) some notes 

 on the habits of ^^anopJuies durieai, Lucas, which passes its meta- 

 morphosis in swellings on the stems of Cotyledon horizontalis. They 

 found the galls in plenty at Bejar, central Spain, in 1902, and were 

 able to breed out a considerable number of perfect specimens. Com- 

 plete descriptions are given of larva and pupa, and an extremely beauti- 

 ful plate accompanies the article. Mr. Champion contributes another 

 paper (p. 165) on the trip he made to central Spain in 1902 with Dr. 

 Chapman, with lists of the coleoptera and hemiptera-heteroptera found 

 by them. Dr. Chapman, who had already contributed a paper to the 

 Transactions on " The life-history of (hina tristis, Fabr.," and who has 

 been working at the subject since that date, read another paper 

 (p. 245) on this subject. His work enables him to say definitely 

 that the eggs have always undergone some development prior to 

 laying, and that the condition of development varies with the period 

 of year at which the laying takes place ; in other words, at one 

 period, they are almost ordinary egg-laying insects, and at another 

 period almost viviparous. The communication is one of uncommon 

 interest. Mr. 0. E. Janson contributes (p. 305) a brief memoir " On 

 the genus Theodosia and its allies," and describes some new species. 



On the whole, it has been a year of progress, and the small band 



