8 THE entomologist's RECORD. 



own order ; the scanty records are probably due not so much to want 

 of observation on the part of our field naturalists, as to the fact that 

 by far the larger proportion of predaceous coleoptera are nocturnal 

 insects, and seek their prey, therefore, at a tiilie when observation is 

 almost impossible. It would be a great advantage in obtaining such 

 records if every field-worker would provide himself with a note-book 

 as part of his equipment, in which notes of attacks on insects could be 

 recorded at the time they are observed ; it is not always possible to 

 capture the aggressor. Valuable as are the records given by Prof. 

 Poulton, in my opinion they are at present too few in number to allow 

 of any generalisation from them ; when one considers the enormous 

 nmnber of attacks by predaceous insects which must constantly be 

 going on in all parts of the world, and how very few of these can come 

 ander observation, it seems rash to conclude that the records are 

 necessarily averages of the whole nmnber. 



In the same part of the Transactio7is appeared (p. 441) Mr. G. J. 

 Arrow's paper, " A Contribution to the Classification of the Coleop- 

 terous Family Passalidae.'" The author pointed out that the remark: 

 able secondary adaptation of the wings to serve as organs of sound - 

 production is accompanied by a tendency to the loss of their primary 

 function, and species are found, in different parts of the family, in 

 which they are already useless for flight. As a result, locomotion has 

 become restricted, and segregation into local forms has been brought 

 about, which is too recent for marked specific differentiation. Mr. 

 Arrow has endeavoured to correct some of the errors into which 

 Kuwert had fallen owing to the latter's attempt to achieve finality 

 "without having a suflicient amount of material for study. The 

 remainder of the paper is devoted to a description of one new species 

 from Granada, and of eighteen other new species of the family, the 

 types of which are in the British Museum. 



In Part i of the Transactions for 1907 (issued on June 20th) are 

 four papers of interest to coleopterists. Mr. E. A. Elliott and Mr. 

 C. Morley in their memoir " On the Hymenopterous Parasites of 

 Coleoptera " (p. 17) have brought together into a convenient form for 

 reference a large number of records scattered through British and 

 continental magazines, and in such works as Eatzeburg's " Ichneu- 

 monen der Forstinsekten " ; this paper will be most useful for refer- 

 ence purposes to entomologists working at the economic side of our 

 subject, since it is to these hymenopterous parasites that we must look 

 for a real effective check upon the ravages of the Scolytids and other 

 destructive beetle-pests. 



The second paper (p. 83), by Mr. R. Shelford, on " The Larva of 

 Colh/iis eiiian/inatus, Dej.," is illustrated by a plate; there is a full 

 description of the larvfe, and an account of its life-history ; this 

 Cicindelid larva burrows in the central pith of twigs of the coffee 

 shrubs in Java, its food being the ants and aphides which frequent 

 the shrubs, and it finally pupates in the burrow ; its life-history is, 

 therefore, very similar to that of the larva of our common (Jicindela 

 campvslris, L., whose burrows may be found in sandy spots in districts 

 where it occurs. In an addendum an account is given of the habits 

 of another Cicindelid wood- boring larva found at Hong-kong by Mr. 

 Muir ; it appears to be the larva of another species of C'ollyris. 



Mr. A. M. Lee, in a paper (p. 135) entitled " Catalogue of the 



