1910. 27 



these curious observations. Tliis " assembling " seems to me to be 

 comparable witli the " assembling " of JEgialia rvfa, the cause of 

 which, however, is not known. One would suppose that the " assem- 

 bling " of the Colons must have some connection either vntli the 

 procuring of food or with some sexual instinct, in the latter case, 

 certainly not only the laying of eggs as males as well as females occur. 

 The two most remarkable features of the phenomenon are (1) the very 

 small area over which it took place, at the most 6 ft. by 4 ft. (2), the 

 fact that three species occurred commonly, and this seems almost to 

 exclude any pure sexual theory. I took the C. angulare and C. denticu- 

 latum. very near and possibly on this spot, but it was before I had 

 discovered its productiveness. It seems to be well known on the 

 Continent that various species of Colo7i are taken in company in some- 

 what restricted localities, and I have recognised this for some years 

 here. It will be interesting now to ascertain whether in these locali- 

 ties we cannot find one or more small areas where the Colons are 

 specially congregating. Czwalina (Deutsch ent. Zeitschr., 1884, p. 265) 

 suggests that Colons feed on fungi growing at the decaying roots of 

 trees, which have been cut down, as he states that they are generally 

 taken in such places. Weise and Kraatz, in appendices to his paper, 

 refute this theory, and I think my experience here related finally 

 disproves it. 



In reference to my former note on the genus Colon, I must add 

 the following observations : 



C. barnevillei, I now agree, is a small mideveloped form of C. zehei. 



The ? of C. angulare may easily be distinguished from the same 

 sex of C. brunneum by the much narrower eighth joint of the antennae, 

 and by its longer thorax. 



Braclfield : Nov., 1909. 



CREPIDODEBA IMPBESSA, Fabr., A MEDITEEEANEAN BEETLE 

 IN ENGLAND. 



BY DAVID SHARP, M.A., F.R.S. 



Crepidodera impressa, Fabr., is closely allied to C. transversa, but 

 is rather larger and darker in colour ; it is more shining, and has a 

 shorter thorax, the transverse depression on which is remarkably deep. 

 It may be readily distinguished by the punctuation of the elytra of 

 the male : this consists of series of fine depressions, augmented by 

 other punctures placed quite near ; hence the internal series appears 

 double ; the interstices between the series are broad and definite. The 



C 2 



