1910.] 229 



Length, 4 — 5\ mm. (In my " Coleoptera" of the British Islands, 

 vol. iv, p. 329, the leui^'th of G. sagUfaria3 should be 6 — 7| mm. 

 instead of 4 — 5 mm.). 



Taken in numbers by Mr. Anderson Fergusson at Fossil, near 

 Glasgow, and afterwards at Frankfield Loch, also near Glasgow, in 

 early Jiuie on the Marsh Cinquefoil, Comarwm palustre (the Poteri- 

 tilla ijalustris of the Loudon Catalogue), and again in August. Mr. 

 Fergusson believes that the insect hibernates in the perfect state and 

 that the Jime examples have lived through the winter, as he could not 

 find any traces of larvse in that month. The August examples are the 

 second brood and had jiist emerged from the pupa : in fact, Mr. 

 Fergusson collected several pupae (which were quite black) to send me, 

 but the beetles emerged almost immediately afterwards. 



This insect (the facies of which is, perhaps, the most distinct in 

 the genus) is the G. sagittarise var. B of Dr. Sharp, which is briefly 

 noticed by him on page 90 of the current volume of this Magazine ; 

 apparently G. sagittarise is very rare or local in Scotland, as there is 

 only one record. Dr. Sharp in 1867 having captured a series at Dabton 

 Loch, Thornhill, Diunfriesshire. If G. fergussoni, with its very 

 distinct facies, is to be regarded as a variety, we may with quite as 

 much reason class G. lineola and G. tenella (both willow feeding 

 species) as one species, and perhaps throw G. calmarierisis in also ; 

 G. tenella often shows t\\& dark central thoracic line which is character- 

 istic of G. lineola, and the characters of the apex of the elytra as well 

 as of the sculpture are very variable in the genus.* 



Earley Vicarage, Reading : 



SeiA.ember IGth, 1910. 



NOTES ON VARIOUS BRITISH COLEOPTERA. 



BY E. A. NEWBERY. 



Chkysomela didymata, Scriba. — The insect standing in British 

 collections as this species is C. hrunsvicensis, Grav. Bedel (Col. Bassin 

 Seine, v, 146-7) separates the two species thus : — 

 Punctixres in elytral striae more distant and less niuneroiis (about 15 to 20 in 



each stria) C. didymata, Scriba. 



Punctures closer and more nvunerous (30 or more in each stria) . . . 



C. hrunsvicensis, Grav. 



The colour of the upper- side is almost always blue in didymata, 



* G. lineola is found on Lysimackia vulgaris, and G. sagiitarice on Rumex hydrolapathm, in 

 the Woking district.— G. C. C. 



