1910.] 261 



dying trees, but also, that by other than the ovipositing attack, they may them- 

 selves be the cause of the predisposing weakness. 



I make this note as it concerns the most severe attack by this beetle that 

 I myself have happened to come across, and one probably not often exceeded in 

 extent in England. — T. A. Chapman, Betiila, Keigate : September, 1910. 



Note on the sexual characters of Longitarsus ajilis, Rye. — During a recent 

 visit to Seaton, Devon, August 30th— September 10th, I found (on September 

 7th and 8th) Longitarsus agilis, Rye, in abundance on a particular cluster of 

 plants of Scrophularia nodosa, and as I have been asked more than once by 

 continental and British entomologists for specimens of it, numeroiis examples 

 were captured, notwithstanding the fact that many of them were innnature.* 

 On examining this series when mounted, I found that (1) there was no variation 

 in colour, all being uniformly testaceous, the posterior femora included, the 

 outer joints alone of the antenna? being infuscate ; (2) that more than half of 

 the specimens had rudimentary or abbreviated wings (and were therefore 

 incapable of flight), and rounded shoulders to the elytra ; (3) that the fully- 

 winged examples with prominent humeri were females, and the others (with 

 slightly thickened basal joint to the anterior tarsi, &c.) males. In their uniform 

 pallid colour these Devonshire specimens resemble L. pallens, Poudr., nee Weise 

 and Bedel = canin3e, Buyss. (found on Scrophularia canina, a non-British plant), 

 for examples of which I am indebted to M. Henri du Buysson, but differ from 

 them in their more diffuse elytral punctuation. The insect found by Commander 

 Walker at Halstow, Kent, on Scroi^hularia aqxiatica, and recorded by him 

 as L. rutilus. 111., also has the wings ftdly developed in the 9 and abbreviated 

 in the J ; it appears to me to be scarcely more than a form of L. agilis, deep red 

 in life and with rather coarser elytral punctuation. It is probable, however, 

 that this sexual character will prove to be inconstant in L. agilis, but tlie 

 dift'erences are so obvious in the Devonshire insect that it is desirable to call 

 attention to them. My specimens from Mickleham, Tilgate, Newbury, and 

 Oxford are few in number, and apparently fully-winged, but I am not quite 

 certain as to the sex of all of them. It may l)e that the male is rare, as in 

 the case of certain species of the geims Haltica.—G. C. Champion, Horsell, 

 Woking: October 10th, 1910. 



Hydroporus ferrugineus, Steph., Sfc., at Seaton, Devon. — In addition to the 

 above-mentioned Longitarsus agilis, the following species were noticed at 

 Seaton : Cijnmidis humeralis, Pristonychus terricola, and Aleochara cmiiculorum, 

 in rabbit burrows on Beer Head ; Pterostichus anthracinus and Aiichomenus 

 micans, along the banks of the Axe ; Hydroporus ferrugineus, in running water 

 at Branscombe, with Agabus jjaludosus ; Bledius spectabilis ; Stenus melanopus 

 and S. guttula ; Necrodes littoralis, on the shore and on Beer Head ; Meligethes 

 fulvipes, in abimdance on a yellow-flowered Crucifer ; Corticaria lambiana, one 

 specimen, swept up ; Crepidodera ventralis ; Ceuthorrhynchus nasturtii, rarely, 

 on its usual plant, watercress. ^Id. 



* Those placed in spirit retained their colour when dried, others placed in laurel became 

 permanently discoloured. 



