1910.] 281 



Catops varicornis, Rosenh., in Berkshire. — On September 3rd I took a fine S 

 example of Catops varicornis, Eosenh., by sweeping on the chalk downs near 

 Streatley, Berks. I had long been on the look-ont for this rare species, which 

 is an addition to the published list of Coleoptera for the county of Berkshire. — 

 Id. : November 9th, 1910. 



Capture of Pterostichus aterriniws. Ph., in Norfolk. — While searching under 

 cut sedges near Stalhani on April 19tli last, I was fortunate enough to shake 

 out on to the collecting paper <a specimen of Pterostichus aterrimus, Pk., a con- 

 spicuous species, which would never be passed over in tlie field by any one at 

 all familiar with the species of the genus which occur in this coxxntry. 



I find that Dawson and other authorities of his day mention tliat this 

 insect was common at that time in and about the peat-pits of the Fen Country 

 of oiu" Eastern Counties, but I can find no record of its capture for a great 

 number of years. This species was in fact supposed to be extinct in this 

 country, and its recapture, therefore, is a matter of some considerable interest. 

 Details of the first captures of the insect in this country are given in Mr. 

 Edwards' " List of the Coleojytera of Norfolk." — T. Hudson Bbare, 10, Regent 

 Terrace, Edinburgh : November 9th, 1910. 



Further note on the habits of Myelophilus piniperda. — In the light of 

 Dr. Chapman's notes in the last number of the Ent. Mo. Mag. (pp. 260-261), 

 on the ravages, as seen by him at Pitch Hill, of the above-mentioned insect, 

 the following observations are perhaps worthy of mention : — Among the beeches 

 and oaks which form the greater part of Wytham Woods, two miles west of 

 Oxford, there are two or three small groups of Pinus sylvestris, each consisting 

 of but few trees. As I was walking under one of these little colonies — of four 

 trees only — I noticed the abxxndance of young shoots which had fallen to the 

 ground, and examination of these i-evealed the expected burrows, whilst one of 

 them proved to contain a living specimen of the beetle responsible for the 

 damage. The point of interest in this case is the scai'city of the tree in the 

 neighbourhood, for I believe I am right in saying that there is no plantation of 

 pines within four or five miles, and at the most not more than a couple of score 

 of trees at Wytham. In vol. iv of Prof. Schlich's " Manual of Forestry " 

 (p. 265), and in Nisbet's " Forester," vol. ii, pp. 79 et seq., detailed accounts of 

 the life-history of this Scolytid are to be found. We learn from these that the 

 imagines, breeding from larvae which have fed in spring and summer on the 

 bark of dead pine trees, or on that of parts of living trees injured by fire, axe, 

 or other agency, attack the young shoots of well grown trees, with the results 

 described by Dr. Chapman. Rarely, the beetle hibernates in the burrow, as in 

 the case of the specimen mentioned. One shoot I picked up bore both this 

 year's carpellary flower and last year's maturing cone, the burrow entering 

 some distance below the latter. Of the two other clusters of pines I was able 

 to find, the larger, containing about a dozen trees, had not been attacked so far 

 as I could ascertain, whilst the second was a repetition in every respect of the 

 one alluded to in detail above. — H. G. Champion, New College, Oxford : 

 November 6th, 1910, 



