136 [November, 



double as long as the secoud, and (in the $ ) with the anterior tarsi slightly dilated, 

 the posterior femora with an obsolete denticle beneath at the lower apex, and the 

 posterior tibiae Ji-arcuate (as in dubia, $ ) ; whereas his brurmea is from f to 1 lin. 

 long, in the section with linear anterior tibiae, only slightly convex, with thorax 

 rather narrower than its elytra, 3rd joint of antennae only somewhat longer than 

 the 2nd, and (in the $ ) with the anterior tarsi not at all dilated, the femora not 

 even obsoletely toothed beneath, but terminating in an obtuse angle, and the tibiaj 

 singly curved. These important differences are not mentioned by Dr. Kraatz. 

 A. ohesa, in fact, very strongly resembles large-sized dubia, but is of shorter and 

 broader, with a narrower club to its entirely ferruginous antennae, more acute 

 posterior angles to its less strongly punctured thorax, and coarser and more remote 

 punctures (especially towards the base) in the striae of its elytra. I am indebted to 

 Dr. Power for the sole British exponent I possess of this species. 



A. brunnea, according to Erichson and Mr. Lawson's specimens above men- 

 tioned, averages rather less in size than calcai-ata : it is entirely ferruginous, 

 shining, with a narrow club to its concolorous antennae, of which the apical joint is 

 not narrower than the preceding ; its thorax is not sinuate at the base on each side, 

 and has its posterior angles almost as acute as in litura {prnata, Faiinn.) ; the striae 

 of its elyti"a are (for an Anisotoma) fine, with the punctures small and closely packed 

 (I obsei-ve, moreover, that the striae are rather irregular, the 3rd one especially being 

 slightly waved outwards about the middle). The hind legs of the fully developed (J 

 are much after the scheme of the same sex of A. litura, but the tibiae are not so 

 elongate or so much curved inwards at the apex, and are broader throughout (the 

 narrower and entirely ferruginous club, with comparatively wider apical joint, at 

 once separate this species from A. litura). — E. C. Rye, 10, Lower Park Field, 

 Putney, S.W. : October, 1872. 



Note on Anisotoma lunicollis. Rye. — -The opportunity of examining a few more 

 specimens of this most distinct species enables me to add to my original description 

 the fact that its elytra are set with very short and scattered ciliae just above the 

 outer margins, somewhat after the fashion of A.furva and ciliaris, though in a much 

 less marked degi-ee. The outer edge of the anterior tibiae, also, is not so straight 

 as usual, being somewhat irregular between the roots of the spinose setae. — Id. 



Note on " carding " beetles. — As I do not thmk it probable that the opportunely 

 introduced strictures of my esteemed colleague, Mr. McLachlan (note, p. 103 of the 

 present vol.), are founded upon any personal acquaintance with the system of mount- 

 ing Coleoptera on card, I can only presume that they are based upon inferences 

 erroneously deduced fi'om its apparent inapplicability to specimens of the Order 

 upon which he is now writing. But I can safely assert, in reply to his sweeping 

 condemnation of a practice employed by all British Coleopterists, that I have never 

 had the least difficulty in readily floating off and examining the under-sides of beetles 

 so mounted. If my colleague has tried the system, he must, I think, have used some 

 unfit medium for mounting ; at all events, the " gum beclogged tarsi," to which 

 he so pathetically alludes, have never come in my way, as I have always found a 

 moderate amount of tragacanth capable of almost instantaneous removal. If it were 

 worth while to defend the system of carding against mere random objections, it i 

 could be urged that this little trouble of floating off specimens to examine their 



