iJ 59 



)N TPIE COLEOPRORA OF THE STATICE LIMONIUM, HITHERTO 

 : ERRONEOUSLY RECORDED AS GONIODOMA AUROGUTTELLA, 

 ^ F. V. R. 



BY H. T. STAINTOTf, F.R.S. 



In the Entomologists' Annual for 1855, p. 46 (2ud Edition, p. 68), 



announced the capture in this country of G-oniodoma auroguttella, on 



he authority of " a single specimen taken by Mr. S. Stevens in the 



sle of Wight, last August, on the banks of the Tar, near Yarmouth, 



>y sweeping the herbage." 



' I believe the description which I there gave w^as made from Con- 

 inental specimens, w^hich we now know to be a totally different 

 pecies. The same remark no doubt applies to the description given 

 Q the Manual, vol. ii, p. 393. 



In the Entomologists' Annual for 1874, when summarising the 

 bservations on Tineina, which had appeared in the previous nineteen 

 olumes, I remarked (p. 32) of this Isle of Wight insect, which, by 

 'hat time, had been taken also by Mr. Bond and others in consider- 

 able numbers : 



? "This differs rather from Continental specimens, being darker 

 ■nd larger. The Continental insect feeds on seeds of Atriplex, using 

 m empty seed as a case. I am assured by Mr. Bond, who has often 

 ijollected in the Isle of Wight, that where this insect occurs there 

 4-triplex is wanting." 



jj It seems strange now that the idea of its being really distinct 

 ilrom the Vienna insect had not dawned on one sooner, as Mr. S. 

 • Stevens had very kindly supplied me with living specimens as far back 

 j;i8 1855, which, wdth others subsequently given me by Mr. Bond, had 

 ,tood in my collection by the side of a veritable auroguttella from 

 Vienna, which I had placed there to illustrate the species when it first 

 )ccurred with us. 



■ When Zeller wrote his treatise on Coleoplwra, which appeared in 



i849, in the 4th volume of the Linnjea Entomologica, the Vienna 



ipecies had ceased to be found in its original locality, and had not 



)een detected elsewhere. Subsequently, it occurred in Hungary, 



vhence I received specimens from Dr. Staudinger in 1866 and in 1876. 



[n 1877, Herr Mann sent it me from Austria. 



j I I had thus been gradually collecting materials for a more thorough 



'^Jomparison of the insects from Austria and Hungary, with those 



from the Isle of Wight, insects similar in form and appearance, but 



3f utterly diverse habits, which w^ere still strangely coupled together 



I under the same name. 



