220 [March, 



NOTES ON THREE YEEY EARE SPECIES OP BRITISH 

 COLEOPTEBA. 



Bt'c. G. hall, 



Haepalus litigiosus, Dej. — This insect is in Messrs. Matthews' 

 and Fowler's Catalogue of British Coleoptera, but is omitted by Dr. 

 Sharp in his Cat. Brit. Col., 2nd edition, 1883 ; it not even being in 

 the list o£ doubtful species, where he has placed both S. sulphurises 

 and H. griseus. In the Entomologists' Annual, 1858, Eev. J. F. 

 Dawson, in his "Notes on British G-eodephaga" (supplementary to 

 the Geodephaga Britannica), p. 53, says: ^'' Harpalus litigiosus^ Dej., 

 spec, ix., 361, H. Wollastoni, Dawson, Geod. Brit., p. 144. A single 

 example has been found by Mr. Adams, near Purfleet ; others have 

 been taken by Dr. Power and myself, below the cliffs at Kemp Town, 

 and at Southwick, near Brighton ; and on looking over Mr. Curtis's 

 collection recently, I detected therein three examples, which, for 

 almost twenty years, had remained unidentified, having, however, a 

 label attached to each, indicating their respective places and dates of 

 capture. One was taken at Wrentham, Suffolk, in April, 1838 ; 

 another at Slaughter, Gloucestershire, in June ; and the third in the 

 Isle of Wight, in September. To Mr. Curtis, therefore, the credit is 

 due of having first captured it in England." 



It was afterwards, however, ascertained that the insects above 

 mentioned were really to be referred to tenehrosus, Dej. Referring to 

 the Entomologist's Annual, 1860, p. 124, Dr. H. Schaum, in his 

 '*' Observation on the Nomenclature of British Carabidae," as established 

 in the Catalogue of British Coleoptera, by G. E. Waterhouse, says : 

 " Harp, litigiosus. — The H. Wollastoni, Daws., is erroneously stated 

 to be litigiosus, Dej. ; it is in reality tenehrosus, Dej." So far litigiosus 

 dropped as a synonym of tenehrosus, and we heard no more of it for 

 nearly twenty-three years, when it has appeared again in the British 

 list. 



Eeeling curious about the re-in statement of this insect, and not 

 finding it mentioned in Mr. Eowler's " Notes on New British 

 Coleoptera" since 1871, Ent. Mo. Mag., vol. xix, 121. I wrote to Mr. 

 Eowler on the subject, who kindly gave me the following information : 

 " As to Harpalus litigiosus, I introduced it on Dr. Power's authority \ 

 from three or four specimens that he possesses, all taken in the same 

 locality, and certainly not tenehrosus, or as far as I can make out any 

 of our other species. It wants more working out, for it may not be 

 litigiosus at all. I understood Dr. Power to say that he and Mr. 

 Dawson took it together. I have not come across it in any other 



