1880.] 69 



essential that the specimens should not be carded, as the ventral segments furnish 

 most important structural characters : all of these species have been found run- 

 ning or flying amongst the heather, &c, on West End Common, Chobham. 



I have also found the following, which are more or less rare or worthy of notice, 

 Leptothorax Nylanderi, a few by sweeping ; Pompilus cinctellus, 1 ^ ; Miscophus 

 bicolor, commonly ; Astata stigma, 3 $ ; Harpactus tumidus, occasionally ; 

 Evagethes bicolor, occasionally ; Tachytes niger, occasionally ; Ceropales maculatus, 

 1 ; Myrmosa melanocephala, 1 <? , 3 $ ; Andrena fucata, rax*ely. 



Hemipteea. — Leptopterna ferrugata, 1 developed ? ; Capsus Scutellaria, 

 pretty commonly by sweeping the heath, mostly of the black variety, but 2 $ and 3 

 ? with the red scutellum ; Pithanus Markeli, 3 developed $ , the undeveloped form 

 very abundant in both sexes. — Edward Saunders, West End, Chobham ; July 

 9th, 1880. 



Luciola — the European firefly . — In Mr. Gorham's Eevision of Lampyrida (Tr. 

 Ent. Soc, 1880, p. 99), he says that only one sex of Luciola, so far as regards the 

 European species, is known to him, and conjectures it may be the female. In 

 this, however, he is mistaken : Mulsant, in the Coleopteres de France, Mollipennes, 

 p. 123 et seq., has indicated correctly the sexes of Luciola lusitanica, and, on the 

 authority of M. Peragallo, has stated that the fairy-like swarms of this elegant 

 insect that form so beautiful a feature of the midnight hours of Midsummer in the 

 South of Europe, are composed entirely of males, the female remaining quiet and 

 concealed on the under-surface of a leaf. This fact is quite in accordance with my 

 own observations. Some years ago I passed an evening amongst the fireflies in the 

 Val Anzasca. I captured a good many specimens of them as they were flitting about, 

 and all were males, but I succeeded in getting a female concealed amongst the grass, 

 by searching on the ground at a spot where I saw a small speck of light. This was 

 the only female I found. 



M. Mulsant, referring to the observations of MM. Perroud and Arias, states 

 that the interruption of the light is due to undulating movements of the body which 

 alternately conceal and discover the phosphorescent parts. — D. Sharp, Thornhill, 

 Dumfries : 17th July, 1880. 



Euplectus punctatus in Sherwood Forest. — By permission of the Rev. A. 

 Matthews, I have to record the capture of Euplectus punctatus in Sherwood Forest 

 some years ago by himself and his brother. I know of no other specimens that have 

 been recorded except the two mentioned in the Ent. Annual for 1869, p. 64. Dr. 

 Sharp kindly determined the species. It is very like E. Karsteni at first sight, but 

 is easily distinguished by the fact that the thorax is considerably dilated on each 

 side : it is also larger and more flattened, as Mulsant says in his description. It is 

 quite possible that it may be mixed with E. Karsteni in some collections. — W. W. 

 Fowler, Lincoln : July 9th, 1880. 



Note on Agrotis saucia. — I have taken a moth which my father thinks I may notice 

 in the Magazine. On the evening of the 3rd of this month I went to the railway 

 embankment to search the flowers of the red Valerian for moths, and much to my 



