JOURNAL OF VARIATION 



Vol. XXIV. No. 1. January 15th, 1912. 



Eryx fairmairei, Reiche, a Beetle new to Britain. 



By H. St. J. K. DONISTHORPE, F.Z.S., F.E.S. 



On July 11th, 1908, I found under loose bark in Sherwood Forest 

 several specimens of an Eryx : three were taken and one other fell to 

 the ground and escaped. Larvre also occurred under the bark. I 

 wanted one specimen of En/x ater to complete my series, and when I 

 put one of the Sherwood specimens into my cabinet, I was struck with 

 the difference in appearance it showed to my other specimens, being 

 more parallel, much more shiny, with shorter and thinner antennae 

 and legs. I always intended to go into the matter, and whenever I 

 opened the drawer the Eryx was in I always thought I must settle that 

 Eryx. I once went to the museum, but in the general collection they 

 only had ater. At last I sent my specimen to Captain Claire Deville 

 and he returned it as Eryx fairmairei, Reiche. Rewrites, that compared 

 with ater it is a very distinct species, especially in the structure of the 

 prosternum and the punctuation. He suggests that the Geri**»n E. 

 melanaritis, Germ., may be the same species. He says that Sei litz's 

 description of fairmairei is inaccurate. ' 



In the European Catalogue the synonymy of the three species is : 

 ater, F. {stibsulcatus, Fairm.) 

 melanariiis, Germ, (laeris, Rosh.) 

 fairmairei, Reiche (laeria, Seidl.) 



Seidlitz {Fauna Baltica, 1891, p. 524), queries fairmairei, Reiche, 

 as the same species as his E. laevm. 



Reiche described {Ann. Soc. Ent. France, 1860, p. 731) fairmairei 

 as follows :— " The collections of Paris contain a third species of Eryx 

 found m the centre of France, the Pyrenees and the Landes, which 

 is shining like E. bellieri, and of the same size, it differs by its 

 less elongate form, the well marked striae of the elytra, and the more 

 acute posterior angles of the thorax." 



Deville says E. fairmairei occurs in France as far north as the 

 Forest of Fontainebleau. 



Mr. Champion tells me that all his Sherwood Forest specimens of 

 Eryx are E. fairmairei, and those from the New Forest are E. ater. 



It is very pleasant to be able to introduce such a large and distinct 

 species to our list. 



