RETROSPECT OF A COLEOPTERIST FOR 1911. • 143 



and Notes on other British Members of the Genus " {loc. cit., p. 128), 

 gives a history of the discovery of this new species, with particulars of 

 its capture, and a description of the characters which separate it from 

 pellucid us, Boh. The article is illustrated by a plate, which gives 

 representations of both male and female forms, and detail drawings of 

 the legs. In concluding his article Mr. Keys gives a table for 

 separating the five species of this genus now found in this country, 

 with some notes as to their general distribution. Commander 

 Walker has recently taken B. pellKcidiis, Boh., at Oxford. Mr. Keys 

 is to be congratulated on disentangling this troublesome little problem. 



Several interesting notes with regard to life-histories have appeared 

 during the year. Mr. J. Collins {loc. cit., p. 248) published some notes 

 on the earlj' stages of Hamiionia appendicidata, Panz., with illustra- 

 tions of the larvse and pupa^. In August, 1911, while working for 

 this insect in a tributary of the river Cherwell, he discovered both 

 larvse and pupae, which he eventually bred out. They occurred 

 chiefly on Fotanwgeton pectiitatus. 



Mr. C. F. Selous pubHshed {loc. cit., p. 86) an interesting article 

 entitled " A Preliminary Note on the so-called Carrion-feeding 

 Coleoptera," in which he gave a record of observations made whilst 

 watching small carcases placed out in a field on open ground, and 

 noting the visits paid to them by various species of Coleoptera. He 

 states that he is not convinced that the burying of the carcases is 

 due only to the Necro])Iiori, or that it is a purposive act. I may 

 mention that about fifteen years ago, when living at Richmond, I 

 made a series of experiments with the bodies of mice. These were 

 placed out early in the morning on a fairly hard patch of ground in 

 my garden, before I left for my duties at the University ; on my 

 return in the evening, I always found that the carcases had been 

 entirely buried, and that they were lying in a hole shaped very much 

 like a miniature grave, with loose soil on the top, and that the loose 

 earth covering was never less than about half an inch in depth. I 

 found male and female Necrophon in each case with the body which 

 had been buried. Certainly, therefore, in these cases the burial was 

 the work of the insect, and the disappearance of the corpse below the 

 ground was not in any way facilitated by decomposition. 



Mr. H. Britten gives a list of the Coleoptera which he has cap- 

 tured in underground wasps' nests during the last two or three years 

 in the neighbourhood of Salkeld Dykes {loc. cit., p. 89). Qnedius 

 puncticollis, Th., seemed to be a regular inhabitant of all these nests. 



Mr. Donisthorpe adduced evidence, which seems very conclusive, 

 to show that Tn'chonijx sulcicollis, Reich., is in part myrmecophilous, 

 and that 2\ iiuirkeli, Aube, is a true myrmecophilous insect {loc. cit., 

 p. 67). 



Mr. E. G. Bayford in an article entitled " Electric Light as an 

 Attraction for Beetles and other Insects" {loc. cit., p. 157), gives a des- 

 cription of the captures he has made at electric light street lamps at 

 Barnsley, Yorks. Curiously enough, species of Necrophori are much in 

 evidence, showing that these insects fly readily at night when seeking 

 for food. 



In the Ent. Record, Mr. Donisthorpe, in his "Myrmecophilous Notes 

 for 1910" (pp. 10, 58, and 169), deals with the various species of 

 Coleoptera and other insects, etc., taken in ants' nests during 1910. 



