164 [December, 
During the past year, hoping against hope, I have, of course, often cast a 
longing eye upon the dry and unhkely spot where (as I considered) I had " fluked" 
the little stranger ; and on the 29th ult. I could scarce believe my eyes when I saw 
another specimen travelling along the bottom of the same wall, and at the same 
place. However it was Acidota in the flesh (or rather, in the corium), and not a 
brachelytron of the brain. This was too much, (though not two too nmch). My 
sieve and brown paper were produced, and the superficial area of oar entire 
premises duly sifted, yielding a result of Homalota fungi and Cryptophagus pilosus in 
profusion, Oxypoda hrevicornis, one H. melcmaria (by no means a common insect), and 
not a vestige of Acidota. As if in mockery of my eflbrts, the same spot of the same 
wall (which is entirely free from moss and has no crevices), produced another 
specimen on the 7th inst. ! Being dreadfully superstitious by nature, I fancied the 
beetle was " no canny," and for a time hesitated about taking it, but I at last con- 
cluded to bottle it. 
Of course I made fresh eSbrts to discover the metropolis of the insect, but 
only succeeded in turning up Homalota paga.na. On the same day, (11th inst.), 
however, I found tioo more of the Acidota, still (or rather, running) on the same 
wall. On the 12th inst. I found another. On the 14th, another. To-day, another. 
I shall probably go on until I get a hundred, and then christen them cruentata 
var. muraria. Saprinus virescens and Gnorimus nohilis have both been taken in 
the same garden ; and this is the more surprising, as Chelsea, though once 
countrified enough, is now shorn of all its green places, and to all intents and 
purposes forms part of London, being continuously connected by streets with that 
village, and having its due metropolitan share of railways, gas-works, and other 
insect-detergents.— E. C. Rye, 284, King's Road, Chelsea, Ibth November, 1866. 
Note on Sitones cinerascens. — I have in my collection a specimen of a Sitones 
much like our ordinary camhricus, but difi'ering as follows : the antennae are rufo- 
testaceous with the club darker ; the rostrum has a broader sulcus, in place of a 
mere channel ; the thorax is longer in proportion to its breadth, and so are the 
elytra ; the punctuation of the upper surface is less coarse and less deeply im- 
pressed than in camhricus ; and the scales on the under surface are nearly white in 
colour. I have no doubt I am correct in considering this species as Sitones 
cinerascens, Sch., of M. Allard's monograph. This author records the species in 
question as an inhabitant of Britain, but so far as is known no specimen is extant 
in any of our collections ; and- in the recent edition of Mr. Crotch's Catalogue the 
species is placed as doubtfully British. My example is a very rubbed one, so that 
I cannot say anything as to the pubescence, which, according to M. Allard, gives 
the species a very diS'erent appearance from camhricus. 
I captured the specimen above referred to in the Isle of Arran, in August, 1864. 
— D. Sharp, 18, Loudoun Road, St. John's Wood, \2th November, 1866. 
Occurrence of rare Coleoptera in London. — I have recently taken four specimens 
of Anommatus 12-striatus under stones in the court-yard of the British Museum ; 
and one example of Tachyusa concolor in dead leaves and rubbish at the same place. 
— E. A. Watehhouse, 14th November, 1866. 
