"67. j 103 



lished by the Entomological Society of London, I have of late paid 

 considerable attention to these insects. On going over the results of 

 several years' collecting, I find some species which I can with confidence 

 name as yet unrecorded for Britain, and have accordingly noted them 

 below. 



Thanks to the elaborate system of division employed by Hartig, 

 the generic separations are comparatively easy,* and the same may be 

 said for specific distinctions in many genera ; but the great difficulty 

 rests with the numerous species of Nematus and the black Boleri. ¥or 

 the former genus I find neither the short descriptions by Stephens, nor 

 the detailed ones of Hartig, of much avail, but do not yet despair of 

 discovering some means whereby the subject may be partially elucidated. 

 The black Boleri may yet prove the more difficult. Hartig separates 

 numerous species of these by characters which, to say the least, appear 

 to me to be of a most uncertain nature, such, for instance, as slight 

 difi"erences in the colouration of the leg-spurs. Zaddach, while re- 

 marking on the insufficiency of these distinctions, makes yet more 

 species, but grounds them on far more important structural differences, 

 viz., the forms of the saw of the females. These characters should be 

 of the greatest value, but they are very difficult to apply, especially in 

 dry insects. 



The Tenthredinidce, as a family in which many species seem to be 

 absolutely without males, are greatly deserving of the attention of the 

 more advanced naturalist ; and the great diversity of structure exhibited 

 in the various genera renders them worthy of being no longer left with 

 those groups that have as yet failed to attract the attention of workers. 



Hylotoma metallica. King. I took this at Darenth in the spring of 

 this year ; and examples are in Stephens' collection mixed with H. 

 ustulata. It differs from the latter only in the reddish antennae, and 

 more yellowish colouration of the basal veins ; but I do not feel at all 

 sure that it is more than a variety of ustulata. 



Lophyrus frutetorum, Eab., Klug. A single ? example was taken 

 at Eannoch, by Mr. Hislop, during the time we were there in June, 

 1865, and was kindly presented to me by that gentleman. It affects 

 JPintis sylvestris. 



Harpipliorus lepidus, Klug. I beat one example from an oak tree 

 near Croydon, on the 30th May, 1867. It is the only European species 

 of the genus. _ 



* Whilst paying this tribute of admiration at the lucid manner in which Hartig has divided the 

 family, I cannot, at the same time, sufficiently condemn the plan he follows in making numerous named 

 sub-genera, divisions, sections, &c., almost ad infinitum, subordinate to what he calls a "genus.'' 

 Succeeding writers have mostly considered each of these as a genus in itself, which accords with my 

 own views, that a division of any kind, if worthy of a name, should be looked upon as generic. 



