NOTES ON BRITISH GEODEPHAGA. 55 



have been inferred, that I did question the statement of any 

 one of these insects being no more than a variety. I give 

 M. Jacquelin-Duval full credit for believing that he has 

 found the necessary links to connect the species respectively 

 with their alleged types, but my object has been to weigh 

 the probabilities till I had arrived at a conclusion satisfactory 

 to my own mind, and I could not, after an examination of 

 the supposed types and varieties, feel that I had arrived at 

 a result in accordance with the opinion of our ains-taking 

 author. In the two instances first cited the authors of the 

 Faune Francaise, and Dr. Schaum, in his critical remarks 

 on M. Jacquelin- Duval's monograph, coincide with me 

 in treating them as distinct species. I must also note that 

 with respect to Stomoides, our author doubts the fact of its 

 reputed type being found in England, because Dr. Schaum, 

 in his notes on the Stephensian Collection, refers P. decorus, 

 and albipes, of that Collection, to the aforesaid type ; 

 but P. albipes of Stephens's Cabinet is, unquestionably, an 

 immature example of B. decorum, and P. decorus is made 

 up of several species, which I shall refer to presently. It 

 must, therefore, be accepted as a fact, that up to this time, 

 the alleged types of these three species have not been found 

 in England, and this, though of itself perhaps insufficient to 

 prove them distinct, at any rate tends to that conclusion.* 



It is fair to add, that the authors of the Faune Fran- 

 caise adopt M. Jacquelin-Duval's opinion that Stomoides 

 is only a variety of rufipes, but not so the Stettin Ca- 

 talogue. I have recently had also an opportunity of ex- 

 amining and comparing a series of examples, and can find 



* In one respect our author has clearly misunderstood my meaning. 

 I could hardly be supposed to express a doubt as to whether rufipes, 111., 

 were distinct from rufipes, Gyll., when having declared that the former 

 is not found in England, I unite the latter as a synonym to B. nitiduhun. 



