38 COLEOPTERA. 



Of the rumoured novelties mentioned in last year's "An- 

 nual," I believe tlie new Leisti have resolved themselves 

 into vars. of species already known to us ; and the report of 

 Brachinus sclopeta has ended in smoke. 



Perhaps the most note-worthy capture during the past 

 winter was that of Trachys nanus at Mickleham, in profu- 

 sion. This insect, hitherto exceedingly rare, was found in 

 numbers by Messrs. Douglas and Scott; it was on a bare 

 hill side, and effected certain patches of short grass with 

 apparent indiscrimination. Dr. Power, who subsequently 

 captured great numbers, found in the ensuing summer that 

 upon these parts stunted thistles were then growing. 



Early in the spring, Stenus Kiesenwetteri, perhaps the 

 grandest of the European Steni, was discovered by Mr. D. 

 Sharp in a ravine on Wimbledon Common, which also pro- 

 duced several other rare species; e.g. Poederus caligatus 

 (hitherto all but unique in Mr. Waterhouse's cabinet) and 

 Tachyporus transversulis in great quantities, Myrmedonia 

 collariSf Stenus 7nelanarius and Ckcetocnema confusa. (I 

 see, with dismay, in a recent number of the "Times," that a 

 proposal made by Lord Spencer to enclose and drain this 

 splendid collecting-ground, with the idea of forming a kind 

 of park, is received with favour by the inhabitants of Wim- 

 bledon.) 



The year, commenced in this promising manner, has ter- 

 minated with a still more startling " bouquet" of novelties; 

 no less than three new species of Curculionidce (one of them 

 belonging to a genus hitherto not represented in England, 

 though common in France and Germany) having been 

 brought forward " at one fell swoop," on behalf of Mr. Side- 

 botham of Manchester. This is the more surprising, as the 

 work of the late Mr. Walton on that group has hitherto 



