LIST OF COLEOPTEROUS INSECTS. 173 



fly, I tliink, however, was either not so troublesome or abundant 

 as usual ; perhaps the fine weather had induced them to spend 

 their time more out of doors than they do in cooler seasons. This 

 scarcity of the house-fly was compensated by a superabundance of 

 another, and perhaps more troublesome insect, Stomoxys caldtrans, 

 which towards the end of summ.er swarmed in our sitting-rooms , a 

 fact their occupants were often feelingly reminded of by its sharp 

 punctures. The Stomoxys is a dingy, simple-looking creature, 

 confounded by most people with the common house-fly, from 

 which, however, it may readily be distinguished by the pro- 

 minent rostrum. A specimen of (Estris Bovis was captured 

 near Long Benton in June. Of Locusts, we have had our usual 

 plenty, and I have notes of their occurrence on our extreme 

 northern limit, thence by the coast nearly to the southern boun- 

 dary. They have also been found more inland ; and I had a fine 

 lively fellow brought to me in a bottle, which had been taken 

 near Medomsley. Whence come these conspicuous insects? If 

 from the Continent, from what particular country ? Books tell 

 us that they are very plentiful in Central Europe, but I scarcely 

 think that our visitors can come from thence. If so, how won- 

 derful must be the instinct that causes them to traverse great 

 stretches of country, to cross a considerable extent of sea, and 

 then to distribute themselves over the breadth and length of the 

 land, even so far to the north as the Orkney Islands ! Is it 

 not quite reasonable to suppose that the Locust may produce 

 here in favourable seasons ; if it has not indeed become (as hinted 

 by E. C. Embleton, Esq., in " The Berwickshire Club's Proceed- 

 ings") " naturalized amongst us ?" It is true neither larvae nor 

 pupas — which are both conspicuous and active — have been found ; 

 but the same may be said of many other large insects, whose pre- 

 sence we never attribute to immigration. We have plenty of wild 

 unexplored nooks, even in our densely peopled district, where 

 whole broods may remain concealed from the man of science, 

 and we all know that with the unscientific one such creatures 

 only form objects to be crushed beneath his unpitying heel. 

 A Locust that I noticed, " one glorious September day," disport- 

 ing in a clover fog, near Cullercoats, gave me much pleasure. 



