NATURAL LOCALITIES OF BRITISH COLEOPTERA. 77 



of Ptinidce also occur, — of these Ptinus fur and P. crenatus are 

 the commonest ; while the pretty Ptinus sexpunctatus is always a 

 rarity. Mezium affine, looking like a ruby in a bright light, and 

 Gibhium scotias, its close ally, must not be forgotten. I once 

 received a very large number of the former species, taken in 

 London, from Mr. G. C. Champion ; the latter seems very rare 

 or hard to get hold of. The commonest beetle, however, of this 

 class is Niptus hololeucus, which at one time was considered a 

 rare insect, but is now exceedingly abundant ; it is often called 

 the " wine-glass " beetle, from dropping into wine-glasses in old 

 cupboards, and, being unable to get out, is so captured. 



Our natural-history collections often suffer very much from 

 beetles, Ptinus fur, above mentioned, being, as its name implies, 

 the most mischievous, although perhaps Attagenus pellio is the 

 worst pest of insect collectors, Megatoma undata occasionally 

 turns up in boxes of insects, and rare LatkridU occur sometimes 

 in collections of plants. Mr. P. B. Mason, of Burton-on-Trent, 

 last year found several specimens of the very rare Lathridius Jilum 

 in his herbarium. Anthreni larvae also are sometimes destructive. 

 While on the subject of damage we must not forget to mention 

 Dermestes lardarius, which is often found in bacon, and all the 

 various species of granary beetles, of which so extensive a list 

 is given by Mr. Billups in the ' Entomologist ' for Sept., 1880 

 (Entom, xiii. 208). Foremost among these come the Calandne, 

 then Tenebrio obscurus and T. molitor (whose larva is the well- 

 known meal-worm), and then Trogosita, Lemophlaus, Tribolium, 

 Alphitobius, Rhizopertha, and others. The great majority of these 

 " granary beetles " ought not to be in our lists, being merely 

 importations ; but, as it is hard to eliminate those that are not 

 British, it is necessary for us to include the whole in our 

 collections at all events. Many true British species, such as 

 Homalium concinnum, Oligotce, and other Staphylinidce, and occa- 

 sionally also the rare Mycetoj^hagus qnadriguttatus, may be found 

 in wheat or flour bins in farm outhouses. 



To pass on, one of the best methods of collecting in the 

 house is from the windows. All of us know how, on a warm 

 summer's day, the windows seem alive wdth small insects, and if 

 we examine them we shall find that a great majority of them are 

 coleopterous. These mostly consist of small Staphylinidce (espe- 

 cially O.rgteli and Homalotte), Trichopterygidcs, LathridiadcB, &c. 



