THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Vol. XV.] JUNE, 1882. [No. 229. 



NATURAL LOCALITIES OF BRITISH COLEOPTERA. 



By Rev. W. W. Fowler, M.A., F.L.S. 



No. IV.— RIVER-BANKS AND FLOOD-REFUSE. 



Collecting by the river-side depends, of course, to a great 

 extent on the nature of the banks. The smaller rivers and 

 Btreams have their banks down to the edge clothed so thickly 

 with grass and various vegetation that, although they are often 

 very productive, their productions cannot be discovered without 

 the aid of the sweeping-net, and they must rather be treated of 

 under the head of general sweeping. A good many beetles may 

 often be found by pulling aside the weeds and water-plants, and 

 examining the ground at their roots : some species of Ptcrostichi, 

 Ste7ii, &c., are very fond of such habitats close to the water's 

 edge. We must, however, leave these smaller streams, and pass 

 on to the larger rivers, such as the Thames, the Severn, the 

 Trent, the Clyde, and others, that aflford long-reaches of sand- 

 bank, shingle, and muddy flats, on which beetles of various 

 species are always to be found in favourable weather, sometimes 

 in the greatest profusion. Different species are to be found on 

 the banks of almost every river, but there is a general similarity 

 — as we should expect — as regards the genera, at any rate. 



The most characteristic river-bank genus is, perhaps, 

 Bemhidium ; by far the greater majority of this important 

 genus (which contains nearly fifty British species) are to be 

 found on the banks of rivers and ponds. I have found the 

 following species within a very small area on the banks of the 

 Trent and Dove, near Eepton : — Bemhidium (eneum, B. Manncr- 

 heimi, B. (juttula, B. higuttatam, B. articulatam, B. (liliipes, 



