212 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



May 22nd. H.rufifrons. — This species, unlike the two preceding, 

 exists through the whole year, except perhaps in Jul}^ ; even on 

 January 3rd- it was abundant; on March 9th, after heavy rain, it 

 appeared in prodigious quantities on the flooded ground : it only 

 occurs in very shallow and temporary puddles. Agdbus ahhre- 

 viatus appeared on February 9th, became most abundant on 

 March 11th, and continued so till May. A. uliginosus was 

 abundant as early as January 8rd ; in March it became less 

 common, but it exists all through the year, and is specially 

 abundant in September. A. agilis appeared on February 11th. 

 Dytiscus dimidiatus. — I believe tliis fine beetle has not before 

 been recorded from Yorkshire; I took one male on March lltli. 

 Colymbetes Grapii. — This species appeared on March 9th, when I 

 took one specimen ; after this a few turned up at every visit till 

 midsummer. Hyphydrus ovatiis appeared on March 17th, and 

 soon became abundant. I think these observations show us 

 that many of the Hydradephaga appear much earlier than is com- 

 monly supposed; moreover, the rarest species appear to be the 

 earliest. Is it possible that they are not so rare as is commonly 

 supposed because they have a very short season, and that at a 

 time when pond-collecting is generally neglected ? — W. C. Hey ; 

 York, August, 1882, . 



[In accordance with Archdeacon Hey's observations, I have 

 always found the rarest aquatics (water-beetles have fi-om the 

 earliest days been my pets) in very early spring, such as Hydro- 

 poriis nitidus (which I was the first, to discover), H. imistriatus, 

 Agahus uliginosus, &c., which I used to get with many others at 

 Cambridge. Hydroporus neglectus I used to get at Lee when the 

 snow was on the ground ; in June and July I found them all but 

 disappear, but in August and September many, if not all, again 

 appear ; and I was once only at Askham Bog for three hours, with 

 the archdeacon, on August 13th, 1872, and found, of those he 

 mentions, Hydroporus Scalesianus pretty abundant (I have 

 recorded seventeen), H. rufifrons and decoratus in profusion, 

 H. tristis common enough, Agahus ahhreviatus plentiful, and 

 A. idiginosus in fair numbers (I got about twenty). I'he more 

 common species were plentiful. — J. "A. P.] 



CoLEOPTERA AT Shere. — By Sweeping some rough grass 

 under a hedge last week I obtained a specimen of Cissophagus 

 hederce, Schmidt. This insect, though included in Mr. Cox's 



