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NATURAL LOCALITIES OP' BRITISH COLEOPTERA. 



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

 No. YllI,— WATER COLLEGTINU (contiimed)—MOiiS, HAYSTACKS, ifec. 



The Philhych'ida, as a general rule, are common, and many 

 of the scarcer species are very probably often passed over by 

 collectors, in consequence of the resemblance they bear to 

 commoner species. Many of the minuter groups, such as 

 Hf/drance and OctJiebii, are best taken by scraping the mossj' 

 sides of pools and swamps with a net, having a metal rim, as 

 described in last month's 'Entomologist.' The Berosi are not 

 common, but may occasionally be taken in abundance ; I found 

 Berosus affinis very plentifully on one occasion in brackish pits in 

 Lymington Salterns. The Helophori are a very unsatisfactory 

 group, and want some one to work them out thoroughlj^ ; 

 several species have lately been added to the British list, and 

 very probably others remain to be discovered. Hydropldlus and 

 Hydrous have already been mentioned as occurring in the London 

 district; the former, in spite of its formidable appearance, is a 

 vegetable feeder, and may be kept with safety in an aquarium 

 with fish ; its larva, however, is carnivorous, and very voracious. 

 Cyclonotum is very common in some localities. Cluetarthria 

 appears to be rather local, but may be obtained in damp moss in 

 some abundance where it occurs. Limnehius jncimis is very 

 local, but abundant where it is found ; L. nitidus seems to be 

 rare. The other two species of the genus are common. 



The Elmides and Parnides, although not usually classed with 

 the water-beetles, cannot be mentioned in any other connection. 

 The species of Elmis are found adhering to the bottom of stones 

 under water, and require a practised eye to find them, as, at first 

 sight, they look like so many little shapeless masses of dirt ; 

 Elmis (Biieus is the commonest species, and E. Volhnari the 

 largest and most conspicuous. The rare Macronychus (first 

 discovered by Mr. Harris in the Dove, near Burton) is always 

 found attached to logs, and never to stones. In the same place I 

 have found Potaminus suhstriatiis ; this beetle seems to be found 

 almost always under clods of earth, near the bank, that have been 

 dislodged and fallen into the water. 



The very rare Eiibria imlustris may almost be called a water- 

 beetle. The fiist Britisb specimen was taken by the Rev. H. 



