NATURAL LOCALITIES OF BRITISH COLEOPTERA. 267 



that utilise them by boring in them. Mr, S. Stevens has fomid 

 the very rare Teretrius picipes in some numbers on a fence near 

 Norwood, and the almost equally rare Tillas unifasciatns and 

 Lyctus hruimeus sparingly, on the same palings. Good Stapkif- 

 linidce, such as Calodcra umbrosa, may be taken in the same way, 

 and many other species. Longicorns are very fond of settling on 

 wooden fences ; Molorchus minor has been taken on a fence near 

 Hampstead, and the new Pachyta sexmaculata was taken not 

 long ago on a fir-paling in Scotland. Certain beetles of course 

 inhabit the interior of the wood ; of these Xyletinus ater is one 

 of the best. Mr. Hadfield of Newark, one of our oldest collectors, 

 who was a friend of Mr. Dawson's, and helped him with several 

 species for the ' Geodephaga Britannica,' took me a short time 

 ago to see a fence on which he used to take this rare beetle 

 plentifully ; the fence, unluckily, had just been removed, but the 

 number of duplicates that Mr. Hadfield had sent away, and still 

 possessed, showed how abundant this rare beetle must have been 

 in that particular locality. One thing must be noticed, and that 

 is, that for the species that settle in the sun and are not borers, 

 the palings must be new ; for the boring species they cannot be 

 too old. Some of this class of beetles are parasitic (as Teretrius 

 picipes on Ptilinus), but it seems possible that some are 

 attracted by the sap and moisture remaining in the new wood. 

 The reason of this probably is that the sap of the wood at first 

 is an attraction, and this leads us to speak of sap as a method 

 of collecting. If the trunk of a tree bo examined in the spring 

 after it has been cut down — and trees are usually felled in 

 autumn or winter — it will be found that a large quantity of sap 

 is exuding from them ; great numbers of beetles come to this 

 sap, and very good species may be captured among the Carahidce, 

 Tachini and other Staphylinidce, Epurcece, Cryptophagidce, and 

 many other families. Longicorns are especially fond of sap, and 

 may often be taken in this way, especially in Scotland, where 

 Cetonia Jioricola has been taken at the same sweets. The sap of 

 birch seems very attractive to many varieties, among them 

 SphcBvites glahratus, Epurcsa silacea, E. variegata, E. parvula, 

 and E. immunda, and the very rare Paramecosoma serrata. In 

 the second year the stump is nearly useless ; fresh stumps should 

 be taken note of in the winter and visited in the spring : it is a 

 good plan to pile chips on and around the stumps, as they harbour 



