NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 91 



pp. 101 — 106. Nematus ribesii I omitted above on account of its 

 commonness. It has, however, been abundant here during the 

 j)ast year. Various means have been adopted to get rid of this 

 pest, sucli as quicklime, hellebore powder, &c., but of no avail; 

 it is there again the following year. We have, however, two 

 distinct species here feeding on gooseberries. The larva of 

 N. ribesii is pale or whitish green, with numerous black spots 

 over the surface ; also larger than the other I have mentioned. 

 The other is dark green, scarcely distinguishable from the dark 

 green of the gooseberry leaf, and on close examination you can 

 see small black spots on the surface. This species, during the 

 past season, has been more destructive than N. ribesii, stripping 

 whole rows of trees, and causing them to present a picture of 

 leafless winter-like trees. The quantity of trees stripped by both 

 species covered more than an acre of ground. — T. Wilson ; 

 Holgate, York, January 7, 1881. 



Anchomenus maeginatus, L. — I was rather surprised to see 

 the note on Anchomenus marginatus, L., in the March number of 

 the 'Entomologist' (Entom. xiv. 70), stating that it was usually 

 considered exclusively a coast insect, especially as it was backed 

 by such authorities. All my specimens of this insect came from 

 the banks of the Trent, near Kepton, in Derbyshire. I have also 

 seen it on the banks of the Dove, near Burton-on-Trent ; and 

 last August I came across a specimen near Newark-on-Trent. Of 

 course one does not expect to find the actual fore-shore beetles — 

 like Philonthus xantholoma, Cillenum laterale, &c., which we, as a 

 rule, actually find in shingle or under seaweed— in inland 

 situations ; but the habitat of the semi-coast beetles, if we may 

 so call them, — the beetles that inhabit the sandhills, and the part 

 of the shore beyond the reach of the tide, — must be taken with 

 great reserve. I remember being much surprised at finding a 

 Broscus ceplialotes some eight or nine miles from the coast ; but 

 Dawson (Geod. Brit., p. 114) records this species from Woburn, 

 in Bedfordshire. Compared with the fauna of large continents 

 like Asia or America, our island may be considered as entirely 

 consisting of coast, and therefore we must be very careful in 

 speaking too strictly of coast or inland fauna. Botanists will tell 

 us the same thing : many maritime plants are found flourishing 

 at great distances from the sea, owing to deposits of salt and other 

 circumstances ; and there is no reason why the fauna should not 



