Transactions. 79 



Gassida Chloris has occiu-red in the flood refuse at 

 Kolton ; only one specimen, liowever, has been got. 



Hli)2^odainia 13 punctata, a member of the pretty and 

 famiUar family of Lady Birds, is another species of excessive 

 rarity, found also in Kelton flood refuse. 



Hyperaspis repensis, the last on my list of rarities, is 

 procured by tearing up moss tufts and shaking them on a 

 cloth. It is only found near Gasstown. 



It only remains for me to explain why so many rare 

 species are found at Kelton amongst the flood refuse. This 

 flood refuse, or "wrack" as some people call it, is the sticks, 

 branches, leaves, straws, and other material brought down 

 the Nith and its tributary streams, in conjunction with similar 

 material brought in from the Sol way along with seaweeds, 

 &c. When the weather has been dry for a month or so the 

 beds of streams away up amongst the hills become filled up 

 with rubbish of all sorts, and this is resorted to for food and 

 shelter by numerous Beetles. Then the rains descend and 

 the floods come, and all this rubbish, with its tenant beetles, 

 is borne down to the sea, and the first tide throws it on the 

 merse at Kelton in great heaps. Riddling this material into 

 a sack, and afterwards examining it at home, it is found to 

 be literally crawling with beetles gathered from the whole 

 basin of the Nith and some of the streams which discharge 

 themselves into the Solway. In this way yo\i will see that 

 an hour's collecting at Kelton is equal to a week sjDOut in 

 hunting for rare beetles in the hills and glens of Nithsdale. 



I am afraid I have wearied you with my tedious narra- 

 tion, but, speaking for myself, I am sure I would be only too 

 glad if I could compass a list of rare beetles which would 

 occupy an hour or two more in reading. 



I still hope for further extensions of the list, and may I 

 also hope that I may be aided in extending it by some of our 

 younger members, who, as yet, are only considering what 

 branch of Natural History to study. 



