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VI. An Entomological Excursion to Central Spain. By 

 George Charles Chajvipion, F.Z.S. 



[Read March 5th, 1902.] 



In the Transactions of the Entomological Society for 1897, 

 pp. 427-434, Mrs. M. de la Beche NichoU has given us an 

 interesting account of her travels in Aragon and Castile, 

 accompanied by a list of the butterflies she met with, and a 

 description of the general features of the places visited. Dr. 

 Chapman and I having journeyed through the same district 

 during the past summer, it is proposed here to supplement 

 Mrs. Nicholl's paper by giving some particulars concerning 

 the Coleoptera and Hemiptera noticed by us. Dr. Chapman 

 having already published various notes on the Lepidoptera, 

 The date of our visit, July 6th to August 10th, though 

 probably the best time for the majority of the Lepidoptera, 

 was, of course, much too late for most of the beetles, 

 the characteristic Longicorn genus Dorcaclion, and many 

 of the Carabidse, Malacodermata, Elateridae, etc., being 

 nearly or quite over, owing to the vegetation on the lower 

 ground being already dried up. Still this was amply com- 

 pensated for by the discovery of a conspicuous B'U2Jrestis, 

 not previously recorded from Spain, the abundance of 

 various Lepturids, etc. So far, too, as at present ascer- 

 tained, the most interesting captures in the Coleoptera, 

 as well as in the Hemiptera- Heteroptera, were made in 

 the lower, hot, arid regions, where the fauna resembles 

 that of Algeria, and not in the pine-forested and more 

 humid mountainous districts, which have a beetle-fauna 

 very similar to that of the Eastern Pyrenees. Some of 

 the species met with in these pine-forests, we had captured 

 at Arcachon, in the Landes, on our way out, as Mclanotus 

 tenehrosus, Spondylis livprestoidcs, ^fonohammus gallo-pro- 

 vincialis, Hylotrupes hajtdus, Magdalis memnonia, Buprestis 

 octomaculata, Chrysohothrys solieri, etc. It was a pleasant 

 surprise to me, having previously travelled to the Sierra 

 Nevada and other places in Southern Spain, to find such 

 extensive forests of pine as still clothe the mountains 

 which form the watershed of the rivers Tagus, Jucar and 

 TRANS. ENT. SOO. LOND. 1902. — PART I. (APRIL) 



