Excursion to Moncayo, N. Spain. 85 



Sierra de la Demanda, and other places in the vicinity of 

 Canales. A list of the species of Coleoptera and Hemiptera- 

 Heteroptera, so far as at present identified, cannot fail 

 therefore to be of interest, especially to show the affinity 

 or otherwise of the fauna of the places visited with that of 

 the nearest adjacent districts which are at all well known, 

 viz. the Pyrenees, the Cantabrian Mountains, and the 

 Sierra de Guadarrama. The forests of beech at Moncayo 

 (those visited near Canales were too dry and not so pro- 

 ductive), the pines at Canales (there were none at 

 Moncayo), the mountain tops, the slopes, valleys, etc, had 

 their special insects, the beech alone producing a consider- 

 able fauna. The beetles most in evidence on the higher 

 mountains were the species of Dorcadion, each district 

 having one or more local forms ; two of these abounded in a 

 restricted area on the summit of Moncayo, and another very 

 similar insect was found on the Logrono Sierra. The 

 species at Moncayo, where most abundant, occurred in com- 

 pany with swarms of the nymphs of a grasshopper, perhaps 

 a natural result of one living above and the other below 

 ground in places where grass was most abundant. When 

 at rest, the beetles are rather conspicuous on uniformly- 

 coloured bare earth, but when they were near or among 

 tufts of grass, and amid a horde of jumping grasshoppers, 

 the eye required some training to distinguish them. The 

 likeness between the Dorcadion and the Orthopteron may 

 of course have no further meaning than a similar facies 

 induced by an identical habitat ; still it may serve to 

 protect the beetles during the short period of their existence 

 in the perfect state. On Moncayo, too, Coccinella ^-punctata 

 abounded to an incredible extent, the species being com- 

 paratively scarce lower down, swarming under every stone, 

 and the presence there of certain other lowland forms, as 

 Cartalluiii ebulinum, Lebia cyanocejjliala, Aj^hodms carpe- 

 tanus, etc., would suggest that these insects were migrating 

 or had been carried there by the terrific winds at times 

 prevalent in the district. Other species met with on the 

 higher ground, either at Moncayo or Canales, were Chlmnius 

 dives, Limonitis nigripea, various CorymHtes, Zabrtis, 

 Gymindis, Heliopatlies, Timarcha, Cyrtonus, Pterosticlius, 

 and Byrrhus, a Hhytirrhinus, a Crypticus, Aphodius scm- 

 tator, and many others. Near the lingering patches of 

 snow, Carabus helhco and C. imrp^trascens, Tachypiis cyani- 

 cornis, Leistus montanus, Otiorrhynchus caunicus, Bryoporus 



