162 Mr. G. R. Waterhouse's Notes on 



X. Notes on the British Species of Heterocerus. By Geo. 

 R. Waterhouse, Esq., F.Z.S. 



[Read Feb. 7Ui, 1859.] 



The following Notes are communicated to the Society with the 

 view of drawing attention to a group which appears to have been 

 much neglected. In the latest published list of the British species 

 only three are enumerated,* whilst in the " Naturgeschichte der 

 Insecten Deutsclilands," by Erichson, no less than twelve species are 

 described as inhabiting Germany; several of these (besides the 

 species here enumerated) have a wide range, and will therefore 

 probably, in part at least, be found in England. In pointing out 

 that there are six well-defined English species, besides one which 

 is doubtful, the writer cannot but feel that his list is far from 

 perfect, since the whole of these exist in his own Collection, and 

 he cannot lay claim to any diligence in collecting material for the 

 study of the group. 



Are the males of the species of Heterocerus usually very scarce ? 

 The author has found such to be the case with regard to his own 

 and some other specimens submitted to him for examination. 

 Out of about fifty specimens of Het, Icevigatus, he only found one 

 individual presenting the male character ; in H. ohsoletus he finds 

 about one male to ten females; in the H.fossor, of this list, he 

 finds no male among the ten specimens which he has examined, 

 and the same remark applies to the H. flexuosus, of which he pos- 

 sesses upwards of twenty specimens. Possibly the so-called male 

 characters only become evident in well-developed individuals. 



Heterocerus Icevigatus, Panzer, Faun. Ins. Germ, xxiii. 13 (1796 

 —1809), 



, Steph.Illustr.ii. 101,4(1829); Manual, 



p. 80, 621 (1839). 



, Kiesenw. Germ. Zeitschr. iv. 217, 15, 



pi. 3, fig. 10. 



• Others have no doubt been enumerated, but, as their distinctive characters 

 have never been clearly pointed out, they have not been recognized. 



