400 Mr. R. McLachlan on 



few Continental examples of tlie genus to wliicli T could 

 refer, all seemed equally to pertain to B. hyemalis. Re- 

 cently, however, my attention has again been called to 

 the subject, and I resolved to obtain a sight of Professor 

 Westwood's insect. That gentleman obligingly lent me 

 two males, all that exist in the Hope Museum ; these are 

 certainly distinct from Injemalis, and agree well with the 

 description of WestwoodU. But when lending me the 

 insects, Prof. Westwood stated that both were from 

 Germany, and that he never possessed a British male 

 example. Under these circumstances, it is yet too soon 

 to attribute the two species to Britain. All the native 

 specimens I have seen are assuredly hyemalis, at any 

 rate, so far as the males are concerned ; and as for the 

 females, it would certainly be unsafe to rely upon diflFer- 

 ences of colour alone, without having the other sex, 

 as the colour varies immensely, according to the 

 degree of maturity of the individual, and I may remark 

 that I have males of hyemalis both bronzy-brown and 

 bronzy-green; the clear yellow of the legs, &c., in 

 Weskooodii, is characteristic, and some native female 

 examples seem to possess this attribute, yet we must see 

 males before deciding upon them. 



I conclude these remarks with some notes upon the 

 structural characters of the males of the two species. 



In B. hyemalis, the first visible dorsal abdominal seg- 

 ment (I consider this in reality is the second segment) , 

 bears near its apical margin (but not on the margin), a 

 transversely quadrate, thin, raised lobe, considerably 

 longer than broad ; on the succeeding segment is a faint 

 indication of a similar lobe, but very indistinct. The 

 valve (''lamina," Hagen) proceeding from the ventral 

 apex of the abdomen is triangular, the sides slightly 

 rounded, the lower surface convex, and the apex some- 

 what produced and elliptical. (See fig. 1.) 



In B. WestwoodU, the first visible dorsal abdominal 

 segment has the raised lobe as in hyemalis, but that on 

 the succeeding segment is much larger than in that 

 species, very distinct, and similar in form to the other, 

 but less transversely quadrate. The ventral apical valve 

 is shorter, the sides not rounded, the apex sharply trun- 

 cate, and even slightly incised. (See fig. 2.) 



I have penned these notes with the hope that, by 

 calling more attention to the peculiarities of the two 



