^96 Mr Wilson on the Distribution of Insects. 



Tachinus rufipes. Quedius picipennis. 



Creophilus maxillosus. Philonthus politus. 

 Staplivlinus murinus. splendens. 



castanopterus. variaus. 



stercorarius. Othius fulgidus. 



aeneoceplialus. Gyrohypnus longiceps. 

 Goerius olens. linearis. ^^ 



Ocypus similis. Lathrobium lineare. 



Quedius tristis. Stenus ? 



A few brief notes may be added to the preceding list. Of 

 the seven Cicindelae recorded as British, the one first above 

 named, C campcstris, is the sole Scottish species. It seems to 

 occur from the Land's End to Caithness. Above two hundred 

 species of the genus are known to naturalists as inhabiting the 

 various regions of the earth. They spread from New Zealand 

 to the northern parts of Siberia, and this very extended distri- 

 bution makes it the more remarkable that only a single species 

 should be found in Scotland, more especially as six others oc- 

 cur in England. 



Of the genus Carabus, all the species hitherto recorded as 

 Scotch were found in Sutherland, with the exception of C mo- 

 nilis and nitens. At the absence of the latter I was somewhat 

 surprised, as it occurs in several other wild and heathy districts 

 of Scotland ; but, as we perambulated the county in so many 

 directions without seeing it, I think it may fairly be inferred 

 to be either entirely absent or extremely rare. Car. cutctiula- 

 tiis, as might have been expected, was extremely common, and 

 occurred not only on plains, but on the tops of high mountains. 

 C. violaceiis was much less abundant, and did not occur on the 

 mountains at so high an elevation as the last named. C. kor- 

 tensis, so common in the southern and central districts of Scot- 

 land, is extremely rare in Sutherland, and occurs only in the 

 lower grounds. The localities of these three species serve to 

 illustrate in an interesting manner the similarity of effect pro- 

 duced by an elevated position and a high latitude. The ».wo 

 former being found to occur on mountains as well as on plains 

 in the southern parts of the island, extend to the extreme north, 

 and without any great diminution in their numbers ; but the 

 last named being naturally more frequent in valleys, and in low 

 lying sheltered situations, seems gradually to decrease in amount 

 as we proceed northwards, and was not observed at all in the 



