FEBRUARY. 71 



taken : the Nottingham district, including Sher- 

 wood Forest, is however very productive, although 

 some species are extremely local. The first British 

 specimens of Saperda ferrea were taken by myself 

 in the county. 



Berosus luridus. The insects of this beautiful 

 genus are frequently confounded. I would, there- 

 fore, advise the young entomologist to examine 

 them with care ; they delight in pools having a 

 clayey bottom, and haunt the roots and stems of 

 aquatic plants near the margin. 



Silpha opaca. This rare species is sometimes 

 taken in the vicinity of Nottingham, in this and the 

 two following months. 



Coccinella septem-punctata, or Lady-bird, is as- 

 sociated with the remembrance of almost every 

 country ramble, and is welcomed with rapture by 

 every child who has heard the nursery air of 



Lady-bird ! lady-bird ! fly away home : 



Thy house is on fire, and thy children will burn ! etc. 



It is an insect that deserves the protection of every 

 gardener and lover of plants ; its food being the 

 various species of aphides, those destroyers and 

 disfigurers of our hothouses and gardens. The 

 whole genus is subject to great variation ; so much 

 so, that it is impossible to determine the species 

 without carefully collecting couples. 



Tenebrio molitor. The larvae (commonly called 

 meal-worms) of this domestic beetle form the fa- 

 vourite food of the nightingale when in confine- 

 ment. 



