THE 

 COLEOPTERA OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 



BY HORACE ST J. K. DONISTHORPE, F.Z.S., F.E.S. 



CAMBRIDGESHIRE, to the general collector, is somewhat 

 uninteresting, being but a moderate sized county, very flat, 

 and considerably cultivated, but is of course redeemed by the 

 Fens, which support many rare and local insects. These are 

 the remnants of very much larger marshy areas, which formerly 

 occupied the whole of the district, and the species that haunt 

 them have naturally been driven and condensed into this 

 smaller space, and, indeed, may be compared to Hereward- the 

 Wake, holding it as their last stronghold. Although one or 

 two species, which will be dealt with later, seem to have 

 disappeared before drainage, as in the case of the Great 

 Copper in the Lepidoptera, the majority of the fen-dwellers 

 still survive at Wicken and other localities, and some are now 

 only found there in Britain. The following notes only deal 

 with the more local and rare species, and those of the purely 

 fen-insects. 



To commence with the Geodephaga, or Ground-beetles, 

 the rare variety consitus of Carabus monilis has been taken 

 at Wicken, and Carabus granulatus is common in the fens 

 on paths, and under cut herbage, etc. Wollaston records a 

 dozen specimens of the local Calosoma inquisitor as being 

 once taken by a gentleman at Gamlingay. Bkthisa multi- 

 punctata, which occurs in marshy places, on the mud at the 

 edges of pools and so on, is recorded from the Cambridgeshire 

 Fens, as also the rare Elaphrus uliginosus. The handsome 

 Panageus crux-major occurs sparingly at Wicken and other 

 fens under sedge refuse; the very rare Chlcenius holosericeus 

 is recorded from Whittlesea Mere; from Fen Ditton by 



