OX THE ENTOMOLOGY. XV11 



III. 



ON THE ENTOMOLOGY OF CLYDESDALE. 



FROM the large extent and diversified nature of the country drained 

 by the Clyde, possessing as that country does the well-cultivated 

 fields of the Lowlands as well as the heathy moors and the rugged 

 mountains of the Highlands, not to speak of its large tract of sea- 

 coast and the interesting islands in the Firth, it might be reasonably 

 conjectured that the Insect fauna of Clydesdale should be both rich 

 and varied ; nor does the knowledge we have of its insects belie this 

 conjecture. Unfortunately, however, the Clyde Valley has entomo- 

 logically been but very imperfectly investigated ; there have indeed 

 been some very zealous workers who have collected for many years, 

 but their number has never been great enough for the tract of 

 country to be explored, and their collecting has been almost wholly 

 confined to the lower portions of the country, while also their atten- 

 tion has been mainly directed to the Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. 

 Neither have they busied themselves hitherto in preparing local 

 catalogues of such orders of insects that have been to any consider- 

 able extent worked out ; but it is to be hoped that the very desirable 

 work of cataloguing the Clydesdale insects will now be proceeded 

 with vigorously. 



Of Coleoptera we have probably more than half the British species. 

 Fossil Marsh is a very good locality for Hydradephaga; the Tollcross 

 sand-pits yield (or did yield) many good species; the Ayrshire coast 

 between Irvine and Ayr is very rich in sand-loving and littoral 

 Geodephaga; while Cadzow forest and Gadder Wilderness abound 

 with wood-frequenting beetles. Ben Lomond also produces a num- 

 ber of more or less rare mountain species. The following are the 

 names of a few of the more noteworthy Clydesdale Coleoptera: 1 

 Carabus clathratus (Ayrshire coast) ; Pterostichus lepidus (Tollcross) ; 

 Sleropus aetkiops (Ben Lomond); jEpys fulvescens (shores of Gare- 

 loch) ; Cillerrum laterals (shore near Dumbarton) ; Acilius sulcatus, 

 var. Scoticus (common at Fossil Marsh) ; Hydroporus novemlineatus 

 (Gareloch); Colon latus (Paisley); Leptinus testaceus (Paisley); Amphi- 

 cyllis globus (banks of Kelvin); Melolontha hippocastani (Hamil- 

 ton); Ceuthorhynchus viduatus (Tollcross); Strangalia quadrifasciata 

 (Arran); Creophilus maxillosus,vnr. ciliaris (shores of Arran); Staphy- 

 linus fulvipes (Paisley Moss); Ciryphium angusticolle (Glasgow, 



1 I am indebted to Drs. Sharp and White for information regarding the Coleoptera and 

 Lepidoptera respectively. 



b 



