INSECTS 



outhouse at Plaistow by Mr. Hindley. Obrium cantharinum was bred in 

 some numbers by Dr. Power from aspen bark obtained at Wanstead ; it 

 has also been taken at Epping and Leytonstone. Molorchus minor is occa- 

 sionally found in the Colchester district, but is decidedly rare ; and 

 Strangalia quadrifasciata is frequently met with in certain woods in the 

 Tendring Hundred. 5. revesfita has been beaten from oak in Hainault 

 Forest (Zoologist, ii. 414). Mesosa nubila has severalt imes been taken in 

 the woods at St. Osyth. Saperda carcbarias occurs very sparingly at Col- 

 chester, and Phytcecia cylindrica at Aldham. 



Orsodacna lineola and 0. cerasi occur pretty regularly in one restricted 

 locality at Colchester, where the very rare Zeugopbora flavicollis was 

 obtained in 18967. The handsome Cryptocephalus sex-punctatus and 

 Crepidodera nitidula have also been found on two or three occasions in 

 fair numbers in the Colchester and St. Osyth woods, but are always very 

 local and generally extremely scarce. Helops caruleus is not often met 

 with, but a single decaying tree occasionally yields a large number of 

 specimens, as was the case with a mulberry tree in a Colchester garden, 

 and an elm tree embedded in the sand on the Clacton coast. Cistela 

 ceramboides was obtained at Colchester in 1900. Tetratoma desmaresti was 

 found by Mr. E. W. Janson in Hainault Forest in 18457. Meloe 

 rugosus was taken in some numbers by Mr. Frederick Smith and the 

 Rev. H. S. Gorham at Southend, and also by Dr. Power at Prittle- 

 well. 



Lytta vesicatoria, familiarly known as the Spanish Fly or Blister 

 Beetle, is very rarely met with, but in 1837 appeared in immense num- 

 bers in the Colchester district, when it is said that every ash tree was 

 swarming with specimens. In much more recent years the species was 

 again taken rather freely by Mr. J. G. Grapes at Donyland, but other 

 entomologists have assiduously searched for it to no purpose. 1 Platyr- 

 rhinus latirostris was captured in Hainault Forest in 1843, and Choragus 

 sheppardi has been taken at Southend. Three or four specimens of the 

 very rare Cleonus albidus have been captured on the coast sands, but none 

 have been seen recently. The family Bagous contains a number of rare 

 species, and of these B. fefro, B. cylindrus^ B. argillaceus, B. litnosus and 

 B. subcarinatus are all found in the county. Balaninus cerasorum may 

 occasionally be obtained on birch and alder in the Colchester district. 

 And lastly Larinus sco/ymt, a large and conspicuous south European 

 insect, was captured at Colchester in 1900, and is recorded here as 

 in case of its re-occurrence in Britain the date of its first appearance 

 will be interesting. 



It would be possible to extend these notes indefinitely, but the sub- 

 ject is much too extensive to be treated exhaustively in what purposes to 

 be simply a local list. 



1 This fine insect again occurred in considerable numbers near Colchester in 1901. 



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