NEW BRITISH SPECIES, ETC., IN 1868. 55 



was named for him longkollis by M. Allard himself) as a 

 variety of pu sill a (oleraceaj Wat. Cat.) ! — in spite of Mr. 

 Waterhouse having specially called attention to its structural 

 peculiarities. It is needless to say that it has absolutely 

 nothing to do with that species; it occurs only in the north, 

 and, to make confusion more confounded, is, according to a 

 specimen received from Dr. Sharp, with a note to that effect, 

 the male of ericeti. Mr. T. Wilkinson of Scarborough, who 

 has sent me the insect from time to time, of great variety 

 in colour, from dull pitchy-greenish to shining blue- 

 green, tells me he finds it on Jlelianthemum, whilst Dr. 

 Sharp's specimens accompanied undoubted female ericeti on 

 heather. 



As to G. oleraceaj Linn., which we are unanimously told 

 does not occur here, I. may observe that the two Linnaean 

 exponents of it (according to Mr. Waterhouse's notes) pinned 

 through the label, are 1st, the larger purple insect variously 

 termed consobrina and lythriy and 2ndly, the insect now 

 termed pusilla. Gyllenhal, who best may be presumed to 

 know Linnaeus' insect, describes it as frequenting all sorts of 

 plants and shrubs, especially hazels, and often heather ; as 

 being liable to variation in size from being almost as large as 

 Phyllodecta vitellince to four sizes less than that insect, and in 

 colour as follows, — blueish-green, fuscous-brassy, fuscous- 

 greenish, almost black, shining blue or violet-blue. It is, 

 therefore, tolerably certain that his oleraceaj and presumably 

 Linnaeus' also, comprised our consobrina, ampelophagay 

 ej'iceti, pusilla, and possibly (the dark fusco-greenish form 

 only fitting that insect) the northern patellated species ; and it 

 would seem absurd to retain the name oleracea for any one 

 of these insects. Thomson, who also should be an authority 

 on Swedish species, considers Linnagus' and Gyllenhal's 

 oleracea as identical, and adopts most of the vars. 



Our old oleracea {pusilla, Dufts.) occurs, usually in pro- 



