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Art. VII. — Insects found on Hampstead Heath. By W. 

 E. Shuckard. 



Dear Sir, — It may not prove wholly uninteresting to your 

 readers, particularly to those located in or near the metropolis, 

 to be apprised, now that the season is about to commence, of 

 what one particular district in its immediate vicinity promises 

 them by the exercise of a due degree of assiduity. It has 

 fallen to my lot to capture the following insects at Hampstead 

 and Highgate. I do not pretend to give it as a Fauna Insec- 

 torum of that district, although it may be considered as a 

 contribution thereto, for my attention was directed chiefly to 

 the collection and observation of the habits of the Aculeate 

 Hymenoptera. In this pursuit I have had, however, the good 

 luck to introduce one or two entirely new things to the British 

 lists ; and I strongly advise every collector of the insects of 

 Great Britain not to neglect a place which seems hitherto most 

 undeservedly to have been very much overlooked, and which 

 is, I dare say, as rich in the other orders as I have found it in 

 my favourite one. What would the Aurelian say to the cap- 

 ture of Petiver's Cynthia Hampsteadiense ? I certainly 

 cannot promise him so much, but a friend of mine took, two 

 years ago, within almost a stone's-throw of the Heath, that 

 remarkable variety of Vanessa Urticce, of which, I believe, 

 only three specimens are known to exist. 



In the list of Coleoptera I include those only which I con- 

 sider my best captures. I have taken a great number of more 

 common ones, with which it would be idle to swell the array, 

 but in the list of the Aculeate Hymenoptera, I mention all that 

 I have taken at the above place, and they will be found to con- 

 stitute the majority of the known British species ; and besides 

 these, I have captured many new ones, which, as I have not yet 

 named, I can merely indicate. The insects in italics were 

 unknown as British until I took them, and I consider them 

 very interesting additions to our Fauna. The list of the mul- 

 titude of the species of Tenthredinidce, and Ichneumonida?, 

 and Diptera, which I have not yet had leisure to examine 

 and name, I will forward to you at some future time. 



Coleoptera. Oiceoptoma thoracica Simplocaria semistriata 



Tetratoma ancora Onthophilus striatus 



Lamprias chlorocephalus Cerylon Histeroides Onthophagus ovatus 



Ocys tempestivus Lyctus oblongus Aphodius testudinarius 



Choleva angustata Megatoma undata Hoplia argentea 



