Insects. 7367 



ynu had to raise your voice considerably to address your neighbour. The entomolo- 

 gical productions of the tropics struck me as being quite as astonishing in size and 

 nature as the hoianical or zoological wonders. There is another beetle, called the 

 razor-grinder, that imitates the sound of a knife-grinding machine so exactly that it 

 is impossible to divest oneself of the idea that one is in realiiy listening to some " needy 

 knife-grinder'' who has wandered out to the tropical wilds on spec. — '^ Romance of 

 Natural History,' by P. H. Gosse, p. 29. 



Haunts of Leplinus testaveus in Scotland. — Until 1857 this interesting beetle had 

 occurred to British coleopteiists (nily, I believe, in single specimens, and at consider- 

 able intervals of time. In the last week of August of that year I was fortunate 

 enough to pick up, with the help of a young friend, and within the compass of a square 

 yard, twenty -three individuals, the majurity of which have long since found their way 

 into the cabinets of correspondents. While walking through a damp wood in Ber- 

 wickshire, a few chips that liad lain for twelve or eighteen mouths invited my inspection; 

 and in the hope of meeting with Qnedius lateralis and Q. aitenuatus I commenced a 

 search. After turning a chip or two, and sli;;hlly disiurbing the heap, I observed a 

 creature issue forth at some distance fiom. my hand, and, careering for a second or two 

 with many-twinkling feet in the bright sunshine, vanish beneath the debris, again to 

 return and display its yellow silky sheen, convincing me it was no vulgar mite, as for 

 a moment I supposed, that had been startled from its propriety. The heap was mo- 

 derately dry, being drained by the gallery of a field-mouse or a mole, out of whose 

 subterranean abode several specimens were extracted. Two or three individuals had 

 attached to their legs what I regarded as the larvae of an Acarus. The spot was 

 visited the two following years, but without success, the habitat having been destroyed 

 by the tread of cattle. At a short distance from it, however, I took a single sjieciraen 

 on a very unfavourable day in September last, amongst decaying leaves and twigs, in 

 company with species of Catops and Megarthrus. This note, along with the informa- 

 tion that Mr. Scott will probably furnish regarding the locality of his late capture, may 

 possibly help some young collector to the possession of what I presume is still a desi- 

 deratum in many a cabinet. — Robert Hislop ; Blairlodge, Falkirk, November 24, I860. 



Occurrence of Ammcecius brevis at Soutkport, and Notes on other Coleoptera, — In 

 the month of May, 1859, 1 enjoyed the satisfaction of a week's collecting in the sand- 

 hill district near Liverpool, extending my researches to Southport. This last-named 

 station proved by far the most productive I had met with. It was that propitious 

 moment when the insect world is assuming its most active phase of existence, and the 

 influence of a noon-day sun had called forth an infinite number of Coleoptera to bask 

 on those white and gleaming slopes ; not only affording me some rare acquisitions, 

 but matter for interesting observation with regard to the habits of species. I was 

 particularly pleased in nuting that lovely insect, Carabus nitens, as he appears at 

 home. Standing in the middle of one of those damp spots in the heart of the sand 

 hills, which it appears most to affect, the eye, attracted by the metallic gleam, could 

 discover a dozen or more individuals, each standing perfectly motionless at the edge 

 of his burrow, a little heap of sand newly raised indicating the point of exit. So long 

 as the sun continued to shine they quietly submitted to capture, but the moment a 

 passing cloud obscured it they retreated at once to the earth. Skirling situations like 

 these among the procumbent stems of a species of Salix very common in maritime 

 localities, I took, by a vigilant chase, several specimens of Tachypus pallipes. This 

 insect, like that before meutiuued, I could never succeed in taking but when the sun 



