141 



CARPOPHILUS SEX PUSTU LAWS F., ITS CONGENERS, 

 AND THEIR OCCURRENCE IN THE BRITISH ISLES. 



E. G. BAYFORD, F.E.S. 



Including a specimen of C. ohsoletus Er. recently taken in 

 Edlington Wood by Mr. W. E. Sharp, F.E.S., six species of the 

 genus have at various times been recorded as occurring in 

 the British Isles. 



These are i. C. hemipteriis L. 



C. hiptistulatus Er. 



C. ohsoletus Er. 



C. mutilatus Er. 



C. dimidiatus Er. 



C. sexpustulatus F. 

 In the various catalogues of Coleoptera and works on Coleop- 

 tera which have attempted descriptions of the whole Beetle 

 fauna of the British Isles, commencing with Marsham in 1802, 

 sometimes one, sometimes two, and sometimes three species 

 have been included with more or less of reservation. Of these, 

 only one, C. hemipterus L., appears to have been consistently 

 accepted without much reservation or qualification. The 

 details tabulated on pp. 142-143 in parallel columns will enable 

 these varying opinions to be compared. 



Leaving out every other consideration except that of dis- 

 tribution, one would expect to find in sexpitstulatiis the one 

 indigenous species in the six, with possibly hipnstulatus in 

 the second place ; the other four being importations more 

 or less numerous according to circumstances. Quite obviously 

 Nos. I, 3, 4 and 5, whatever may have been their original home, 

 have been distributed over the globe in consignments of food 

 stuffs, of which brown sugar, dried fruits and corn appear to 

 be the chief. These species, with the exception of hemiptertis, 

 which has been taken at large on flowers, have never been 

 found in any situation which would indicate their primitive 

 food, while, on the other hand, the other two species, and more 

 especially sexpusUilatus, have been taken at large under bark, 

 and amongst carrion, both foods common to a number of 

 closely allied species amongst the Undoubtedly indigenous 

 NitidulidcB. Moreover, Fowler's two or three British examples 

 of 6-pustulatns, have increased to quite a handsome figure, 

 something like twenty-five specimens having been met with 

 in the Doncaster district alone. In every case they have been 

 found either under bark, or amongst carrion, and not in one 

 restricted area, but spread over a wide radius. Of course it is 

 not advisable to accept too readily a claimant to the British 

 List ; it therefore becomes necessary to examine the various 

 theories, which have been propounded to account for the occur- 



igi2 May i. 



