HYDROPHTLID^. 28 



former fairly commonly in Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire and 

 Dumbartonshire, the only three counties in which he has done any 

 extensive collecting. 



PLATAMBUS, Thomson. 

 P. maculatus, var. immaculatus, Donisthorpe. (Ent. Record, 

 xi. 1899, 160). This name must be substituted for the insects standing 

 in our collections as var. jyidchelhis, Heer : Mr. Donisthorpe fully dis- 

 cusses the question and the evidence he adduces appears conclusive. 

 Agabus lyidchellus^ Heer is recorded in the Ent. Annual, 18.07, p. 69, 

 as having been captured by G. Wailes near Loch Achray, on the north 

 side of Loch Katrine, in September 1853. E. Newman records in the 

 Zoologist, 1856, p. 5003, having received A. pulchellus from Mr, Wailes, 

 and that he thought it was A. maculatus, but did not venture to differ 

 from Wailes and Heer. He then goes on to say that the elytra are 

 entirely dark and immaculate. Heer, however, in his description, 

 expressly says " elytra margine maculisque pallidis." Dr. Sharp (Dytis- 

 cidse, p. 549) says of P. maculatus that the smallest vars. come from 

 Scotland, being dark and having the stri£e on the elytra deeper : this is 

 evidently the form which Dr. Sharp had in his mind when he added 

 var. pulc/ieUus to the 189.S Catalogue, but it is not Heer's insect, and 

 Mr. Donisthorpe's name must stand. The insect has been taken at 

 Braemar by Champion, as well as near Loch Katrine by Wailes and 

 Hislop, Mr. Bagnall has taken it in the Derwent Valley, and Mr. 

 Donisthorpe in the New Forest. 



HYDROPHILID^. 



HYDROBIUS, Leach. 

 H. fuscipes, L., var. chalconotus, Steph. ID. Mand. ii. 128 

 (1829) (= var. ceneiis, Sol., Ann. Soc. Eot. Fr., 1834, 314). This is the 

 variety which I have before x-eferred to (Brit. Col, i. 222), as having the 

 upper surface of a strongly metallic greenish or bluish colour : it may also 

 be coppery, brassy, or violaceous : according to Stephens it is more closely 

 punctured than the type form, and has the elytra more deeply striate ; 

 the legs are more or less testaceous. It has been recorded as w«-. mneus, 

 Sol., but Stephens' name has the priority and must stand. It has 

 occurred in the London district, but is decidedly rare ; Suffolk 

 (Morley) ; Barnes Common (E. C. Rye); Tottenham and Portsmouth 

 (Donisthorpe and Pool) ; Sheppey and Woking (Walker). Stephens' 

 records are ; Spitchweek, Devonshire (Leach) and Bottisham (Jenyns). 



PARACYMUS, Thomson, 

 P. seneus, Germ., Ins. Spec. Nov. 1824, 96. Hydrophilus, Thorns, 

 Skand. Col. ix. 120. We possess apparently two species of the genus 

 Paracymus, in P. scutellaris, Ros. = P. iiigroceneits, Sahib., and P. cene^'s, 

 Germ. The former is well known as a British insect, although it is one 

 of the most local of our Hydrophilidse. The latter, however, although 



