CUBKENT NOTES. 



269 



Mr. Harwood, who was with me on this occasion, taking Thalacrya 

 sericea. Liodes orbicularis occurred occasionally, and the very local 

 and rare Micramhe ahietis once put in an appearance. Other species 



, were — Piti/ophthoms pubescens, Pitijoc/enes bidentatus, Homalium striatumy 

 CeHthorrJiynchus riu/ulosiis (although there was not any Matricaria any- 



, where ne&v), Mycetoporus clavicornis, GyropJiaena affinis, ebud Metoecns 

 paradoxus, etc. The last-named species was taken, not uncommonly, 



• in wasps' nests, its proper habitat. Birds' nests produced Philonthus 



\ fiiscns, Cholera colonoides, Microcilossa marginalis, and Eiqdectus karsteni. 



■ Dr. Joy, having kindly shown me how to work moles' nests, Howalota 



' faradoxa, H. exilis, and Cholera agilis were taken in this way. Silvanus 

 surinemensis was beaten out of a faggot far away from any houses or 

 buildings, but I think, as my friend, Mr. E. A. Waterhouse, suggests, 

 it was probably introduced in pheasants' food, a fact which will account 

 for the capture of such species as Calandra granni and C. oryzae in 

 woods, and possibly for the occurrence of Carpophilits sexpustulatns 

 {Ent. Mo. Mag., 1906, p. 179).— Horace Donisthoepe, F.E.S., 58, 



, Kensington Mansions, South Kensington, S.W. September 21th, 1906. 



URRENT NOTES. 



Scientific coleopterology, as a branch of experimental zoology, is 

 practically, one suspects, almost dead in Britain, or to put it more gently, 

 it aestivates all summer and hybernates all Avinter. The American 

 coleopterists, however, are doing a considerable amount of interesting 

 work in this direction, and the most recent paper, " Inheritance of 

 dichromatism in Lina and Gastroidea," by Isabel McCracken, appears 

 to be a careful contribution to the subject discussed. 



Dr. D. Sharp {Ent. Mo. Mag., p. 220) adds Carida affinis, Payk., 

 to the British list of coleoptera. Many specimens were taken by 

 Colonel Yerbury and Mr, C. G. Lamb, in Strathspey, in July, 1905, 

 occurring in fungus on an old tree. On seeking it again this year, 

 July, 1906, it was found that the particular tree had been cut down 

 and cleared away. No other similar tree was discovered, and no more 

 specimens of the insect taken. 



Mr. J. K. Malloch {Ent. Mo. Mag., p. 233) records the capture of 

 some 80 specimens of a species referred to Phora cubitaUs, Beck., on 

 aspen trees at Bonhill, Dumbartonshire. If the species be correctly 

 named this is an addition to the British fauna. 



Although comparatively few records have been sent for publication of 

 the abundance of Laphygma exigua this autumn, yet one hears of large 

 numbers having been taken in various ways — particularly at sugar 

 — in the southern counties, where, possibly, the Isle of Wight and 

 Devonshire have produced most specimens. We hear of single 

 collectors who have captured almost a hundred examples apiece, and 

 others who have several large broods of larvae feeding satisfactorily. 

 As is usually the case with our immigrating species, they appear, on 

 the rare occasions that they visit us, to be even more prolific here than 

 in their own haunts. The absence of the usual parasites that keep 

 them in check in their own districts, is probably the greatest factor in 

 their special abundance here in the autumnal brood, the progeny, one 

 supposes, of a comparatively limited number of immigrants that 

 reached us in the early summer. Records noted this month are — " a 



