1888.] 35 



more elongate, lias only one row of meshes along the sides of the 



thorax, whereas cardui has two, the reftexod margins being much 



narrower; the elytra also only bear two rows of lateral meshes, 



whereas in cardui they bear three, and the whole insect is slightly 



smaller and less variegated with dark blotches. 



This appears to be a rare insect on the continent, but to be widely 



distributed, although I do not see any records of its- capture from so 



far north as England ; it occurs, however (according to Dr. Puton), 



at Versailles, Metz, and in the Yosges, as well as further south. I 



have two examples in my own collection, one from Greece and the 



other from Corsica ; one of which was named by Dr. Puton, and agrees 



exactly with the specimen here described. Its food-plant seems to be 



unknown. 



St. Ann's, Mount Hcrmon, Woking : 

 June 8th, 1888. 



Macropterous form of Ischnocoris hemipterus, £$c. — This little bug is rarely seen 

 with the elytra and wings developed, in fact, I am not sure that there is any record of 

 its occurrence in this country in that condition, I was, therefore, much surprised to take 

 several, on tho 19th May, with the membrane fully expanded, and belonging to both 

 sexes, under heaps of coarse grass, &c, which had evidently been cut down in the 

 autumn and had lain rotting on the ground all the winter in a field just opposite my 

 house. It seems to me to be a curious locality for the species to frequent, as it has 

 generally occurred to me at the roots of the heather, &c, and Messrs. Douglas and 

 Scott also give its locality as " in moss among heath," and, although overy one knows 

 the heathy nature of Woking, yet there is no actual heath land within a quarter of 

 a mile of the spot in question. The insect was rare, but all the specimens I found 

 were macropterous, and I could see no signs of the ordinary microptcrous form. After 

 I had searched this locality, which yielded me, besides the Ischnocoris, a profusion 

 of specimens of other common Bhyparochromidce, such as Peritrechus puncticeps and 

 luniger, Scolopostethus affinis and er icetorum (tho latter also usually a heath species), 

 Rhyparochromus chiragra, Trapezonotus agrestis, Stygnus arenarius, Drymus 

 sylvaticus, &c., I went on to a heathy spot where I at once found a specimen of 

 Ischnocoris hemipterus, microptcrous as I should have expected. It therefore seems 

 to mo probable that this colony of macropterous examples may have been the result 

 of eggs laid in a locality more favourable for development than the heath which the 

 insect generally frequents. Tho other European species of this genus, I. punctulatus, 

 which occurs in the south, and which I much hoped I had caught when I captured 

 my first macropterous hemipterus, always comes developed so far as is known. I have 

 never taken it myself, but, from the remark in Ferrari's " Hemiptcra Agri Ligustici," 

 Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen., VI, p. 159, viz. : " in aridis sub cespitibus Artemisia 

 campestris," it would appear to occur in somewhat similar localities to those in which 

 wc find our hemipterus, at any rate they occur together there, as he remarks after 

 hemipterus, " cum pracedente." — Edward Saunders, St. Ann's, Mount Ilermon, 

 Woking: June 8th, 1888. 



