144 [June, 



oelandica, Fowler records only from Whittlesea Mere and Wicken Fen (Coleoptera 

 of Brit. Islands). Adimonia tanaceti also occurs here, where there is no tansy or 

 thyme.— C. W. Dale, Grlanvilles Wootton : May 1st, 1893. 



Claviger testaceus in Wycliioood Forest. — In looking through the specimens of 

 PselaphidcB and ClavigeridcB contained in the Hopeian Collection, I was rather 

 surprised to find a specimen of the above insect with the following label attached 

 to it, in the handwriting of Professor Westwood : — " Claviger foveolatus, Miill., 

 taken SOtli of August, 1838, in ants' nest under stone on New Hill Plain, Wychwood 

 Forest, attached to this winged ant on under-side of body. — J. O. W." The ant in 

 question is Lasius flavus, of which a winged ^ and a ^ ^^^ represented on the card 

 in company witli the beetle. As this is, I believe, the only Midland locality for this 

 insect, it is therefore well worth recording. I hope during this year to record the 

 same insect, as I expect to work the locality myself. — John W. Shipp, Oxford 

 University Museum, Oxford : April 2nd, 1893. 



Silpha atrata and its varieties. — There appears to me to be considerable differ- 

 ence in the divergence from type of the two varieties of this Silpha, viz., hrunnea 

 and subrotundata. I have taken both forms as well as the type in some numbers, 

 and my experience does not in every point confirm the descriptions given in Canon 

 Fowler's " British Coleoptera." Var. hrunnea appears to me to be a true variety, 

 probably not racial, as I have found it and the type form together, and differing 

 from the type only in colour. My captures are not as a rule smaller than S. atrata, 

 but perhaps more irregular in size than the type ; I have taken it nowhere but in 

 Wales, but not specially at high elevations. It is reported from Orkney, and the 

 Eev. W. F. Johnson believes that he has taken it in Ireland. Yar. subrotundata 

 diverges very much more from the type, and is undoubtedly a racial form. The 

 divergence appears to me to be specific, and not varietal merely. It is usually larger 

 than the type, but varies in size more even than hrunnea ; the shape is invariably 

 broader in proportion to length than in S. atrata, the thorax less punctured on the 

 disc, and the convex margins of both thorax and elytra are always broader, and the 

 convexity deeper. The colour, of course, is different, but varies from a form as dark 

 as the type to one as light as a light hrunnea. I can find no difference in the elytral 

 keels ; they vary in each of the three forms, and appear to me to vary equally in 

 each. These differences seem to be quite as great as those which separate many 

 species; such instances will readily occur to the Coleopterist. The interesting 

 question, however, is, whether there exists authentic evidence of this form having 

 been ever taken except in Ireland and the Isle of Man ? I am myself disposed to 

 attribute our English records to var. hrunnea, as that form might very easily be 

 taken for var. subrotundata by any one not conversant with the genuine Irish insect. 

 It is evident that the interest attaching to this Silpha would be much enhanced 

 could it be proved to be so restricted in its distribution, and I am anxious to obtain 

 what evidence there may be accessible of its occurrence elsewhere. — W. E. Sharp, 

 Ledsham, Cheshire : May, 1893. 



[I am much inclined to consider var. hrunnea as an immature or not quite 

 developed form of atrata ; var. subrotundata, from its shape and size, and to a certain 

 extent, from its sculpture, might be regarded as a distinct species, if there were no 

 intermediate forms. — W. W. F.]. 



