70 Zoology 



south of the County. Here, most of the typical chalk Lepidoptera are 

 found, e.g. the chalk hiU blue, which occurs in an interesting race at 

 Royston. The best localities for seeing the chalk Lepidoptera are the 

 Devil's Dyke, the Fleam Dyke and the Roman Road. 



Two other areas, each with a different faima, are also accessible from 

 Cambridge. Extending to the County borders in the south-east is the 

 Breckland of Norfolk and Suffolk, which has a very characteristic fauna. 

 Such species as the Noctuids Dianthoecia irregularis, Agrophila trabealis and 

 the Geometrid Lithostege griseata are found nowhere else in the British 

 Isles, while some species otherwise largely confined to the seashore occur 

 there also. 



At the opposite side of the County, just across the border into Hunting- 

 donsliire, another distinct fauna is found, that characteristic of oak woods 

 growing on clay, the most characteristic species being the black hairstreak, 

 which in Britain has a very restricted distribution. Monks and Warboys 

 Woods are typical of this type of country and are those best known to 

 lepidopterists. 



COLEOPTERA.^ The foUowmg account of beedes deals only with the 

 rarer species. Many species thought, in 1904, to occur only in Cambridge- 

 sliire have since been taken elsewhere. 



Aleochara fumata Gr. (Fowler — A. brevipennis Gr. var. curta Sahib.): 

 taken by tlie late G. C. Champion at Soham; since been taken by the 

 writer in the New Forest and Windsor Forest. Rhanttis adspersus]. : taken 

 in profusion by Charles Darwin, but is now apparently extinct in Cam- 

 bridgeshire. Trichopteryx championis Matt., Ptilimn caestim Er. and P. in- 

 cognitum Matt.: all from Wicken Fen, where they have not been taken 

 again, nor have they been recorded from any other locality. Cryptophagus 

 schmidti Strm. : two specimens taken by G. C. Champion in Wicken Fen, 

 and one by the late E. W. Janson at Whitdesea, remained unique, until 

 it was rediscovered by the late Miss F. J. Kirk and the writer in Burwell 

 Fen. Cryptocephahis primariiis Har. : a single specimen was taken by the 

 late Dr Power on the Gogmagog Hills; not since taken, until discovered 

 by R. O. Richards, and also taken by J. CoUins, near Oxford. Tychius 

 polylineatus Ger. : introduced by Crotch on a specimen taken by himself 

 at Cambridge, about 1863; was retaken in fair numbers by the late 

 Hereward Dollman on the downs at Ditchling, Sussex. 



The following species have not been found in Cambridgeshire for 



many years: Pterostichus aterrimus Pk. : formerly common in the Fens; 



some years ago now Sir T. Hudson Beare took a single specimen in Norfolk, 



but Mr Bullock has taken it in numbers at Killarney in recent years. 



' By H. St J. K. Donisthorpe, F.R.E.S. 



