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VIII. Notes on the Species o/Triplax of Stephens " Illus- 

 trations'" and Collection. By G. R. Waterhouse, 

 Esq., F.Z.S., &c. 



[Read 3rd Dec. I860.] 



In my own collection, and the collections of my friends, so far as 

 I recollect, there are but two British species of Trlplax, viz. 2\ 

 russica, and T. cenea ; but in Mr. Stephens', there are five species, 

 and as with regard to some of these there is much confusion, I 

 have thought the following notes would be acceptable. 



Sp. 1. Triplax russica of Stephens' Illustrations, vol. iii. p. 88, 

 sp. 1, and Collection. 

 The insect universally known by the same name. 



Sp. 2. Tr. castanea, Steph. 1. c, p. 89, 2. 



Represented by three specimens in Mr. Stephens' Col- 

 lection. One a very immature specimen of the 

 Triplax russica : the other two are of the same 

 species, but present scarcely any divergence from the 

 normal condition of the insect. These are referred 

 to the Silpha casfmiea of Marsh. Ent. Brit. p. 122, 

 but Marsham described the insect from Shaw's Col- 

 lection, and we have no reason to believe that either 

 of the specimens above noticed was the original of 

 the description : this latter gives the size of the 

 insect as two lines, whilst T. russica is said, in the 

 same work, to be 3 lines in length. I think it 

 therefore very doubtful if the present insect be the 

 Marshamian S. castanea. 



Sp. 3. Tr. denea, Steph. 1. c, p. 89, and Collection — = Tr. 

 cenea, Gyll., &c. &c. &'C. 



Sp. 4. Tr. hicolor, Steph. 1. c, p. 89, pi. xvii. f. 4. 



This is given as the Silpha hicolor of Marsham, Ent. 

 Brit. 122, 18. A certain species inhabiting Sweden 

 was referred by Gyllenhal (see Ins. Suec. i. p. 205, 

 2) to the S. hicolor of Marsham in 1 808, since which 

 time it has been well known on the continent by 

 that name. The description given by Stephens is 

 evidently taken from Gyllenhal, and hence belongs 

 to the same insect, and yet to the best of my know- 



VOL I. THIRD SERIES, PART II. — MAY, 1862. K 



