20 THE entomologist's record. 



flaps of the pronotum being pale-bordered beneath as well as on the 

 posterior margin, and by the green abdomen, varied with black. 

 The elytra are paler, and the cerci of the male are toothed in the 

 centre and not at the apex. 



Platycleis orina, sp. n. — Pai'va, grisea. Occiput vitta nigra postoculari, 

 vittisque duabus ccntralibus fuscis, ornatum. Pronotum supra planum, carina 

 media per totam longitudinem perducta, distincta, lobis deflexis postice pallido- 

 marginatis. Elytra abbreviata, segmentum abdominals 4 vix superantia, apice 

 rotundata, area discoidali maculis atris ornata. femora postica utrinque nigro- 

 vittata. Abdomen fuscum necnon indistincte nigro-notatum ; segmentum anale c? 

 valde excavatum, lobis triangularibus. Cerci c? validi, laminam subgcnitalem 

 superantes, dente in tertia parte apicali armati. Ovipositor pronoto vix longior, 

 basi ipso rectus, deinde valde decurvus, niger. Segmentum 7 ? ventrale carinatum. 

 Lamina subgenitalis <? elongata, angusta, apice triangulariter excisa, tricarinata. 

 Lamina subgenitalis ? sulcata, lata, valde emarginata, lobis rotundatis. c? ? . 

 Long : corporis, <? 14-16'.'5mm., ? 14-o-l()mm. ; pronoti, d' S'Smm., ? 4-5mm. ; 

 elytrorum, <J 5mm., ? 5mm. ; femorum posticorum, <? 14-5-15mm., ? 15mm. ; 

 uvipositoris, 4-5-5mm. Patria. — Bicevica, in montibus Prcnj, northern Herze- 

 govina, August 1st, 1898 (Burr). 



This species is very close to 7'. trssdlata, Charp., and to P. ninro- 

 sirptatiifi, Costa. In its anal parts it agrees entirely with both, but may 

 be distinguished at once by the very distinct carina on the pronotum, 

 which is produced through the whole length of the disc. 



®^OLEOPTERA. 



The Coleoptera of an old Ash=tree. 



By J. J. WALKER, E.N., F.L.S., F.E.S. 



It is a common remark among coleopterists that at the present 

 day, except in a few favoured localities, such as the New Forest, trees 

 available for beetle-hunting are much less frequently met with than 

 was the case even a few years ago. As soon as a tree shows signs of 

 decay and begins to attract beetles, down it comes and is usually 

 carried away at once ; and it is only in rare instances that one is left 

 long enough for the collector who is lucky enough to come across it, 

 to avail himself of its coleopterous resources. Still, even in the 

 neighbourhood of the metropolis, a good tree is sometimes found and 

 worked out, and the list of species found in a single ash-tree in Cobham 

 Park, my favourite collecting-ground in Kent, may be interesting 

 enough to be put on record. 



The tree in question stood near the Mausoleum, and a few yards 

 to the left of the main path through the park to the village of Cobham, 

 and was one of the largest and most handsomely grown of the many 

 fine trees of its kind in that noble demesne. It measured over 20ft. 

 in girth just ;i,])ove the ground, and when my attention was first 

 attracted to it in llic summer of IHMO, it showed no outward signs of 

 decay, except a copious growth of hard fungus ( I'dli/jxinis / round the 

 base, and a small hollow into Avhich I could just get my hand, extend- 

 ing downwards for some distance into the roots. Out of this hollow 

 I took, in the above-mentioned year, a good many specimens of the 

 rare little Ahraciis (iranidtiiii, Er. (cf. Knt. Mo. Ma;/., ser. 1, vol. xxv., 

 p. 3G0), and in August the beautiful J'lati/cis iniimtiis was found in 

 considerable numbers crawling on the mossy bole of the tree towards 

 evening, and shaken out of dry fungus piled up as a " trap." 



I did not visit the tree again until July, lb93, when seven speci- 



