68 THE entomologist's record. 



excrescences in question showed that they were not lateral or dorsal 

 excrescences, hut that they were true winj^^-cases, which were not so 

 much covered with chitin as the rest of the hody, and were, therefore, 

 conspicuous on the living insect from being lighter in colour. On 

 examining the wing-cases of a Tcnehrio pupa, it will be found that they 

 are placed in exactly the same position as in the larva in question, but 

 those of the pupa are somewhat larger and folded towards the ventral 

 side. This most unusual occurrence of the presence of wing-cases in 

 the larva of a beetle suggests a case of atavism. In this instance one 

 might suppose that this character (retained by certain lower orders of 

 insects) was the reuniant of an ancient structure, and that the forma- 

 tion of wings occurred formerly as an exception in the larva. In 

 consideration of this supposition it is of interest to note that, leaving 

 the wing-cases out of consideration, the larva has several other 

 anomalies. These last are contained in the construction of the 

 antennte and dorsal plates. Whereas in normal meal-worms the last 

 segment but one of the four segmented antennte is simple, this segment 

 is in the winged specimens indistinctly divided into two rings, the one 

 behind the other, of which the distal again is constricted in the 

 middle. The number of the antenna- segments has, by this means, 

 become greater in the abnormal meal-worms, and this is apparently an 

 approach to the eleven segments of the pupal antenna. The dorsal 

 plates of the abdomen are also abnormal. On the first five abdominal 

 segments they are not, as seems to be the usual case, provided with 

 round side-pieces, but these latter are bent a little upwards, and 

 remind one of the large lateral crests Avith which the abdominal plates 

 of the pupffi are provided. These circumstances seem to point to the 

 fact that this can hardly be a case of atavism, but a kind of premature 

 development, a number of characters normally belonging to the pupal 

 state being present abnormally in the larva, but in an incomplete form. 

 The presence of wing- stumps on the two last thoracic segments should no 

 doubt be included in this category. In these, imaginal characters appear 

 to have abnormally shown themselves prematurely in the larva. In the 

 meantime I have been able to find a number of Tenehriu larvse, some 

 with large and some Avith small wing-stumps, which show similar, 

 and sometimes further, anomalies, e.ij., in the structure of the eye and 

 thoracic plates, etc. As I have received further preserved material 

 from other sources, I shall take the opportunity of returning to this 

 subject another time. — E. Heymons. 



COLEOPTERA IN THE LoWER LeA VaLLEY AND EPPING FoREST IN 1898. 



Among the species of Coleoptera met with by me in the above localities 

 during the past season are many of interest, but at the same time 

 neither district can be called an entomological paradise. Indeed, after 

 two years' work in these localities, and making altogether more than a 

 hundred collecting expeditions (ranging over ten miles of ground in 

 the case of the former of them), I have failed to meet with many 

 species which one would expect to find, and which are usually 

 accounted "common," and others generally regarded as coming under 

 that designation, have been very scarce. In the case of the Lower 

 Lea Valley (the upper part of it above Hoddesdon, I have not yet 

 visited), this remark applies more particularly to the Carahidae, certain 

 species of which group, not generally looked upon as startling rarities, 

 seem here to be much restricted in individuals, notably Luricera 



