isito.] 9 



COLEOPTERA AT COBHAM PARK, KENT. 

 BY J. J. WALKER, B.:jf., T.E.S. 



Duriug the past summer a welcome spell of lialf-pay, and its 

 accompanying leisure, has enabled me to work up' my favourite old 

 hunting-ground, Cobham Park — whence so many good beetles have 

 been recorded by me in the past volumes of this Magazine — with some 

 degree of thoroughness. The result has been, on the whole, very 

 •satisfactory, and I think the list of Coleoptera enumerated below (some 

 of which have also been taken by Dr. Sharp and ^Ir. Gr. C. Champion 

 in my company) will show that the Park is inferior to few, if any, 

 localities in the London district. 



The profusion of magnificent old timber in the Park — the oaks, 

 chestnuts, maples, and especially the hornbeam and ash trees, being 

 the finest and largest I have seen in any part of England — would 

 appear, at first sight, to promise an unusual wealth of xylophagous 

 Coleoptera, but the true wood-feeders can only be said to be moderately 

 well represented. Many of the trees exhibit signs of decay in a 

 greater or less degree, and bear evident traces of the presence of 

 Melasis, Ptilinvs, Priohium, Anohium, and Bhyncolus ; the first two 

 being apparently confined to beech and hornbeam, while the others are 

 more general in their tastes. The thick bark of the huge ash trees is 

 often perforated by numbers of Hylesinus crenatus, which is sometimes 

 to be found crawling lazily on the trunks, but is usually not so easy to 

 secure, as it is more often seen sitting at the mouth of its burrow with 

 its hinder part outwards, ready to retreat beyond the reach of the 

 bark-knife on the slightest alarm. Melasis has precisely the same 

 habit, w'hile that of Ftiliniis and Priohium is the reverse, these being 

 always found in their burrows with their heads outwards. Hylesinus 

 oleiperda, which is not unfrequently taken by sweeping, has not yet 

 been found " at home ;" it probably lives in the smaller boughs of the 

 ash trees, high up out of reach. Of the Longicornes, I found Prioniis 

 coriarius (several), Liopus nehulosus (not rare), Pachyta coUaris, and 

 Zieptura scutellata, the last being found in the big hornbeam tree 

 affected by Ahdera -^-fasciata. 8oroiiia pitncfatissima, and both species 

 of Cryptarcha, occurred sparingly in a Cossz^s-infested oak, and Cisso- 

 phagiis liederce was once beaten out of old ivy, along with Ocliina, in 

 fair numbers. 



There is not so much felled timber left lying about the Park as 

 was formerly the case, and especially did I regret the removal, long 

 ago, of the grand old prostrate beech tree, which, for years, yielded me 

 such a harvest of good beetles. This year there happened to be several 



