110 fApr". 



Still, I think the bees must often detect the intruders, otherwise considering 

 how very abundant B. lapidarius and B. terrestris are, VoluceUa lomhylans would 

 be far more plentiful than it is. — Linlet Blathwatt, Batheaston : Feb. 19^A, 1890. 



Plafyrrhimis lath-ostris, F., in Devonshire. — Mr. J. C. Bowring writes to me 

 that he has taken three specimens of this rare beetle under the bark of a felled oak 

 in Ugbrooko Park, near Chudleigh, Devon ; two in September, 1889, and one in 

 September, 1888.— W. W. Fowler, Lincoln : March IWi, 1890. 



Dytiscus marginalis found in gas toater. — Some interesting notes were contri- 

 buted to the Ent. Mo. Mag. in June and July, 1885, on Dytiscus marginalis and 

 other Coleoptera found in salt or brackish water. The Rev. W. W. Fowler supple- 

 mented these notes with a few remarks, and expressed an opinion that D. marginalis 

 might live in a medium fai' more injurious than salt water. Doubtless examples 

 ■were not wanting in support of this belief, although none were given at tlie time. 



As a curious instance has come under my notice of the strangely little regard 

 apparently given by D. marginalis to the nature of the fluid in which it exists, and 

 of tlie thriving of beetles in a medium which, to our minds, might appear injurious, 

 I venture to record it, hoping it may be of intin-est, and I think it certainly well 

 illustrates the words quoted. 



The men employed in breaking up an old disused gasometer at Home Park 

 Mills, King's Langley, called my attention to the fact, that some " very curious 

 beetles," of which they of course gave a very extraordinary description, were living 

 in the rusty water at the bottom of the hole left when they had removed the ii'on 

 casing. Both the water and mud were strongly impregnated with gas. The beetles 

 proved to be of the above-mentioned species, and were there in some numbers. 

 Many were carried away in pumping off the water, but I have secured 5 S find 1 ? 

 specimens from the mud and shallow water left. They carry with them a strong 

 odour of gas, even after two or three fresh water baths, and the grooves in the elytra 

 of the females are filled with a ferruginous mud which is difficult to remove. In 

 other respects they appear to be quite normal in form and colour. I think this old 

 gas holder nmst have been their home for a long period of beetle life, judging from 

 the time of year when they were found, a fortnight ago, and from the number of 

 both sexes seen. The water was partly enclosed and quite stagnant, being unconnected 

 with any other water. "Were they there by choice? If not, why did they not 

 emigrate ? Most likely they came there by chance, as they are plentiful in the canal 

 not far away, and lacking the inclination to depart, " made themselves at home." 

 Had the water been disagreeable to them, we may presume they would not have done 

 so ; they were quite active when disturbed. — T. II. Hall, 12, Derby Road, Watford, 

 Herts. : March Wi, 1890. 



Vrepanopteryx j^halanoides, D., in Durham. — About three or four years ago, in 

 September, I took two insects at Gibsidc, which, from your description of the one 

 you took, I take to be the same, but I have never been able to get the name. I beat 

 them out of a beech branch near the Monument, not far from a pond ; when caught 



