1890.] 123 



the Coleoptera of Norway {ante, pp. 72 — 77) you mention {loc. cit., p. 75) a species 

 of Cryptohypnus which you have been unable to identify. This is evidently refera- 

 ble to C. algidus, J. Sahib. [Medd. Soe. Faun. Fl. Fenn., ix, p. 98 (1883)], described 

 from specimens from Lapland and Siberia, and previously also found in Norway on 

 the Jotunfjeld at an elevation of 4500 feet." As the ninth volume of this publica- 

 tion has not yet been noticed in the Zoological Record, it is perhaps not to be 

 wondered at that Sahlberg's paper on C. algidus was overlooked by me. — Id. 



Berostis (Enophirux) spinostis, Stev., and B. guttalis, Bey. — M. Albert Fauvel, 

 of Caen, has recently called my attention to a short note of his on these species 

 [Revue d'Ent., viii, p. 335 (1889)], at the same time sending me a male example of 

 B. guttalis, Rey, for comparison with British examples of B. spinosus, Stev. As it 

 appears probable that both may eventually be found in this country, an extract from 

 M. Fauvel's note will probably be of interest to British Coleopterists : — 

 Abdomen velvety-felted, alutaceous ; labrum blackish ; 2nd interstice of the elytra 

 uniseriate ; $ 5th (ventral) segment simple ; $ dull, the sutural angle divari- 

 cate and arched without spinosns, Steven, Kuwert, Rey. 



(fidmis, Kuw.). 



Abdomen punctured, not felted, rather brilliant ; labrum testaceous ; 2nd interstice 

 of the elytra confusedly punctured ; <? 5th (ventral) segment bidentate 

 (echancre-bidente) at the apex ; ? shining, the sutural angle and its spine 



convergent (somewhat crossed, when the elytra are quite closed) 



guttalis, Rey. 

 (spinosus, Heer, Duval). 



All my British examples are from the Isle of Sheppey (found in abundance in 

 brackish ditches by myself in 187-^), and are undoubtedly referable to B. spinosus, 

 Stev. The males of Berosus, it may be mentioned, are easily distinguishable from 

 the females by the anterior tarsi having their second and third joints thickened. 

 The bituberculate hind margin of the 5th ventral segment of the male of B. guttalis 

 seems to be a good distinguishing character, and one that is not present in the male 

 examples I have examined of B. spinosus (from the Isle of Sheppey and from 

 Salonica, Turkey) ; the labrum is constantly dark or piccous in B. spinosus. In the 

 latter the 2nd elytral interstice is irregularly uniseriate ; in B. guttalis (at least, in 

 the example communicated by M. Fauvel) the punctures are very much more nume- 

 rous, forming two ii-regular rows. 



B. spinosus is stated by M. Fauvel to occur in brackish water, B. guttalis in 

 both fresh and brackish water ; the two species are widely distributed on the con- 

 tinent — B. spinosus even extending to the Caucasus and to the Mediterranean region, 

 B. guttalis occurring in inland as well as in maritime districts. B. guttalis is very 

 fully described by Rey [Rev. d'Ent., ii, p. 88 (1883), and Ann. Soc. Linn, de Lyon, 

 xxxi, p. 340 (1885)], and its difPerences from B. bispina, Reiche, and B. spinosus, 

 Stev., noted ; Rey {loc. cit.) states that it occurs in fresh water, and that he found 

 examples of it at Milhaud, near Nimes, in a pool, about the carcase of a dog. 



In .the Rev. W. W. Fowler's work on the British Coleoptera (i, :p. 229), B. 

 spinosus, Stev., is described as having the head entirely, or almost entirely, testaceous 

 (this is presumably intended as exclusive of the labrum), and the sculpture of 

 the ventral surface (as well as the sexual difPerence in the form of the male tarsi in 

 Berosus) is not mentioned ; the description is, however, amply suflicient to distin- 

 guish B. spinosus from the other British species. The unarmed fifth ventral seg- 

 ment (in the male) is noted by Cox, Handbook Coleopt., Gt. Brit, and Ireland, i, 

 p, 132.— Id. 



