1890.1 159 



unique. Your cartridge was flattened out as if struck with a hammer, and the beetle 

 entirely crushed. I examined it as it lay on the cotton, and as the other species are 

 quite different, had no difficulty in recognising it. The upper surface agrees in every 

 respect with Dr. Leconte's description, and the more extended one of Dr. Uorn 

 from the same insect, and their figui-es, except that Dr. Horn says the posterior 

 section of the marginal thoracic border is globular and smooth, whereas in yours it 



was flat and pubescent pubescent like the anterior, and on the same 



plane I could not examine the under-side, as when I attempted to 



raise it from the cotton it all went to pieces." 



As Dr. Hamilton remarks, " it may be long before another is taken ;" but the 

 crushed specimen has, at any rate, served to extend greatly the known distribution 

 of the species, as well as giving us a first record of its habits. — -T. D. A. Cockerell, 

 West Cliff, Colorado : Maif 2nd, 1890. 



Some recent captures of Coleoptera in the Midlands. — During a short visit to 

 Cannock Chase at Easter I found Homalota diversa, Stenus Guynemeri, and Aga- 

 thidium globosum,\n Sphagnum, on the margins of the streams on the high moorland. 

 S. diversa is a new record from the Midlands, and I had previously taken Stenus 

 Guynemeri only at Matlock and Church Stretton in this district. 



In a pit at the bottom of a wood at Knowle I found, during the present month, 

 Calodera athiops (plentiful), Oxypoda lentula, Homalota debilis, H. decipiens, S. 

 clancuJa (in abundance), and Deinopsis erosa. The capture of the very rare Homa- 

 lota clancula in such plenty in this locality seems specially remarkable, the only 

 other place in which I have taken it being near Tonbridge in Kent. The sexual 

 characters of this species being apparently undcscribed, I am glad to be able to point 

 them out:— (? with under plate of 7th abdominal segment produced, rounded (like 

 the small end of an egg), and ciliate, with a mixture of shorter and longer hairs, the 

 shorter ones being thickly placed, and the longer ones interspersed at intervals. ^ 

 with the same plate slightly produced, scarcely rounded, and faintly emarginate in 

 middle. — W. G. Blatch, Knowle, Birmingham : May 17th, 189 >. 



Trachyphloeus myrmecophilus at Hastings. — During the last year I devoted a 

 good deal of time to hunting up this genus, and with very satisfactory results ; I 

 fancy these insects must be often overlooked, as I have hardly looked in a suitable 

 place for them without finding them more or less abundant. T. myrmecophilus, 

 hitherto, I believe, only recorded from Southsea, has turned up in numbers all over 

 the district. I have taken it at Pett, Fairlight, Gruestling, Hastings, and Bexhill, 

 and in almost every case it was plentiful. On one occasion, I took over fifty speci- 

 mens in less than an hour. The situation that Trachyphloei evidently prefer is a dry 

 •sandy bank where the grass grows in patches, leaving bare spaces between. If the 

 roots at the edges of these bare spots are closely examined, the Trachyphlcei will be 

 found in favourable localities in large numbers. I have taken scabriculus and scaher 

 in large numbers ; sqamulatus, a nice series ; and alternanx, sparingly. Under the 

 same conditions I met with a few Orthochmtes seiiger, and plenty of Syncaiypta 

 hirsuta. I shall be pleased to send T. myrmecophilus to any Coleopterist who may 

 want it. — W. H. Bennett, 11, George Street, Hastings : May, 1890. 



