29-i [November, 



Xylophilus oculatu.i, GylL, and X. pygmaus, De O. — In my brief remarks on X 

 oculatus, Gjll. (= pygmcBus, Muls.), and X. pygmcetis, De Geer, ante p. 266, I have 

 stated that the latter only of these is known as British. This is a mistake, and the 

 word " latter" should be altered to " former." A good deal of confusion exists in 

 regard to these two insects : in Dr. Sharp's Catalogue of British Coleoptera, 2nd 

 edition, the species is called X. pygmcetis, De G. ; in that of Messrs. Fowler and 

 Matthews, X. oculatus, Gryll. (= pygmcBus, Muls.). The male of X. pygmcetis, 

 De &eer, differs from the corresponding sex of X. oculatus, Gyll., in its larger size 

 and longer and much more strongly serrate antennse, the apical joint of which is not 

 more than one-third longer than the 10th (in X. oculatus it is nearly twice as long 

 as the 10th). The females scarcely differ, except in size ; the apical joint of the 

 antennae is, however, relatively shorter in X. pygmceus, De G-eer (not equalling joints 

 9 and 10 imited). The differential characters between the two species are clearly 

 given by Abeille, Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr., pp. ccxxiv and ccxxv ; and also by Thomson. 

 Skand. Col., vi, p. 371. I have seen no example of the male agreeing with West- 

 wood's figure of Euglenes oculatus, which is taken from a British example (Zool. 

 Journ., Suppl. plates, 2nd part, t. 41, fig. 5) : this represents the apical joint of the 

 antennae short as in X. pygmceus, De G., and joints 4—10 very feebly serrate, as in 

 X. oculatus, Gyll. ; but as the tarsi are incorrectly drawn in this figure, it is possible 

 that the antennfe are incorrect also. Westwood, moreover (op. cit. v, p. 60), dis- 

 tinctly says of the male antenna — " articulo ultimo elongato subcylindrico, apice 

 oblique truncato ;" and this agrees with X. oculatus. Most of my British esample? 

 are from the London district or Sherwood Forest, and they have a very elongate 

 apical joint to the antennre in the male. Two female specimens captured by Mr. 

 J. J. Walker in Cobham Park are considerably larger than the other females I 

 possess, but are apparently not separable from them ; unfortunately, Mr. Walker 

 did not obtain a male. I fully anticipate that X. pygmceus, De G., will be found to 

 inhabit this country. — G. C. Champion, 11, Caldervale Eoad, Clapham, S.W. : 

 October 2nd, 1890. 



Note on the Japanese Scraptice described by Marseul. — During a recent study 

 of Marseul's collection of Heteromera in the Paris Museum, I had occasion to ex- 

 amine the three Japanese Scraptics described by him in the Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., 

 1876, pp. 456, 457. Two of these, S. brunnea and S. dimidiata, Mars., I immediately 

 recognised as belonging to Microtonus, Lee, a genus appertaining to a different 

 group of the Iletcromerous scries. Marseul's description of the head alone of these 

 two species (additional examples of which have been communicated by Mr. G. Lewis), 

 " Tete enfoncee dans le prothorax jusqu'aux yeux," conclusively proves that they have 

 no connection with the Scraptiides. In Microtonus the head, instead of being con- 

 stricted behind into a narrow neck as in Scraptia, is broad at the base and deeply 

 sunk into the prothorax, the last joint of the labial palpi, the antennje, and the 

 prothorax are differently shaped, &c. Microtonus has hitherto contained one species 

 from the United States and six from Mexico or Guatemala ; the former, 31. sericans, 

 Lee, is closely allied to Marseul's 5. brunnea. Leconte and Horn, Class. Col. N. 

 Am., p. 404, refer Microtonus to the (Edemeridae ; it would, perhaps, be better 

 placed in the Melandryidce, iuimediatily after Symphura, Lee, to which it is very 



