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ABSTRACT 
OF 
PAPERS COMMUNICATED TO DIFFERENT MEETINGS, 
NOT PRINTED IN THE BODY OF THE WORK. 
At the July meeting, Mr. Hardy read notices of some entomo- 
logical excursions. Mr. H.’s object was to record the occurrence 
of some insects, rare in the district of the Club’s operations, with 
notices of their habits. The insects were principally observed or 
collected in the marshes which lie between Hylton Castle and 
Southwick, on the north side of the Wear, a mile or two above 
Sunderland. These marshes are liable to frequent inundations> 
and consequently afford few coleoptera excepting those of semi- 
aquatic habits. Mr. Hardy visited the place in the beginning of 
» June, and found the number of species of insects very limited, and, 
excepting in one instance, the number of individuals. Insects 
belonging to the order Diptera were the most numerous. Mr. 
Hardy met with Ophonus pubescens, which, as he had not taken 
it before, was interesting. It was extremely local, being confined 
to the circuit of a few yards, on a rather drier spot than the rest 
of the locality. On this place he found it by turning over some 
broken bricks, and by digging in the soil underneath, he found it 
in considerable numbers; it occurred also among the matted tufts 
of the Thrift. Those which he found amongst the soil were pale 
yellow, having but lately emerged from the pupa, which he found 
also in some numbers. Mr. H. mentioned that although confined 
to very narrow bounds in the places where it occurs, neverthe- 
less it 1s a widely dispersed insect, occurring in most parts of the 
island. 
Mr. Hardy mentioned in the same paper some of the habits of 
Brachyopa tricolor, a rare British fly, which he had met with near 
