26 [February, 



confirms what Mr. Tomliii notes as to the remarkable asymmetry which 

 the elytral scnlptnre so often exliibits, and I should estimate that less 

 than 50°/o of the specimens so far taken have one elytron in exact 

 correspondence with the other.* 



But as regards the association of this and other Cambids with areas 

 from which the vegetation has been burnt, the remarkable fact alluded 

 to by Dr. Russel Wallace of the occasional appeamnce on scorched and 

 devastated railway-banks of a flora quite dissimilar from that which 

 originally clothed them and one containing plants not previously known 

 in the district, caused, as no doubt it is, by the destruction of competitive 

 and stronger forms, affords perhaps an analog}^ but, of course, not an 

 explanation of similar phenomena among insects. 



Passing, however, to the Agona, we find that brilliant species 



A. sexpunctatiim, as a note by Mr. Tomlin, which I can confirm by 



^ further evidence, shows, has considerabl}^ extended its range, and has 



been perhaps generally more abundant in 1917 than it was in 1916, the 



first year of its phenomenal epiphan}^ here. 



Another Agoniim, A. qnadrijninctatum, which was taken here for 

 the first time by the Rev. W. W. Fowler in 1915, is certainly dependent 

 in some way directly on charred wood, for it seems to have almost 

 deserted the small area where it was frequent in 1916, the charred wood 

 being then comparatively fresh, for other localities Avhere the felling and 

 consequent burning of the **tops " was again only of the preceding year. 

 No doubt as the ground over which this burnt wood occurs increases so 

 wdll the range of A. quadripunctcitumy but I doubt whether, normal con- 

 ditions having been restored, this insect will ever become a constant 

 member of our fauna. 



I have ascertained that both these insects hibernate in the perfect 

 state — A. sexpunctatinn at the roots of grass and rushes, and I have 

 also recently found it in the borings made by a Longicorn, probably 

 IRhagium or Asemum, some distance beneath the surface, and A. quadri- 

 punctatum I have unearthed at least three inches deep among the charred 

 debris of pine-needles, etc. 



On the other hand, Bemlidion doris, which, with IB. ohJiquum and 

 an occasional Acupaljnis brtiniiipes, occurred by the margin of one of 

 the meres, have during the present year been very difficult to discover. 



A beetle I saw for the first time alive in this district was Cicindela 

 sylvatica, although, I believe, there are previous records by other 

 observers. 



* About half of the large number of speiiiuens taken bj' myself at Woking during 1917 exhibit 

 tlie same peculiarity. — G. C- C. 



