Ii'l8.] 



NOTES ON THE BRITISH SPECIES OF SPHAERIESTES Steph 

 BY K. G. BLAIR, B.Sc, F.E.S. 



The genus Sphaeriestes Steph. [= Salpingus Muls., Fowler, etc., 

 Salpingus (pars) Gryll.] has long been a stumbling block to Coleo- 

 pterists. Not only have British authors misiclentified the species of 

 Continental \^Titers, but many of the latter have gone equally astray in 

 the identification of described species, so that the synonymy of the genus 

 has become almost hopelessly confused. The present paper is an attempt 

 to reduce this confusion to some sort of order, at least so far as the British 

 species are concerned. 



The principal works dealing with them are: Stephens's "Illustn^- 

 tions of British Entomology" (1831, and App. 1835), summarized later 

 in his " Manual of British Coleoptera " (1839), and Fowler's ** Coleoptera 

 of the British Islands," v (1891). Mulsant, " Coleopteres de France, 

 Rosti'iferes (1859), has supplied us with a more detailed account of these 

 insects, and a useful key to the Em-opean species is given by Reitter in 

 his "Fauna G-ermanica," Coleoptera, iii, 1911. Unfortunately, as re- 

 marked above, these authorities do not always apply the same name 

 to the same insect, so that their works must be used with caution. In 

 this attempt to correlate them I have not only consulted, wherever 

 possible, the original descriptions, and tried to ascertain what was 

 actually the insect intended — not always an easy matter without the 

 examination of actual type specimens — but I have endeavoured to make 

 sure what each subsequent writer intended by his use of the name, and 

 in this I have been enormously aided by the kindness of Mr. Gr. C. 

 Champion, who has unreservedly placed at my disposal his own collec- 

 tion of the genus, including specimens determined by Abeille de Perrin, 

 Reitter, Sahlberg, Seidlitz, and other Continental authorities. Without 

 Mr. Champion's help, indeed, I shotdd not have been able to arrive at 

 the conclusions here set forth, or to pierce the mists of obscurity in which 

 certain of the species were shrouded. 



To Mr. E. A. Newbery also I am deeply indebted for his generous 

 help, and for many valuable suggestions in the preparation of this paper. 

 He had himself commenced to put together various notes on the same 

 subject ; but owing to the interruption of correspondence with the Con- 

 tinent, and to his being unable to obtain many of the books required, 

 the work was not proceeded with. So far as his investigations went, 

 however, Mr. Nevvbery had arrived at practically the same conclusions as 

 mine as regards the number of our British species, and the variation 



