7064 Insects. 



indigenous species. At that period, June, 1858, the curious group 

 which I separated from the rest of the family, under the generic appel- 

 lation of Ptinella, was represented in this country by a single individual 

 of a species previously undescribed, and although as many as eight 

 species were already known on the Continent not one of that number 

 had appeared in these islands. 



During the last twelvemonth a great change has taken place. Early 

 in the season, at a meeting of the Entomological Society, Mr. Janson 

 announced the capture of three of these much-wished-for species, viz.y 

 P. ratisbonensis, P. tenella and P. angustula. I must here remark 

 that we were in error with regard to the last-named species, P. angus- 

 tula. While staying in Paris for a short time, in February last, I had 

 the opportunity, through the kindness of MM. Allard and Fairmaire, 

 of examining some of the French collections of Trichopterygidte, and 

 discovered that the species first taken by Mr. Janson, and subsequently 

 by my brother, the Rev. H. Matthews, and myself, was not the true 

 P, angustula of Gillmeister, but one which has been lately found near 

 Paris by M.M. Reitche, Fairmaire and others, and described by M. 

 Fairmaire under the name of denticollis. All the specimens taken by 

 Mr. Janson were found in the early part of last spring, and in the 

 course of the summer my brother and I were fortunate enough to meet 

 with three fresh species, as well as specimens of denticollis already 

 alluded to. They were again, by a curious coincidence, two apterous 

 and one winged species, viz., P. aptera, P. angustula (this time the true 

 P. angustula of Gillmeister) and P. limbata; so that at the present 

 date the British list includes no less than seven distinct species of this 

 curious and highly interesting group, viz. : — P. britannica, Maith. ; 

 P. aptera, Gilltn. ; P. tenella, Erichs. ; P. denticollis, Fairm. ; P. angus- 

 tula, Gillm.; P. limbata, Heer ; P. ratisbonensis, Gillm. But by no 

 means the least satisfactory result of the capture of the^e living examples 

 has been the discovery of large and well-developed eyes in the species 

 hitherto considered sightless. It always appeared to me somewhat incom- 

 prehensible how an animal unendued with sight could not only move 

 with such surprising rapidity in any purposed direction, but also avoid 

 the obstacles it met with in its path, as I have often seen these insects do. 

 But the mystery is now solved ; the many species comprised in the 

 blind section of this genus, the " sans yeux " of the Faune Frangaise, 

 in reality possess as perfect visual organs as fall to the lot of any 

 existing beetle, — the only peculiarity of these organs being the fact 

 that they are concolorous with the other parts of the head, and situated 

 mainly on its lower surface, a small portion only being visible from 



