835 



List of the rarer Coleoptera occurring chiefly in the Parish 

 and Neighbourhood of Nenthorn. By Mr Robert 

 Hislop, Blair-Bank, Falkirk. 



In former numbers of the Club's Proceedings — those es- 

 pecially contained in the first two volumes — there have been 

 given lists of the Beetles and other insects that have been 

 met with in the territory appropriated by the Club for its 

 investigations. Dr Johnston, Messrs Babington, Selby, 

 Hardy, and Dunlop, have all contributed to throw light 

 upon a branch of natural history, which, in Scotland at least, 

 has received but scanty patronage. As the lists drawn up by 

 these gentlemen have for the mOst part embraced those 

 species collected in the eastern portion of the district, it has 

 been suggested that observations made in another quarter 

 during the last thirty years, though it must be acknowledged 

 only in a very desultory manner, might help to serve for the 

 elucidation of the geographical distribution of the Coleoptera 

 of the Borders. 



The portion of country to which my attention has been 

 chiefly directed, extends from Hume Castle to Smailholm 

 Tower, a distance of about six miles, and of an average 

 breadth of about three. Within these limits there is a con- 

 siderable variety of surface. From N.E. to S.W. there runs 

 the trap ridge, whose eastern and western culminating points 

 are respectively occupied by the remains of the border 

 strongholds just named ; and on its northern and southern 

 flanks, strata of the old red sandstone crop out at intervals. 

 In a hollow on the ridge, about two miles west from Hume, 

 lies Lurgie Loch. For many years its waters have been 

 gradually diminishing, and it is now rather a marsh than a 

 lake. In dry summers it may be traversed in all directions 

 without much inconvenience. Its surface is dotted with 

 sallows and birches, and here and there Scotch firs have 

 begun to establish themselves ; while among plants of 

 humbler growth, may be observed the bog-bean and the 

 cranberry, and in the pools the curious looking bladder- wort. 

 The greater portion of the country is under tillage, with 

 occasional patches of permanent pasture, which the steep and 

 craggy nature of the surface renders unfit for the operations 

 of the plough. On the north side and in lower ground, we 

 have the fine beech woods and fir plantations of Mellerstain, 

 with bits of heather and scrubby birch ; and on the south, 



