2110 Insects. 



cessful ; and I greatly fear, from the ravage which time had made, since my previous 

 visit, on the only decaying bough on which this species was found, that the day is 

 at hand when the nidus of T. Desmaretsii will be no more. I feel satisfied that, like 

 its congener, T. ancora, this species is a wood-feeder, feeding not on the bark, but in 

 and upon the wood. 



I will now conclude these rambling remarks by expressing my surprise that Mr. 

 J. F. Stephens, who received his specimen of this insect from me with the observation 

 that I intended shortly to notice its capture, should have recorded it in his list (Zool. 

 1996) : if no actual merit attends the discovery of a species new to our Fauna, it is at 

 least somewhat uncourteous to deprive the discoverer of the pleasure which I am sure 

 every naturalist must feel in first announcing the capture of a well-marked species. 



Tetratoma Desmaretsii, Lat. Gen. Crust, et Insect, ii. 180. 



Length If — 2 lines. Brassy green or olivaceous, clothed with griseous pubescence, 

 deeply and thickly punctured throughout, interstices shining : head pitchy black ; 

 mouth and antennae pitchy testaceous, the basal joints of the latter a little paler ; club 

 large, dusky and pilose : thorax convex, transverse, considerably narrowed in front, 

 dilated behind the middle ; its base sinuated, rather narrower than the base of the 

 elytra, and with two shallow foveae ; all its angles rounded ; scutellum distinct, trans- 

 verse ; elytra with the lateral margins nearly parallel, slightly dilated posteriorly ; 

 beneath pitchy black, slightly pubescent, minutely and thickly punctured ; legs pale 

 testaceous. The colour varies according to maturity ; young specimens have the 

 elytra pitchy testaceous, with a greenish tint. 



Edward W. Jan son. 



4, New Broad Street, London, 

 February 29, 1848. 



Notes on the Capture of Harpalidce and the Allied Families, in the Isle of Wight. 

 By the Rev. J. F. Dawson, M.A. 



I shall select those species only which are of less general distribution ; but must 

 premise, first, that those noticed are principally from the south coast of this island, in a 

 line extending from Black Gang Chine to the Culver Cliffs (there are, however, ex- 

 ceptions, which will be specified as the insects are enumerated) ; and secondly, that 

 the season of their capture does not extend beyond the end of May in each year. 



Drypta emarginata. This insect has already been recorded (Zool. 1043) as cap- 

 tured by myself in 1845 and 1846, previous to which it had not, I believe, occurred 

 since 1815. It appears to be not only rare, but also extremely local here ; for though 

 I have taken it sparingly, both early in the spring and at the end of October, it seldom 

 turns up. A friend of mine, being anxious to capture the species, once gave a draw- 

 ing of it to a labouring man, desiring him to reserve anything he met with like it, in 

 his horticultural pursuits, Some time after the man met and accosted me — " Please, 

 sir, I found one o' them things as that gent gave me a pictur on, and I kept he some 

 time, but 'n got away ;" and when I expressed my doubts as to its being the genuine 



