Insects. 2111 



article^ he said, confidently — " Oh, yes, sir, I'm certain sure it was ; for Jem and me 

 look'd at 'n along with the pictur, and it was was just like he, for it had gotten six legs 

 and two horns on its head !" It is rather inactive in its movements, and remains con- 

 cealed partially or wholly in the ground during the day, or under stones, in a soil of 

 stiff clay, full of cracks and crevices. 



Dromius sigma, Dej. (bipennifer, Bab.) A dark variety, having the band on the 

 elytra broader than in those specimens which we take at Whittlesea Mere. Local ; 

 under stones on the heath opposite Steephill. 



Dromius spilotus, Dej. (impunctatus, Steph.) In considerable abundance in a ditch 

 by the side of an arable field near Sandown, in April and May, 1846. Soil, a light 

 dry sand. 



Polistichits vittatus. One specimen, on the 25th of April, 1846, from the same 

 locality as the last — not one in which we should expect to have found it ; though if 

 its habitat at all resembles that of the allied genus, Cymindis, it may probably occur 

 on the high Downs at no great distance ; and it would appear to be a strictly vernal 

 species, as other recorded captures were made from March to April. 



Dyschirius politus. Taken sparingly in May, 1845 and 1846, in a sandy situation 

 near the shore between Luccomb and Shanklin. 



Dyschirius emeus, Zeig. (tristis, Steph., is apparently the female). I have captured 

 about twenty specimens in the same locality. 



Trimorphus humeralis, Bonelli (scapularis and confinis, Steph.) Plentiful, in moss 

 from Shanklin Copse, in April and May. 



Sphodrtis leucophthalmus. This species visits the sugar at night placed on trees for 

 Noctua?, which proves very attractive also to Oncomera femorata. 



Argutor longicollis. Occurs near Ryde and Sandown, but not in great abundance. 



Amara > ? (tricuspidata, Steph. Cab.) This species, which in form much 



resembles a Bradytus, is not the true tricuspidata of Dejean, and appears to require a 

 name. It was in great profusion in May, 1846, among heaps of refuse left by a flood 

 at Ryde ; but I have not taken it since. 



Bradytus fulvus, Dej. Found in sandy places near the beach at Ryde. 



Harpalus serripes, Schon. (stygius, Wilk). Stretching downwards from the high 

 headland which forms the eastern promontory of this island, and bordering on the cliff 

 in the direction of Sandown, is a tract of arable land, comprising several fields, of a 

 very light and arid sand, before you arrive at the clay, some one or more of which are 

 every year fallowed and cleaned for turnips, when vast quantities of twitch are col- 

 lected by the drags out of this kind of land, and thrown together into heaps, prepara- 

 tory to being carted away or burned. By turning over these heaps in the month of 

 May, an immense profusion of Harpali (as well as other allied genera, not to mention 

 those of various separate divisions of Coleoptera) is found, chiefly of the common spe- 

 cies, — rubripes in all its varieties (as marginellus, azureus, fulvipes, &c), and amongst 

 them serripes, tardus, rufimanus (var.), anxius, &c, occur ; and in more limited num- 

 bers and less frequently, annulicornis, attenuatus, perplexus ? and lentus ? Of the 

 two last I have met with but one specimen of each, and am compelled to attach a ? to 

 the names. 



Harpalus cupreus. By still continuing in the direction of Sandown, you come to 

 a red clay soil, and here this rare species is now and then taken. As serripes and the 

 others occur only in the sandy district, so this is found but in clay soils, here, at Ryde 



