3356 Insects. 



appearance that comes over this species when dead : the latter I took 

 walking in a lane ; he was apparently bent on an evening's stroll, or, 

 it might be, on his way to keep an appointment with Mrs. Plinthus on 

 the opposite bank. 



I paid a visit during my stay in Kent, to the Covert wood in which 

 I took so many interesting species in 1849 ; but here the same scar- 

 city was observable, not only of the rarer but also of the commoner 

 species. 



I will here take the opportunity of correcting an error in my paper 

 in a former number, (Zool. viii. 2682). Among the captures in this 

 wood I mention Rhagium Indagator; this should have been R. Inqui- 

 sitor, which is abundant there. 



In Hampshire also, this year, I observed a greater scarcity of inte- 

 resting species than in the last. I took a specimen or two of Anthri- 

 bus albinus, and three of that beautiful beetle Carabus nitens, whicli 

 is another insect that loses much of the richness of its tints by being 

 killed and preserved. When running swiftly in the sunshine, their 

 bright and variegated elytra look as if they had derived their colours 

 direct from some rainbow. 



In an open part of the forest I find Cicindela sylvatica in some 

 abundance. The spot, although in the forest, has not a tree within a 

 mile, and is a sandy plain, partly covered with heath and furze. A 

 road runs through the sandy plain, and on either side of this road, to 

 the extent of about 50 yards in length and 15 in width, these hand- 

 some insects are to be seen flying from one little patch of sand to ano- 

 ther, or, alighting, they run with great swiftness, looking somewhat 

 like large spiders at first sight. The illusion, however, speedily va- 

 nishes, for on the slightest movement near them they start up and take 

 wing, and it is then not an easy matter to catch them. I found it in 

 vain to search for them beyond the boundaries 1 have named ; this 

 spot is the only locality in which I have found them, although I have 

 searched for miles in the surrounding sandy heath, which is to all ap- 

 pearance in every respect similar to the favoured spot in which they 

 abound. 



Cicindela campestris was to be found in abundance, without limit 

 as to locality. 



The localism of many insects has often struck me as a most inte- 

 resting fact in their natural history. I will just mention another in- 

 stance which I met with here also, in reference to Elater balteatus. I 

 took several specimens of this insect, by sweeping with my net some 

 bunches of heath in a wood near here. As heath was to be found 



