3618 Insects. 



At the Mount Pleasant Inn 1 loeated myself for several days, to ex- 

 plore this peninsular waste, so productive-looking at first sight, that, 

 had it been further east, I should have foretold a rich field for research. 

 Having however had experience, as already stated, of the general bar- 

 renness of the West, I was not surprised to find it extremely unprofit- 

 able : and to all who stand a similar chance of being deluded to its 

 shores by its prolific appearance, I would add a word of advice, not 

 to remain at Mount Pleasant, but by all means to pass quickly on. I 

 was there in the very height of the season for coast collecting {i. e., in 

 May), yet, with the exception of a single pair of Harpalus discoideus, 

 I scarcely captured anything w r orth recording. The only two other 

 Harpali I observed were the common aeneus and anxius; and the four 

 universal maritime insects of western England, viz., (Egialia globosa, 

 Cneorhinus geminatus, Opatrum sabulosum and Phylan gibbus, would 

 appear to be the principal inhabitants of the loose drifting sands on 

 the side facing the sea. Dyschirius thoracicus and salinus, the com- 

 mon little Lopha pusilla, and some minute Staphylinidae, were abun- 

 dant in brackish spots by the river's edge : which, with the exception 

 of an example of Myrmedonia limbata, are the principal species worth 

 mentioning from this most desert waste. 



From Mount Pleasant I made my way, via Dawlish, Totness and 

 Dartmouth, to the far-famed Slapton Ley, a large fresh-water lake of 

 more than two miles in length, running parallel to the sea (and sepa- 

 rated from it only by a road and a shingly beach) at about the central 

 point of the Start Bay. This locality, I believe, has never been 

 searched since the days of Bentley and Chant ; nor, with the excep- 

 tion perhaps of Dr. Leach, am I aware of anybody who has ever ex- 

 plored it for Coleoptera at all. Consequently I anticipated, in this 

 case at least, a rich harvest ; and indeed had I reaped fruit in propor- 

 tion to its very profitable appearance, I should have done well. As it 

 was, however, like most other spots in the West of England, it num- 

 bered but few species. The shores of the lake are a positive desola- 

 tion, but little occurring there beyond Agonum marginatum, Peryphus 

 rupestris, and Bembidium striatum. By the smaller and more stag- 

 nant waters, however, adjoining, where the sedge was lying in great 

 profusion, dead, upon the banks, vast numbers of Staphylinidae, prin- 

 cipally Homalotae and Philonthi, abounded, with Chlaenius vestitus 

 and Blethisa multipunctata : but the numbers here of the common 

 Agonum marginatum and Peryphus rupestris were truly prodigious, 

 exceeding what I had ever observed of the same species elsewhere. 

 On small grassy patches behind the beach, I obtained three species 



