Insects. 3619 



of Harpalus as yet undetermined, one of which may possibly be new 

 to the British Fauna : also, abundance of Opatrum sabulosum and 

 Otiorhynchus ligneus; and, more rarely, Dermestes undulatus and 

 Phytobius 4-tuberculatus. Atomaria mesomelas was common in 

 sedgy places adjoining the Ley ; where also, in old trees, the ravages 

 of Sinodendron cylindricum were but too apparent. 



But the most valuable capture remains yet to be recorded, an insect 

 which pleased me most, being in fact the identical little Dromius 

 quadrillum for which alone we had undertaken, albeit unsuccessfully, 

 our expedition to Dorsetshire. Its habits are very remarkable. In- 

 stead of choosing grassy spots, or taking shelter beneath stones, as is 

 the case with the Dromii generally, it selects the driest and most bar- 

 ren shingle, at a distance from the beach, — so loose and bare that 

 even weeds are unable to exist upon it, where the insect may be seen 

 darting from beneath in the clear sunshine, and as suddenly disap- 

 pearing, much after the manner of the Limnaea, which I have taken, 

 under circumstances somewhat similar, in North Wales and the Isle 

 of Wight. It is difficult to speculate on w r hat a voracious insect like 

 the present can feed in such a position ; for the smaller animals in a 

 pebble-ridge so dry and shifting as to refuse nourishment even to a 

 blade of grass, and having more the appearance in fact of a recently 

 opened gravel-pit than anything else, cannot be very numerous. 



From the region of the Start, I pursued my way to Kingsbridge, 

 apparently a very unproductive district, where the clayey bed of the 

 estuary (always, except during the highest tides, partially dry) and 

 rocky shores proclaim at once the poverty of the spot. The only in- 

 sects I could perceive inhabiting the crevices of the mud along the 

 edges of the creek, were a few minute species of Brachelytra, and 

 hosts of Pogonus chalceus and the common Bradicellus pubescens. 

 By the field-sides on the rocks above, Apion vernale appeared tolera- 

 bly abundant ; but, with that exception, everything that I swept into 

 my net was of the very commonest description. 



Proceeding onwards, from Kingsbridge to Plymouth, I determined 

 on devoting all my time to Mount Edgecumbe, where, in addition to 

 Omias sulcirostris, observed previously (so far as the United Kingdom 

 is concerned) only in Scotland, I first discovered Cossonus Tardii, in 

 May, 1844 (Zool. 702), an insect not found on the continent, and, up 

 to that period, known exclusively as Irish. Various engagements, 

 however, prevented me from devoting more than parts of two days to 

 my favourite haunt : nevertheless, in that short period, I succeeded in 



