5004 Insects, 



males would have been in the same plight as their partners : such, however, was not 

 the case, whilst fully two-thirds of the females were so burdened. — Thomas John 

 Bold; Angas' Court, Bigg Market, Newcastle-on-Tyne, December 27, 1855. 



Capture of Agabus dispar. — I have this season had the pleasure of taking a fine 

 series of Agabus dispar (or, as our leading Coleopterists say, uliginosus), the first time 

 since 1848, although I have oft carefully searched the locality. This uncertainty of occur- 

 rence and peculiarity of habit is a case in point of the necessity for close and continued 

 search, even of the same places, year by year, if we would add novelties to our insect 

 fauna. Even the commonest species of Hydradephaga will swarm for one season, then 

 disappear and their places frequently be filled by others. By taking advantage of this, 

 and working the ground thoroughly, more substantial progress will be made than by 

 collecting at great distances, when the most of our time is sacrificed in travelling. 

 But to return to A. dispar: immediately after the heavy July rains, thinking the time 

 favourable, I went to Boldon Flats, Durham, for the express purpose of seeking this 

 and one or two other rarities. I found the country flooded ; in many places only the 

 tops of the ridges above water. Commencing in the most " likely '' places, those 

 whence I took it in 1848, I worked all the forenoon, and hard too, but without pro- 

 ducing anything better than femoralis. Disappointed and tired, I sought the shade of 

 a hedge (for the sun was scorching hot), had some lunch, rested a little, and then set 

 too and tried the " unlikely " places ; one of these, the recently flooded furrows of a 

 grass-field, produced what I sought. These " diggings," however, required hard work 

 to make them productive ; I had to dredge them over and over again, and the more I 

 puddled the water the greater was my success. In addition to A. dispar, the locality 

 furnished me with examples of Hydroporus rufifrons, Duft., H. vittula, Erich., and 

 H. nigrita, Fab. When amongst the debris in the net, A. dispar simulates death 

 with a good deal of perseverance, and it is quite necessary to allow time for careful 

 examination before it be emptied. — Id. 



Capture of and Localities for Hydroporus latus, Steph. — This insect is apparently 

 one of our rarest and most local species. As this may arise from the peculiarity of its 

 habit, I think that a notice of such, with localities, will probably lead to its being 

 found elsewhere. The first time that I found it was in the Ouseburn, Northumber- 

 land, in July, eight or ten years ago, when I took a couple of specimens ; here it was 

 amongst shelving rocks : this locality I have dredged every year since, but without 

 success. I next found a single specimen in the river Derwent (Durham), amongst 

 gravel, in April, 1854. During the past season (1855) I sought for it with con- 

 considerable assiduity, and found it in two widely different localities: the first was in 

 an open drain on a Cumberland common, near Lannercost, and locally known as 

 " Mrs. Bell's Common." Here, however, they were few and far between ; a whole 

 day's hard working (under a burning sun and tormented by "clegs," in hundreds) 

 producing twenty-two specimens, of which several were imperfect : this was in 

 the first week in July. In September I visited one of the wildest of our wild moun- 

 tain streams, the " Devil's Water" (Durham), which, rising on extensive moors, runs 

 a furious course over a rocky bed, and empties itself into the Tyne between Hexham 

 and Corbridge. Here I again found II. latus, and in what I believe will prove to be 

 its natural habitat, viz., amongst the large stones of a rapid running river: for 

 although I found the greater number of specimens in the stream near Lannercost, 

 still I think that they must have come there from the river King, which is a stream of 

 the same nature as the Devil's Water, and to which the drain runs: this I hope more 



