2374 Insects. 



specimen of this rare insect at Gosforth, in the beginning of August last. It was run- 

 ning about on the dry muddy bottom of the lake, in company with Philocthus fuscipes. 

 — Id. 



Note on Broscus cephalotes. — When alarmed this common beetle simulates death 

 in rather an odd manner : opening wide its mouth, it throws back the antennae, brings 

 together the anterior and intermediate legs, which project at a right angle downwards, 

 at the same time stretching outwards and upwards the posterior pair, somewhat in the 

 manner of lethargic humble bees. Thus it patiently remains, like a dead sun-dried 

 creature, until it finds a fitting opportunity of escape. — Id. 



Note on Pissodes Pini. — I have, at various times during the last season, picked up 

 in the before-recorded locality (Zool. 1805) a few more specimens of this beetle, — per- 

 haps half a dozen in all. One of them I dug out of a stump of Scotch fir (the stump 

 of a tree felled last winter), on the 22nd of July : it was in an oval chamber in the 

 thick rough bark, about two inches from the top, and had evidently undergone its 

 transformations there, as it was softer, of a paler ferruginous, and had the scaly bands 

 and spots much darker coloured than the generality of specimens. — Id. 



Note on Hylesinus crenatus. — On the first symptoms of decay, our ash trees (espe- 

 cially those in hedge-rows) are attacked by this beetle, whose galleries, running in all 

 directions, admit the air and moisture to the inner bark and sap-wood, which, rapidly 

 decaying, forms a proper pabulum for the larvae of Sinodendron cylindricum — an 

 agent which quickly completes the work of destruction. I frequently pass in my walks 

 a large partially decayed oak, where a numerous colony is established : there (espe- 

 cially on warm summer evenings) you may see some members of the community wan- 

 dering over the trunk, in search of a suitable situation for a burrow, which is generally 

 selected at the upper end of some chink or crevice in the bark : the hole runs directly 

 upwards for the first inch or two, and is then continued onwards, across or otherwise, 

 as circumstances or the fancy of the excavator may direct. Not a few may be seen 

 with their abdomens protruding from the orifice of their galleries, into which they ra- 

 pidly retreat when alarmed. When seized, this species produced a brisk chirping 

 noise, by rubbing the abdomen against the elytra. — Id. 



Capture of Lamia textor near Bristol. — Of this fine and much-desired species no 

 less than twenty-seven examples have fallen to my lot, viz., twenty-six in this and one 

 in the past year. I quite agree with my friend Mr. Barton in considering it to be 

 nocturnal in its habits (Zool. 2245), because, first, I never took a specimen until after 

 7, p. m., and sometimes when so dark that I could not distinguish between the leaf 

 and the insect, except by feeling the difference ; and secondly, with two exceptions, 

 they were crawling up the stems of the willows when taken. It is a very local species, 

 only one small portion of the willow-bed affording it ; but I luckily discovered what I 

 call its metropolis, and on one evening captured six specimens. It appears to be fond 

 of moisture ; for the greater number of evenings on which I took it were either those 

 of very wet days or on which the dew fell heavily, and I generally got wet through 

 from pushing my way among the willows, — to say nothing of my boots, which on 

 every occasion were thoroughly soaked. On the evenings of one or two very fine and 

 hot days, when I expected to do much execution, not a single insect appeared. It 

 clings firmly to the branch up which it is climbing, and is not dislodged without sonic 

 effort. The dates and numbers captured are — 1847, August 18, one: 1848, July 18, 

 the one recorded (Zool. 2245); August 2, one; August 8, three ; August 18, three; 



