4438 Insects — Birds. 



occurred in woods and on trees in their vicinity: they have been taken from the elm, 

 the hazel, and by general sweeping in oak woods; June and July. 



Elater balteatus. Four specimens, taken by Mr. Plant, from an old oak-stump, 

 in June. 



Elater bipustulatus. Three specimens, taken by myself, by sweeping in oak woods ; 

 July. This is the first time this species has occurred in this county. 



Orchitis cyaneus. Plentiful in certain localities, by sweeping beneath oaks ; June 

 and July. 



Agrilus viridis. Abundant in oak woods, in July. 



Cryptocephalus minutus? and labiatus. Abundant in oak woods, in July. 



Auchenia quadrimaculata. Locally abundant in damp parts of woods, on Ly- 

 simachia nemorum ; July. 



Leiodes humeralis. Sparingly, in damp woods, in July. 



Amphicyllis globus (Agathidium globus, Steph. Man.) Sparingly, in damp woods, 

 in July. 



Haltica nitidula. Not uncommon on young aspens, in woods; June and 

 October. 



Haltica vittata (Mus. Steph.) Common on Cardamine amara; damp places in 

 woods ; May. 



Lina amea (Melasoma aenea, Steph. Man.) Common on young alders, in woods ; 

 June and September. 



Donacia nigra and Menyanthidis. Locally abundant, on a species of grass ? grow- 

 ing on the margins of ponds and rivers, in June. They secrete themselves at the base 

 of the leaf where it enfolds the stem, a secure retreat from all but the prying eyes of 

 their greatest enemy, the entomologist. — Frederick Bates; 5, Napier Terrace, Ayle- 

 stone Road, Leicester, July 19, 1854. 



Correction of an Error. — At page 4129 of the ' Zoologist,' I mentioned Hydrilla 

 caliginosa as occurring on the heaths here ; but having since ascertained that I had 

 mistaken another species for caliginosa, T think it but fair to the Entomological world 

 that the mistake should be corrected as publicly as made. — Octavius Piclcard-Cambridge. 



Note on the Barn Owl. — I heard to-day an anecdote respecting the barn owl which 

 T think worth inserting in the ' Zoologist.' About fifty years ago a labouring man 

 in a parish in this neighbourhood took a pair of young barn owls from their nest in a 

 plantation, and brought them to a hollow elm tree which stood close to an adjacent 

 farm-house : to this tree the young owls were tied by their legs for a time, and, on 

 being subsequently released from this confinement, they took up their abode in the 

 hollow trunk of the tree, which, from that day to this, has never been without a pair of 

 barn owls for its tenants,— whether the original pair or their successors I am unable to 

 say, but undoubtedly either the one or the other. Some years since, that part of the 

 tree which the owls usually inhabited was blown down, and they seem to have felt no 

 little reluctance in changing their domicile to another portion of it, as they were ob- 

 served to keep possession of the fallen part of the tree most pertinaciously during the 

 first night after the accident. Cats are well known to have very strong local predilec- 



