insects. 4527 



Note on Sirex Juvencus. — During the recent hot weather I have repeatedly 

 observed several insects buzzing about some lilac trees, in the small plot of ground 

 adjoining my place of business in the midst of the town. These making their 

 appearance day after day, my curiosity was aroused, and two of them were captured, 

 and turned out to be either Sirex gigas or some nearly allied species. I have no 

 specimen or figure by me at present to identify them with, but my impression is that 

 S. gigas has the body more elongated. The great dissimilarity in size, however (one 

 being four times the size of the other), struck me as being remarkable, the sex being 

 apparently the same in both specimens. Both are forwarded herewith, in order that 

 the species may be correctly named. Most probably they have been imported with 

 timber from Norway or some of the Baltic ports. — G. Norman ; Hull, September 11, 

 1854. 



[The species is Sirex Juvencus: the discrepancy in size is not unusual. — Ed.~\ 



Capture of Carabus intricatus in Devonshire. — I jsee in the last number of the 

 'Zoologist,' that Mr. Waterhouse stated that the Kev. Mr. Hore had taken, in the 

 neighbourhood of Plymouth, four specimens of Carabus intricatus, a species which 

 was looked upon as a doubtful native. As it is desirable to add all the testimony in 

 favour of so beautiful an insect beiug indigenous to this country, I beg to say that 

 Dr. Leach took it at Tavistock and Bickley Vale: a friend told me that a gentleman 

 named Salton took one in Bickley Vale ; and I have this summer found the thorax of 

 two and the elytra of one also in Bickley Vale : of course mine is no capture, but 

 shows they are natives. — J. J. Reading ; 5, Union Street, Plymouth, September 26, 

 1854. 



Description of Lathrobiwm carinatum, an apparently undescribed British Coleop- 

 terous Insect. — Deep jet black, very glossy, sparingly clothed with griseous pubescence : 

 head large, fully one- third wider than the thorax, orbicular, depressed closely and 

 very distinctly punctured, with an impression a little before the vertex iu front ; 

 labrum rufous, fringed with golden hair ; mandibles long, curved, prominent, rufous, 

 black on'the outer edge and at the tip; antennae elongate, as long or longer than the 

 head and thorax together, graceful, rufous, the basal joint with a dusky annulation ; 

 palpi also rufous. Thorax narrow, elongate-oval, much depressed, coarsely punctu- 

 lated, with a distinctly elevated central carina, which is exceedingly smooth and 

 glossy. Scutellum obtusely triangular, punctulated. Elytra bright blood red, black 

 for one-third the length at the base, distinctly punctulate, somewhat wider than the 

 thorax, parallel, depressed, the suture elevated, with a stria on each side. Abdomen 

 depressed, strongly margined, very finely punctured, the antepenultimate segment 

 narrowly edged with white, the last sparsely covered by stout black diverging hairs ; 

 beneath finely punctured and pubescent, black. Legs elongate, black, the trochanters 

 rufo-brunneous, the apices of the tibiae and the tarsi rufous and covered with aureous 

 pubescence. Male, with the fifth segment beneath sinuated, the sixth canaliculate. 

 Female, with the penultimate segment beneath a little produced and rounded : length 

 3 — 3^ lines. This very distinct insect is certainly the most beautiful of its genus ; 

 the bright blood red of its elytra contrasting strongly with the shining black of its 

 body ; whilst the large orbicular head, narrow carinated thorax, elongate antennas and 

 legs give it quite the graceful appearance of a Stilicus. It would appear to be very 

 rare, two specimens only having come beneath my notice; one, a male, I took 

 amongst gravel, near the river Irthing, Cumberland, in June, 1847 ; the other, a fine 

 female, was captured in a similar locality, on the Devil's Water, Northumberland, by 



