Insects. 5631 



New Helophilus. — Last summer I was so fortunate as to find, in my own immedi- 

 ate neighbourhood, a species of Helophilus which is not described either in Mr. 

 Walker's * Insecta Britannica,' Professor Loew's ' Monograph of the Genus Helophi- 

 lus,' or the works of Meigen and Macquart. I propose to call it Helophilus Clarkii, 

 as a compliment to my highly esteemed friend Bracy Clark, who has so admirably 

 elucidated an obscure family of British Diptera. — Edward Newman. 



Capture of a Fossorial Hymenoplerous Insect, new to the British Fauna, in the 

 North of England. — Amongst my Cumberland captures of last season (1856) were one 

 male and ten females of a fine black Crabro, which a careful examination led me to 

 believe was the species indicated by Wesmael as melanarius. On submitting an 

 example to Mr. F. Smith, he at once confirmed my opinion, and informed me that it 

 had not before been taken in this country. I append its synonyms and give below 

 Dahlbom's diagnosis, which will facilitate its identification, if met with elsewhere: — 



Crabro (Crossocerus) melanarius, Wesmael, Rev. Crit. Fouis. Belg. 133, 9; 

 Crabro leucostoma, Zett. Ins. Lapp. 444, 9, var. b ; Crabro (Crossocerus) 

 podagricus, Dahlb. Hymenop. Europ. 1 , 339, 222. 



" Medius robustus 3 — 3£ lin.long.; palpis pedibusque nigris, vertlce thoraceque 

 nitidis metanoto opaco ruguso aut coriaceo crenaturis normalibus crassis, tibiis 

 posticis clavalo obconicis spinosis, margine occipitali mutico. ($ £)." 



This species is very distinct from Crabro podagricus, Van der Lind., Shuck., and 

 St. Farg., and appears to be a northern insect, Wesmael (1. c.) remarking, " Je n'ai 

 pas trouve cette espece en Belgique, et elle parait etre surtout repandue au nord de 

 l'Europe." I took my specimens in the early part of July, near Lannercost : the first 

 I took were burrowing in a very hard thorn post, but I afterwards found them in a 

 partially decayed stump of a tree — a sycamore, I believe. One of the females, when 

 captured, was carrying a small brilliant blue-green Dipterous insect. — Thomas John 

 Bold; Long Benton, New castle -on-Tyne, April 6. 1857. 



Mare British Coleoptera. — The present season has been remarkably productive in 

 some of the rarer British beetles. Mr. Douglas had the good fortune to find a pair 

 of Brontes planatus under the bark of a decaying lime tree at Shooter's Hill; he has 

 also taken Bostrichus bispinosus out of the shoots of Clematis Vitalba in the same 

 neighbourhood. Lebia crux-minor has been taken in the neighbourhood of Brighton, 

 but perhaps not so abundantly as last year. Dr. Power has taken a single specimen 

 of Chlaenius holosericeus in the London district, and thirty or forty of Drypta emargi- 

 nata in the Hampshire locality : at the last Meeting of the Entomological Club he 

 exhibited this magnificent series, a sight that had never before gladdened the eyes 

 of an English Coleopterist ; he also brought to the Meeting one living specimen, 

 and allowed it to march deliberately over Mr. Marshall's table, to the intense 

 delectation of all beholders. Does not Dr. Power's success proclaim, far more than 

 words, the advantage of perseverance and industry ? No one ever laboured more 

 assiduously or more successfully. — Edward Newman. 



