1868.] 



71 



I went to Deal on the chance of finding Ceuthorhynchus ta/rsaUs in the locality 

 where it had occurred a few years ago, and beat diligently every food-plant I could 

 see, but without success. About a fortnight afterwards the insect turned up upon 

 the S. E. R., between the Ilythe and Shorncliffo stations, not a plant of Sisymhrium 

 being, so far as I could ascertain, within sight. I only procured a single specimen. 

 Upon the same bank, at various spots and various times since the 1st of May, have 

 occurred the following : — Ceuthorhynch(ide)us punctiger and Chevrolatii (=respec- 

 tively, I suspect, to marginatus and troglodytes) ; C. terminatus, the first time I have 

 seen the insect alive ; Tropiphoriis carinatus, a very hermit among beetles, and 

 apparently quite indifferent as to his quarters, so that there be no partner to 

 share them. I have taken it repeatedly during the last ten years, — from bare 

 chalk and long grass, damp wood and dry banks, — and at almost all seasons : moss 

 in the winter months affording the best chance ; but I never found more than 

 one at a time, in spite of strict searching. 



Phytonomus suspiciosus is scarce hereabouts ; Apion craccce, also scarce ; but 

 Grypidius equiseti and Sitones camhricus are not veiy rare in this neighbourhood. 

 I may also mention that both Poophagi have appeared in a new locality, a private 

 watercress bed belonging to a friend and neighbour of mine ; which is the more 

 satisfactory, as the old habitat is quite hopeless — the cress having been entirely 

 ousted by stinging-nettles. 



I have just beaten a red-'^dng-cased Uarpalus servus, Stunn, from hazel, on 

 a chalk bank near Covert Wood, East Kent ; and make a note of this, under the 

 impression that the insect has hitherto been recorded only as a littoral species, 

 and, therefore, not amongst the tree-climbing OeodepJiaga. I am ready to exhibit 

 the specimen should any doubt be felt as to its correct identification. I have no 

 such doubt myself, having examples fi'om Romney Sands wherewith to compai'e 

 it.— W. Tylden, Stanford, Hythe, 19th June, 1868. 



Capture of Mesites Tardii on our north-eastern coast. — During the first week of 

 this month, Mr. Lawson and I went in search of wood-feeding beetles in Hayburn 

 Wyke, six miles north of Scarborough. The first likelr-looking tree we came to 

 was an alder, which had been blown down, and partially lay across the " beck." 

 We set to work, taking off the loose bark, and were astonished to find Mesites 

 Tardii by hundreds. The beetle was also making large galleries in the solid wood, 

 in which all stages of the insect occurred together. 



The next tree we tried was a dead ash ; and in it was the beetle, in equal 

 abundance, accompanied by Clerus formicanus. We next found it under loose bark 

 of maple ; also under loose bark of oak ; also in the solid wood of the roots of the 

 latter tree, which had been cut down about two years ; — so 1 presume no tree 

 comes amiss tq the beetle. In my experience of wood-feeders, I have never before 

 met with any species so numerous. — T. Wilkinson, 6, Cliff Bridge Terrace, Scar- 

 borough, June 26th, 1868. 



[This is pleasant for the " Atlantic Fauna " theory. — E. C. R.] 



On the fecundity of the Queen- Bee. — At the meeting of the Entomological Society 

 on the 4th of May, a paper on the economy of the Hive-Bee, by Mr. Desborough, 



