8300 



Insects. 



absence of a Micropteryx mine in everything but birch, I am inclined 

 to think that the birch will prove to be the food of this larva. 



7. A Scented Micropteryx Larva. 



Whilst collecting birch-feeding Micropteryx larvae, during the last 

 two seasons, my attention has been drawn to the circumstance of one of 

 the larvae having a musky scent attached to it. The larva is of a very 

 dark gray colour. 



When I first noticed the scent I considered it arose from the leaves, 

 but last May I found the larva feeding in company with a white Mi- 

 cropteryx larva, which was quite scentless, whilst the dark brown larva 

 retained its peculiar faint musky smell. 



8. Micropteryx Larva infested by a Dipterous Larva. 

 Last May, whilst engaged sorting the empty leaves from the 

 tenanted, I observed several Micropteryx larvae remaining motionless 

 in their mines. Haviug allowed an interval of two or three days to 

 elapse, and finding they were still in the same position, I ejected them 

 from their mines, and found they were dead. From the appearance of 

 the larvae I was induced to open them, when the cause of their death 

 became apparent by finding that each larva had a dipterous-looking 

 larva feeding on its intestines. 



Charles Healy. 



74, Napier Street, Hoxton, W. 



Capture of two Coleopterous Insects new to Britain. — I have recently! taken and 

 determined two insects, which have not hitherto been recorded as British: — , 



1. Aphodius Zenkeri, Erich. It is in general appearance more like A. Porcus 

 than any other British species. Short, ovate, convex, chesnut-brown. Head black, 

 with pale margins to clypeus, which has three tubercles, the central one prominent in 

 the male, and distinctly angulate in front of the eye. Thorax with disk dark, 

 thickly punctate ; anterior and lateral margins chesnut-brown. Elytra with obscure 

 dark maculations, a large oblique patch on each behind the middle ; the stria? punctate, 

 and the interspaces elevated and smooth, with their margins punctate, giving the 

 appearance of compound striation ; basal joint of posterior tarsi elongate. Length 

 about 2 lines. I took about thirty specimens in human excrement, at Mickleham, in 

 August, 1862. 



2. Tachyusa coarctata, Erich. Nearly allied to T. coustricta, the abdomen being 

 constricted at the base, but not quite to the same extent. It is smaller, polished, 

 with a fine gray pubescence, and my specimens are entirely black, with a bluish tinge 

 like that of T. leucopu, with the exception of the mouth and tarsi, which arc testaceons- 

 yellow. The tibiae arc duiker than the tarsi, but paler than the rest of the body. 



