Mr Wilson on the Distribution of Insects. 293 



In the entire absence, then, of any information regarding the 

 entomological productions of the north of Scotland, I have 

 drawn up the accompanying list of coleopterous insects collect- 

 ed in Sutherland, as an imperfect commencement of those local 

 catalogues of northern species, which, in a completed state, 

 would assuredly tend to illustrate an extremely important de- 

 partment of natural history. 



It may be safely presumed (with all due allowance for the 

 indolence of our native collectors) that England is much richer 

 in entomology than Scotland. All countries of w hich the botani- 

 cal productions are the most gorgeous and abundant, are like- 

 wise the most productive of insect life. Both effects are pro- 

 ductive of the same causes, — that is, by a higher and more 

 continuously sustained temperature, a moderate moisture, and 

 a varied soil. So far as the lignivorous species are concerned, 

 the southern parts of the kingdom likewise possess a great ad- 

 vantage over us in the more frequent occurrence of forest trees. 



One peculiar feature of the entomology of England consists 

 in several of its rarest species being insects characteristic of the 

 warmer and temperate parts of Europe. Although, on the 

 continent, these extend somewhat further north, owing to the 

 greater heat of summer, the southern portions of our island 

 form their furthest insular extent, and they are consequently 

 unknown in Scotland. On the other hand, an equally interest- 

 ing feature in the entomology of Scotland consists in the ap- 

 pearance for the first time of some of the Scandinavian insects. 

 The greater proportion of our Scottish species occur in Sweden, 

 and it is interesting to know that several of the rarest kinds 

 lately discovered in the northern quarters of the island, such as 

 Clivhia a?'ctica, Harpalus micropterus, Elaphrus Laponicus, 

 Byrrlms ceneus, Salpingus Joveolatys, and others, are better 

 known in the Scandinavian peninsula than elsewhere, and are 

 indeed characteristic of the north-western division of the conti- 

 nent of Europe. Of these northern kinds many more will 

 doubtless ere long be discovered, and the principal points to 

 which naturalists ought to direct their attention in this depart- 

 ment are, the agreement or otherwise of our native species with 

 those of the corresponding latitudes of the continent, and the 

 effects produced on the former by their insular position. 



