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THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



[May 



" The Potteries." In the late Dr. Garner's " Natural History of 

 Staffordshire " this is given as a locality for — among others of the 

 same family — Aciluts snlcatiis, a species generally considered common, 

 but which I had never seen alive, and so I set out provided with a 

 water-net. The day was most promising — fine and warm, after several 

 days' rain, and the result more than justified one's most sanguine 

 anticipations — about 50 species of the order Coleoptera being met 

 with in the course of the afternoon. Of these, probably the most 

 interesting captures were some half-dozen specimens of Bembidmm 

 britxellense , a species which had only occurred to me on a single 

 occasion — among shingle on the bank of the stream which flows down 

 the Pass of Llanberis. On Wetley Moor it was found sunning itself 

 on half-dried and sun-cracked 'patches of mud on the less elevated 

 portions of the common, and it was accompanied here by its near 

 relatives B. nitjdulnin and B. lampi'os in profusion. Beneath stones 

 and among the dead leaves of heather on the higher parts of the moor, 

 where the millstone grit crops out, many common species occurred, 

 such as Loficeva pilicornis, Pterostichtts nigrita and diligens, Harpalus 

 latus, Bvadycelhts cognatus and shnilis (both in profusion), Dyschirius 

 globosuSy Hoinalota elongatula, several common PhilontJms, Platystethus 

 arenarius, ByrrJnis pilnla, Cytilus varius, and Cryptohypnus ripavius. 

 Among the water beetles were Haliplus fltiviatilis , Hydroporits planus, 

 erythrocephalus, gyllenhalii, and palustvis (all in abundance), Ilyhius 

 fuliginosiis, Agnbus sturmii, bipustulatus and nebulosus (the latter in pro- 

 fusion), Colymhetes fnscuSy Dytisciis marginalis, Acilius sulcatus (3), 

 Hydrobius fuscipes, Limnebius truncatellus, Helophonis aquaticus, ceneipennisy 

 and brevipalpis, and (among other Coryxida) Covyxa geofffoyi in profusion. 



April 15///.— A hurried evening visit to Wetley Moor, when, not- 

 withstanding a high wind which rendered water-collecting very tedious, 

 many of the species recorded for the 4th inst. were again met with, 

 while in addition, the following, among others, we're noticed \ —Ancho- 

 meiius albipes, Amnm plebeia, Hydropoms melanocephalus (abundant), 

 nigrita, and iimbrosiis, and Stenus speculator. Two more Acilitis were 

 captured, and B. bnixcllense looked for— but in vain. 



May ^vd. — A vSaturday afternoon spent in the woods and in sweep- 

 ing the herbage growing by the side of the lake at Trentham — the 

 principal seat of the Duke of Sutherland. Among the beetles captured 

 were the following : — -Notiophilus ntfipes — a single specimen found 



} MAY. 91 



