June. iSgi.] THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



log 



beneath a stone in the wood ; Pterosticlms nigvita, P. striola, Anchomenus 

 junceus, Quediiis tnauronifiis, Othius fulvipennis , Lathrobitim bmnnipes, and 

 Lesteva longelytrata — beneath logs by the edge of the lake ; Baptolinus 

 alternans — nndex hdi.i'k. Sweeping and beating produced L^^/^r^^wiMw 

 wiicolor, Homalituii fosstilatim, Kpuvcsa mstiva, and Meligethes (sneus (both 

 in profusion), Scy mints discoidetis, Dolopius marginatus, Phyllotreta 

 tindulata, PsilLiddes napi, Ovcliestes pratensis, Cceliodes querciis (common 

 on oak), Liosomus ovahdus, and Strophosomus coryli. 



May yth. — A very cold night with an east wind. Sweeping road- 

 side herbage (and that very scanty) at Hanford, two miles from Stoke, 

 produced very few beetles, among them being Tachyporus bmnneus, 

 Stemts nitidiiiscultis, Chrysoniela staphylaa, Psilliodes napi, Thyaihis hirida, 

 and Liosomus ovatidiis. 



May ly th. — Another very cold night spent in sweeping at Blurton. 

 The results, so far as species are concerned, were very poor, but 

 among the few beetles captured was a specimen of the rare Philontlms 

 nigriventris, and one of the uncommon Deliphnm tectum. This Philonthus 

 resembles P. sordidus in its general appearance, but is at once dis- 

 tinguished from that species by the much finer punctuation of its 

 elytra, which, however, are not so finely punctured as in the closely- 

 allied P. cephalotes. From this species it is easily known by the 

 absence of the wide depression in the forehead, and by the fact that 

 the abdominal segments are entirely black beneath, instead of being 

 margined with red as in cephalotes. 



June jtli. — The early summer of i8go was remarkable in Stafford- 

 shire for the profusion of hawthorn bloom — in many places the hedges 

 looked as if they had been exposed to a heavy snowstorm. Pressure 

 of professional work prevented my paying any attention to the beetles 

 which frequent this attraction until the above date, when an afternoon 

 was occupied with a visit to Silverdale, a few miles to the west of 

 Newcastle-under-Lyme. After a few hours' work I obtained a great 

 number of specimens of, however, a limited number of species, none 

 of which were of any rarity. Among these were Anthobiiim torquatiim, 

 Meligethes ceneus and M. picipes, Byturus tomentosus, Telephoms limbatus, 

 and T. nigricans — all in profusion. Polydnisus cervinus was abundant, 

 though somewhat worn, on birch in the same neighbourhood. 



Jrdy ^th. — A fine day tempted me to an evening's sweeping of the 

 herbage between Trentham and Barlaston, with fair result — over 30 



