1892.] 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



91 



dimidiatus, Fab.- Chester, E.C.T., Cheshire Coast, B.C., West 

 Kirby, ordinary type and a remarkable variety of male almost 

 entirely black, J.T.G. 



vagabundus, Panz.— Higher Bebington J.T.G. ; commonly dis- 

 tributed B.C. 



4-maculatus, Fab. — subpunctatus, Shuck. — Bowden and Delamere 



B.C. ; Delamere, E.C.T. 

 cribrarius, Linn. — Wallasey, H.H.H. ; West Kirby, J.T.G. 



Delamere, E.C.T. ; and general in district, B.C. 

 peltarius, Schreb. — patellatus, Panz. — Manchester, Southport, and 



Cheshire coast, B.C. ; and West Kirby, J.T.G. 

 cephalotes, Panz. — sexcinctus, Sm. — interstinctiis, Sm. ? — Bowden, 



B.C. 



chrysostoma, Lep. — xylurgus, Shuck. — Commonly distributed, 

 B.C.; Higher Bebington, J.T.G. ; Ince, frequent, R.N. ; and 

 Eaton Hall near Chester, E.C.T. 



interruptus, De Geer. — Lindenius, Shuck. — Cheshire coast, B.C. 

 OxYBELUs, Latr. 



uniglumis, Linn. — Bowden, Southport, and Cheshire coast, B.C. 

 Wallasey, W.G. ; Rock Ferry near Birkenhead, with one 

 specimen nearly black, J.T.G. 



mucronatus, Fab. — argentahcs, Curt. — ferox, Shuck. — This rare 

 species was taken on Cheshire sand hills, opposite Liverpool, 

 by Mr. Matthews prior to 1836 (v. Schuckard's " Fossorial 

 Hymenoptera.") It has since been recorded from same district 

 by Mr. B. Cooke. 



(To be continued.) 



THE SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF 

 THE BRrnSH COLEOPTERA. 



BY JOHN W. ELLIS, M.B. (VIc), F.E.S. 



While in a great number of beetles, as in other insects, no apparent 

 difference is observable between the male and female, in others, so 

 different are the sexes that very frequently they have been described 

 under two names as distinct species until further observation has 

 proved their unity. 



The various modifications of form and colour which frequently 

 distinguish the sexes of the coleoptera are of value to the systematic 

 entomologist mainly as affording characters for the differentiation of 

 closely allied species, for rarely are the secondary sexual characters of 



