235 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



TNOVEMBER 



allied Hydvopliiliis^carahoidcs the last joint is itself dilated. In Leplura 

 scutellata the posterior tarsi are lonf^er m the male than in the female. 

 There remains only to be mentioned the curious fact that in a few 

 genera (of Clavicorn Beetles) there is a variation in the number 

 of joints m the male and female. Thus in the Rhizophagina, and in 

 Lemophl<tics, PcLUaciis, A iitherojjJiagus, and Ciyptojihngus, the males have 

 only four joints to tlie posterior tarsi, while the females have five ; 

 and in the family Ivlycetopliagidas while the females have four, the 

 males have only three joints in the hind feet. A few remarks on 

 sexual differences in the claws of the feet will conclude the reference 

 to the appendages of the thorax In the males of llydroponis davisi, 

 halensis, &c., the front claws are longer than m the female. The 

 males of Agabus nitidus, affinis, arcticiis, and hipustulatus have the 

 claws of the anterior feet toothed ; the outer clav>^ of the middle feet 

 of Ilyhius ohsciiriis is tootiied in the same sex ; and Ilyhiiis guttiger has 

 the claws of the hind feet unequal m the male. The claws in both 

 sexes of TelepJiorns ahdomvialis are toothed, but in the female this tooth 

 is much longer and spine-like. The males of Serica bnnniea, Phyllopeiiha 

 liorticola and Anomola frischii have the outer claw of the front feet 

 much widened ; while the same sex in OspJiyn bipiinctata has the claws 

 trifid at the apex. In Hydrous caraboidcs the anterior claws of the male 

 are very abruptly curved, like a grappling iron, and I notice (what I 

 have not seen referred to in any of the systematic works) that in 

 addition to the dilated anterior tarsus in the male Sphrevidium the last 

 joint is curiously folded, and while one claw is straight and slender 

 the other is much thickened and forms a blunt hook. 



(To be continued). 



Reports of Societies. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



October 5th. — Henry John Elwes, Esq., F.L.S., Vice-President in the chair. Mr. 

 W. H. Yondale, F.R.M.S., of Cockermouth, was elected a Fellow. Mr. C. O 

 Waterhouse exhibited a specimen of Latridius nodifer feeding on a fungus, 

 Trichosporium roseum. The Rev. E. A. Eaton sent for exhibition the male specimen 

 of Elenchns tcnuicornis, Kirby, taken by him 22nd August last, at Stoney Stoke, near 

 Shepton Montague, Somerset, and described by him in the " Entomologist's Monthly 

 Magazine," Oct. 1892, pp. 250-253. ^Ir, McLachlan stated that another specimen 

 of this species had been caught about the same date in Claygate Lane, near Surbiton, 

 by Mr. Edward Saunders, who discovered that it was parasitic on a homopterous 

 insect of the genus Liburnia, and had also described it in the Ent. Mo. Mag., pp. 

 249-250. Mr. J. M. Adye exhibited, for Mr. McRae, a large collection of Colias ediisa, 

 C. ediisa var. hclice, and C. hyale, all taken in the course of five day's collecting in the 

 neighbourhood of Bournemouth and Christchurch, Hants. There were twenty-six 

 specimens of helice, some of which were remarkable both in size and colour. He 

 stated that Mr. McRae estimated the proportion of the variety hclice, to the type of 

 female as one in fifty. Air. Adye. also exhibited two specim.ens oi Deiopeia pulcellha, 



