i8 94 .] THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 35 



precedes Dyschirius ; Miscodera, Broscus, and Panagaeus immediately 

 following. From this point the arrangement is altogether different, and 

 the views of the two authors are not in accord with their previous 

 catalogues (Sharp, 1883; Fowler, 1883). As the Catalogue is chiefly 

 intended for the use of British students, who, as a rule, have not the 

 necessary time to study Continental authorities, one can only regret the 

 absence of a preface giving reasons for the extensive alterations and! 

 changes in the nomenclature. 



A further point in connection with the new Catalogue is with reference 

 to the genus Bembidium. It will be found that the authors recognise 

 B. riparium as of specific value, but one can hardly understand the 

 confusing of two species under this term by these two authorities, more 

 especially as M. Louis Bedel has so clearly defined their distinctive 

 characteristics. The subject, it may be remarked, has previously been 

 referred to in this magazine (vol. III. page 222), by Mr. E. A. Newbery ; 

 also by the same writer in the Entomologist 's Monthly Magazine, with an 

 editorial note by Canon Fowler ; and in the Entomologist by the Rev. 

 H. S. Gorham. There appears to be some divergence of opinion 

 respecting B. biguttatum, B. tricolor, and B. riparium, and it becomes 

 necessary to ask what is the species which we now recognise as 

 B. biguttatum P 



Our latest authority, Canon Fowler, in the " Coleoptera of the British 

 Isles," describes B. bigitttatum as having the seventh stria indicated by a 

 series of punctures, but he makes no reference here to the joints of the 

 antennae. B. riparium he describes as having " the legs and base of 

 antennae reddish-brown instead of testaceous, and that the seventh stria 

 of the elytra is altogether wanting." From this we infer that in B. 

 biguttatum the base of the antennae is testaceous. Fairmaire, 1854 

 (" Faune Ent. Francaise," page i.58), describes B. biguttatum as having 

 six striae and dark bases to the antennae. Dawson, also (" Geodephaga 

 Britannica," page 179) at same date, though he omits to mention the 

 number of striae, virtually agrees with Fairmaire. M. Louis Bedel, the 

 eminent author of " Coleopteres du bassin de la Seine," states that B. 

 biguttatum has the first joint of the antennae and the legs of a clearer red. 

 The Rev. H. S. Gorham {Entomologist, vol. XXVI. page 350) says: "I 

 shall myself prefer to use riparium, Ol., for the species with pale bases to 

 the antennae, as it has been so generally used by Schaum and others." 0 



It would appear from the foregoing that either Canon Fowler and M. 

 Louis Bedel are wrong in describing B. biguttatum as having pale bases 

 to the antennae, or else an error has been committed by Fairmaire, 

 Dawson, and the Rev. H. S. Gorham. In justice to the latter gentleman 



* I am unable to refer to the original description of B. biguttatum at present, as it 

 involves an examination of some five or six works at the British Museum, but very shortly 

 I hope to go deeper into this matter. — G. A. L. 



