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THE BRITISH NATURALIST. [April 



scant remains which have as much in their favour of having belonged 

 to a human being as to an ape. It cannot be disputed, even in this 

 nineteenth century of intellectual civilization, that we meet with fellow- 

 beings whose anatomical proportions are very simian, and could their 

 remains be discovered under similar conditions as those referred to the 

 Dryopithecus, they would furnish the scientific world with food for many 

 earnest and warm discussions. Now, some of the bones of this 

 Dryopithecus have been unearthed by Fontan at St. Gaudens, and have 

 been described by Lartet. Unfortunately, nothing is left to build up 

 our ancestral precursor on save a jawbone and a humerus. Of these 

 Gaudry made a crital examination, and was forced to the conclusion 

 that they resembled the remains of man in many points ; firstly as 

 regards upright stature, which is a characteristic of the greatest 

 importance ; secondly in the incisor teeth, and also the sufficiently 

 rounded faces of the back molars, which are similar to those of 

 Australian tribes. 



(To be continued.) 



GOSSIPING NOTES ON BRITISH COLEOPTERA. 



BY G. A. LEWCOCK. 



( Continued from page 49.) 



Licinus, Latreille. — A Roman proper name. But two species 

 figure in the British list, viz., silphoides and depvessus. Both are local, 

 and by no means common. 



L. silphoides, F. — Interstices of elytra coarsely and rugosely punc- 

 tured. I received my specimens from the late Dr. Horner, who captured 

 them at Folkestone. Mr. R. Beck (Southampton) took two on the top of 

 Portland Head, September 3rd, 1890. Mr. C. W. Dale records it from 

 Lulworth, Portland. Also taken by the late Rev. H. J. Gore and Mr. 

 West (Greenwich) under stones at bottom of Box Hill. Mr. G. C. 

 Champion ("Kent and Surrey Coleoptera") : "Chalky hill sides and sandy 

 coasts, at roots of grass, under stones, sometimes beneath seaweed; 

 rather common ; Cuxton, Folkestone, Chatham, Sheerness, Hythe 

 (Kent); Boxhill, Reigate, Caterham, Gomshall (Surrey)." Dover and 

 Deal, not common (G. C. Hall). Weymouth (R. Gillo). Not 

 recorded from Ireland (Rev. W. F. Johnson). 



L. depvessus, Payk. — Rather smaller than silphoides, and with 

 interstices of elytra finely punctured. I received my specimens from 

 Mr. J. E. Robson, who took them at Hartlepool. It has been taken at 

 Box Hill by Mr. W. C. Chaney and the late Rev. H. J. Gore ; at Betch- 

 worth by Mr. West ; under lumps of chalk on the coast at Kingsdown 



