114 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



in the plate presented with the Young Naturalist for September, 1883. It 

 seems to be getting scarcer than it was. I remember the time, and it is 

 not so very many years ago either, when I had no difficulty in finding 

 specimens, but last summer it was far otherwise, and it required a great deal 

 of searching to find one. Possibly the experience of other and more fortu- 

 nate coleopterists may not, however, be the same as mine, but it would be 

 interesting to know whether such is the case; and I think the Editor would 

 willingly spare a small space for a brief note on the subject, if any fellow 

 entomologist would chronicle his experience in the Young Naturalist, 



The handsome and well-marked species, Strangalia armata, may also be 

 found in June, sunning itself on the cow-parsnip flowers, in which it specially 

 delights, although it may also be found on other umbelHferee. It is figured 

 on the same plate as Aromia mosckata, together with the smaller species 

 S. melanura, which we may find in most places under the same conditions 

 as armata. The wasp beetles, Clytus arcuatus and arietis (also figured on 

 plate 7), may possibly be found this month. Neither are very common, 

 but arietis is the species most generally met with. I usually find one or two 

 in the course of the summer. I have taken arcuatus at Cambridge, it is the 

 most wasp-like of the two, and I think many a person whose sight was not 

 good enough to notice the apparent absence of wings, would take it for one 

 of the VespidcB as it sits basking in the sun on a wall. 



The common " soldier" and "sailor" beetles {Telephoridce) appear in 

 June, and we meet with Telephorus fuscus almost everywhere. The Cardinal 

 beetles [Pyrochroa rubeus) with their brilliant red elytra are also abundant 

 this month and towards its close, the Cock Chaffers [Melolontha vulgaris) 

 and Midsummer Dors (R/dzotrogus solstitialis) make their appearance to the 

 delight of school boys, who capture them and make them draw paper or 

 card-board carts, which, from their comparative great strength, they are able 

 to do with ease. They bury themselves in the day-time and come out at 

 dusk, when they wheel in swarms around lime and other trees in the south 

 of England ; I believe they are less common in the north. 



As summer comes on the Libellulina begin to make their appearance and 

 skim along with murderous purpose over the surface of our rivers and ponds. 

 The beautiful Demoiselle Dragon-Flies (Calopteryx virgo and C. splendens) 

 for instance are species we are very likely to see in June. The males of the 

 former have broad forewings of a deep blue colour, and a metallic blue head, 

 thorax and abdomen ; the wings of the females are clear and brown, and the 

 body green. In the latter the wings are narrower, and those of the males 

 have only the central portion blue or black, the base and tips being clear j 

 the females are similar to those of C. virgo. Besides these differences the 



