44 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



and a narrow band across the middle appear 

 of the ground colour. First three joints of 

 the antennae pale. Length z\ lines. 



B. Saxatile. — Elytra green, with a yellow 

 spot at base, and a round one at apex ; 

 antennae, with first three joints pale, and 

 the legs red. Length 2 lines. 



B. anglicanum. — Each elytron with two 

 yellow spots, the hinder one not being 

 round ; antennae, with first three joints 

 pale, and the legs yellow. Length 2.\ lines. 



B. femoratim. — Each elytron with two 

 large whitish yellow spots; antennae with' 

 only two basal joints pale ; legs pale, except 

 the femora which are dark. Length, 2 

 lines. 



B. bruxellense. — Elytra each with two 

 dark yellow spots; femora brown; elytra 

 with strong striae. Length 2% lines. 



B. iittorale. — Elytra each with two 

 yellow spots ; thorax not so long as broad ; 

 legs and first three joints of the antennae 

 yellow. Length i\ lines. 



B. fiumatile is slightly longer than Iittorale, 

 which it otherwise resembles in markings, 

 but the thorax is longer than broad, and 

 narrower behind than in that species. 



B. concinnum,", distinguished by its 

 antennae, which are entirely pale ; and the 

 fact that the basal yellow spot is joined to 

 the apical one by the yellow outer margin 

 of the elytra. 



The most abundant of these species and 

 probably of the whole genus is the variable 

 B. Iittorale, which is abundant every- 

 where. 



B jluviatile is scarce ; B. testaceum, B. 

 saxatile, and B. bruxellense are not common ; 

 B femoratwn and the beautiful B. concinnum 

 are tolerably common; B anglicanum, very 

 rare ; and B. lunatum local, but common 

 where it does occur. Like most of the 

 genus they frequent wet places, as the banks 

 of rivers. 



OLD ENTOMOLOGICAL 

 LOCALITIES. 



HEYSHAM MOSS. 



By C. S. Gregson, Liverpool. 



"Heysham Moss" lays about two miles 

 from Morcambe Bay, North Lancashire, on 

 the Heysham road. Formerly it reached 

 to Poulton — the old name for the present 

 town of Morcambe, — and was then a large, 

 narrow, turf moss which supplied farmers 

 and the fishermen of the district with fuel. 

 At present its site is a cultivated valley, rich 

 in corn, potatoes, &c, and only some twenty 

 acres of the moss remains; but this is rather 

 an advantage than otherwise, as the whole 

 of the moss insects are, as it were, concen- 

 trated, excepting that there are no sallows 

 or birches left ; hence we fail to find N. 

 ziczac, camelina and dromedarius, or what 

 forty years ago was even more prized, 

 Platypteryx falcula, and lacertula. Formerly 

 A crony eta menyanthidis was one of the special- 

 ities of this moss, its conspicuous larva being 

 found freely on the young sallows, which 

 sprung up and grew on the fallow parts 

 of the moss and along the ditches. Now 

 there is not room for ditch-side plants. 

 Still, go on ; work can be done there on 

 some rough ground on one side of the moss, 

 subject, I suspect, to game-keepers being 

 agreeable. For many years the moss has 

 been neglected ent-omologically, but I am 

 pleased to say a new set of collectors have 

 sprung up m and around Lancaster, and I 

 expect such men as Murry, H. Ozier, &c, 

 will soon search out its treasures. I visited 

 the moss at the end of last June, alone, and 

 found it quite big enough for me. I went 

 to secure varieties of Chortobius davus and 

 took it freely, rich in colour and various in 

 underside markings, and think specimens 

 from this moss show us pretty plainly 

 that its present various names — Rothhbii i 

 polydama, davus, tullia, &c. — need not be 



