Ellis : Coleopteea of Liverpool and Neighbouehood. 89 



method, and in that respect resembles the Linnean system of counting 

 the anthers and stigmas among the flowering plants, thereby grouping 

 together very dissimilar genera, which in a natural system would be 

 placed much further apart. At the same time, for a beginner it is 

 useful, like the Linnean system, in enabling you to get at the genus of 

 a moss without much trouble. You will further observe that in this 

 key, as we may call it, the greatest stress is laid upon the presence or 

 absence of the peristome, and, when present, of the number of teeth, for 

 the purpose of forming the sections and the genera. This method 

 is, however, now gradually becoming discarded, and a more natural 

 grouping — as in flowering plants — is being adopted. Such genera as 

 Pottia (1. c. p. 2) and Anacalypta (1. c. p. 9), which in this artificial 

 system are in two distinct divisions, the former being without peristome, 

 and the latter having a single peristome, are by the more natural 

 system not only placed in the same division^ but are made into one 

 genus, viz., Pottia, having a certain number of species bearing a 

 peristome, and the remainder without. 



There can be no question but that in a few years the natural 

 arrangement, when it has been further perfected, wdll entirely supersede 

 this artificial method, as a means of grouping and determining the 

 limits of genera, just as has obtained amongst the flowering plants. 

 No botanist now ever uses the old Linnean artificial method, either in 

 grouping or in endeavouring to make out the name of any flowering 

 plant, and the same thing will certainly ensue amongst the mosses. In 

 the latest propounded natural system, that of the late Dr. August 

 Jaegar, our genus Ceratodon is grouped under the 7th Tribe Pottiacae, 

 instead of being in juxtaposition with such genera as Fissidens and 

 Bicranum, as we find in this artificial method. There is only one 

 species of the genus found in Britain, yiz. , purpureus so that having 

 found out our genus, we have in this case also found the specific name. 

 C. cylindricus, of Wilson's Bry. and Hobk. Syn., is now removed to 

 another genus, Trichodon. 



(To he continued.) 



COLEOPTERA OF LIVERPOOL AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 

 By John W. Ellis, L.R.S.C.E. 



In looking through the pages of the " Flora of Liverpool " recently, it 

 occurred to me that a list, with localities, of the beetles found in our 

 neighbourhood, compiled after the plan of the " Flora," might be of 

 service to those entomologists who include the coleoptera in their 



