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NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COLEOPTERA : 

 I. GEODEPHAGA. 



Rev. A. THORNLEY, M.A., F.L.S., F.E.S., 

 Vtcar of South Levevton, Notts., 

 AND 



W. E. RYLES, B.A., F.E.S., 

 Nottingham. 



The following list of 133 species of Geodephaga found in this 

 county represents about twelve years' w r ork on the part of the 

 authors and their friends. They do not intend by this statement 

 to imply that it is exhaustive, for, owing to want of workers, the 

 chief collecting has been done around the centres of Nottingham 

 and Retford, a somewhat fortunate circumstance, as these 

 places represent approximately the extreme ends of the county, 

 in the South-west and North-east. It is believed, therefore, 

 that the lists from these localities, when combined, will furnish 

 a good account of the Coleoptera occurring in the whole of the 

 county. The most important intermediate stations are Newark, 

 Mansfield, and Sherwood Forest. A very valuable collection 

 of Coleoptera was made in the first-named place by the late 

 Mr. Hadfield, but few of the specimens were labelled, and so 

 many records were lost. Canon Fowler, however, informs me 

 that a great many of Mr. Hadfield's best captures are recorded 

 in the i British Coleoptera.' Both at Mansfield and Newark, 

 however, some collecting has been done, as indeed at many 

 other places in the county. From Sherwood Forest, that Mid- 

 land ' Mecca ' of collectors, innumerable records have been 

 obtained; but, whilst these deal chiefly with rare and even 

 unique insects, the commoner species have scarcely been noted. 

 Now the distribution of many of these is very interesting and 

 remarkable, and a local list, if carefully drawn up, exemplifies it 

 well. If we take, for example, a small species of Pterostichns, 

 viz., P. diligens Sturm, we shall find it usually described as 

 common and widely distributed ; but so far, in our county, 

 in spite of much seeking, we are only able to record two 

 undoubted examples. Its close ally, P. strenuus Panz., abounds. 

 We have thus to reverse the opinion expressed in the 'British 

 Coleoptera,' Vol. I., p. 66. If this were an isolated instance it 

 might be supposed that some mistake had been made, but as we 

 both have taken P. diligens in other parts of Great Britain, it is 

 no stranger to us. Moreover, our list, as it is published, will 



1901 April 1. 



