io8 Biiv/ord: Bee lies of LajicasJiit-e and Cheshire. 



? Pdiiiphii^ns ciirviis Leidy. Several individuals associated 

 with the above appear to correspond to this species. 



Family Amphistomina. ^ 

 Diplophvys archeri Barker. A few individuals amongst the 

 mossy growth on the outside of a water-trough. Ecclesall. 



♦ » 



BEETLES OF LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE * 



E. G. BAYFORD, F.E.S. 



It is safe to say that no Coleopterist in the North of England 

 can afford to be without this list for purposes of comparison and 

 reference, or to guide him in his studies, whether or not it be 

 his fortune to visit any of the localities named in it. The 

 total number of species recorded for the two counties is i486. 

 That this is very much below the actual number of species 

 which go to make up their beetle fauna is obvious, and Mr. 

 Sharp himself apparently recognises this, for he admits in his 

 introductory remarks that ' nearly the whole of Lancashire, 

 north of the Ribble, the mountainous districts in the east of 

 that county, and the whole of South and East Cheshire are still 

 virtually unexplored, and probably, especially in the upland 

 districts, maintain a fauna only very partially represented in 

 the median and western plain.' Elsewhere, however, he appar- 

 ently overlooks this very obvious explanation, and attributes 

 this paucity to be due to the geographical position of Lancashire 

 and Cheshire. We cannot avoid thinking that the absence from 

 both counties of regular systematic work, such as has been 

 organised and directed in Yorkshire by the Yorkshire Natural- 

 ists' Union, is more likely to be the true explanation. 



The division of each county into suitable areas, and making 

 an excursion into some part of each every year, with the express 

 purpose of recording its entomological fauna, may well be taken 

 up by the Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological Society. So 

 far as the beetle fauna is concerned, we should anticipate an 

 addition of from 250 to 300 species. When some such plan 

 as this has been tried and has failed, it may then be politic to 

 explain poor results by a reference to geographical position. 



* ' The Coleoptera of Lancashire and Cheshire;' by W. E. Sharp, F.E.S* 

 St. Albans, 1908, 76pp. 



Naturalist, 



