Field Xolcs. 



weeks ()ld. and of these six. four are of the ordinary black lyj)t\ 

 and two of the brown iilcxdfidn'ims type. Mr. W. J. CUirke. 

 of Scarborough, tells me that he has on se\'eral occasions bred 

 these rats, but has only once succeeded in rearing a litter, and he 

 further informs me that all his young ones were of the oidinary 

 black type. I did not know myself until my rats bred that the 

 two forms were produced in the same litter, and from black 

 parents. I thought that each form, the black M. rattus, and 

 the brown, .V. alexandrinns bred true. Probably all these rats 

 found in this country at the present day are imported specimens 

 which have come off ships. Even when obtained inland, I 

 have traced their presence as due to assistance from the coast, 

 bv barges, etc., and I very much, doubt whether there be 

 left in the kingdom a pair of the old indigenous English Black 

 Rat, which has disappeared before its more powerful grey 

 congener, save in one or two very isolated districts. — Oxley 

 Gr.\bham. 



COLEOPTERA. 



Ptilinus pectinicornis L. at Barnsley. — Early in July I 

 discovered specimens of this curious beetle emerging from 

 a willow post in my garden, and had the pleasure of observing 

 the habits of the female as she excavated the tunnel in which 

 to lay her eggs. Having enlarged the exit, she then commenced 

 to make the tunnel by w^orking in an upward direction perpen- 

 dicular to the further extremity of the exit tunnel, which was 

 at right angles to the face of the tree. As the wood fell down 

 in fine frass, it accumulated immediately below where she was 

 working. At intervals she descended backwards, and in 

 that position pushed the frass with her hindmost feet, towards, 

 and ultimately out of the hole. The males emerged a few days 

 before the females, as seems to be the rule amongst internal 

 feeders. It does not appear to have been noted before that 

 the female as compared wdth the male, apart from the re- 

 markable differences in the antennae, is almost perfectly 

 cylindrical, the male being depressed on the upper surface, 

 and broader in proportion to the depth between the upper and 

 under surfaces. — E. G. Bayford. 



Gracilia minuta F. in Yorkshire. — In addition to the 

 records cited in recent communications to ' The Naturalist,' 

 both Barnsley and Doncaster occur in the list of Yorkshire 



Naturalist, 



