THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF EDINBURGH. 449 
even the saprophagous beetles are partly regulated by 
temperature and elevation, and it is likely that a dead 
body by the sea-shore will exhibit different species of Sil- 
phidse, from a similar nidus exposed on a mountain sum- 
mit. But the habitats of the kinds whose stations are more 
definite, are likewise undergoing perpetual change, from 
the daily increasing cultivation of the country, and conse- 
quent extirpation of the plants on which they feed. An 
instance of this taking place near Edinburgh is given by 
the late Dr Walker, who informs us that the Cimex ju- 
7iiperinus Linn, v/as once common at Juniper Green, so 
called from the shrub of that name, which formerly grew in 
that quarter in the utmost profusion ; but that since the 
fields were laid under cultivation, the insect has almost en- 
tirely disappeared. 
As connected with this subject, it may be proper to men- 
tion, that the appearance of insects, owing to causes for 
which, in most instances, it is difficult to account, is often 
periodical ; and certain species may therefore be marked as 
common, in consequence of their having been so in some 
seasons, while in others they may happen to be scarce, or 
may even have disappeared altogether. 
The nomenclature and arrangement adopted in the pre- 
sent list, are those of Mr Stephen's Systematic Catalogue of 
British Insects. The names have been taken from authen- 
tic specimens, and may be relied on as being those applied 
to the respective species by the authors whose names they 
bear. Such of them as were at all doubtful, have been 
submitted, through the attention of J. G. Children, Esq., 
to the examination of an accurate entomologist, Mr James 
Gray, of the British Museum, by whom they were care- 
fully compared with the specimens in that collection, as 
well as with those in the cabinet of Mr Stephens. The 
last named gentleman, the well-known author of the Illus- 
VOL. VI. F f 
