•24 
YORKSHIRK NATURALISTS' UNION. 
tlie Lanius tigrinus Drap.. which ranges in the breeding season from 
the Ussuri river and Corea to North Cliina and Japan, retains 
throughout life the bars on the back, an ancestral character which is 
still visible in all young shrikes, but disappears on moulting in the 
more dominant species. 
That interesting bird, Pallas 8and Grouse {Syrrhaptes paradoxus), 
presents an interesting case, illustrative of the periodic irruption of 
a weaker race into a stronger area, and recalling the migrations of 
the Ijemmings ; but without very efficient and constant protection 
we can scarcely hope that it will ever be able to effect a ])ermanent 
settlement in this country. 
The Arthpopoda or Insecta generally, have not yet in any 
department been so thoroughly studied as to evolve a system of 
classification showing a truly phylogenetic scheme and one from 
which their geographical distribution could be deduced. 
In CoLEOPTERA, although Dr. David Sharp in referring to the 
relative status of the coleopterous fauna of Europe and other countries 
assents to the probability of a greater proportion of the more primitive 
groups being present in Australasia than in Palsearctica, little further 
progress has been made except in regard to the British Isles, for 
which area Mr. W. E. Sharp, an accomplished coleopterist, has with 
infinite trouble described and cartographically demonstrated the 
orderly distribution of its coleopterous fauna, and shown it to be hi 
strict conformity to the laws I have enunciated as governing the 
dispersion of all organic life and quite in accord with that of 
mollusks, spiders, diatoms, plants, birds and even mankind. 
Mr. Sharp for his purpose, first separates those species universally 
dispersed over these islands, citing as examples Nebria brevicollis, 
Oci/pus olens, Fterostkhus madidus, and Otiorhynchas picipes : he 
also separates those species which are only found under artificial 
conditions, and divides the remaining species into two groups which 
distinguishes as Adaptables and Unadaptables. 
The Adaptables or Dominants, which lie terms " Teutonic," are 
derived from Central Europe and in this country have their metropolis 
in the South-east of England, extending more or less over the whole 
(•»)untry. but thinning out to the north and west : they are the 
a^rgressive group and are gradually displacing the earlier species ; 
they are typified by Carabus wonill.<, A gabus abb7miafus, Nebria 
lirida, and Odacantha mdaiuira. 
The Unadaptables or Regressives include the remaining species and 
1 have Mr. Sharp's assent to my terming the three groups, into 
which he divides them, retreating or decadent, and all of them 
exhibit a restricted and discontinuous distribution ; one doubtfully 
distinct group represented by Cic'indela germanka, Bledius occl- 
dentalifi, and Buthaxki mtulida being restricted to Southern or South- 
ea.stern England: another section, the Celtic " or Northern group, is 
chiefly confined to Scotland and the West of Ireland, being elsewhere 
