It has been observed in the Entomologist's Useful Compendium , 
that Lathrobium depressum is the type of Dr. Leach’s MS. ge- 
nus Achenium . It is not our intention at present to enter mi- 
nutely into the characters which distinguish it from that group; 
we shall therefore only observe that the antennae are longer, 
and its form much more depressed than in the genus from 
which it has been separated. 
Achenium depressum is extremely rare upon the continent, 
being only occasionally met with in Germany and Portugal, 
and has never before been figured : it was first discovered to 
be a native of our island by Dr. Leach, and has subsequently 
been met with by Mr. Chant, Mr. Bentley and Mr. Beck, to 
whom I am indebted for specimens : a few were taken by them 
upon the Hackney Marshes during a flood in the month of 
May. 
The habit of our insect renders it probable that it lives be- 
neath the bark of trees ; yet its affinity to Lathrobium and the 
neighbouring genera, some of which are very much depressed 
and live under stones, induces us to think that its economy may 
be similar ; and this latter opinion is strengthened by the re- 
collection that the wings are scarcely more than rudiments : 
the anterior tarsi, as already described, are curiously covered 
beneath with transparent hairs having a moniliform appear- 
ance, which I should have considered peculiar to the males, 
had not all the specimens I investigated exhibited the same 
structure. 
The beautiful plant figured, Narthecium ossifragum (Lanca- 
shire Asphodel), we found tolerably abundant in springy situ- 
ations in Perthshire, and Mr. Dale has gathered it on Parley 
Heath, Dorsetshire. 
