46 
ENTOMOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE. 
The omissions in this respect are in man}' instances very im¬ 
portant. As it is, however, we have here collected together a vast 
mass of materials, which if it be not absolutely a general “ species 
insectorum,” comes much nearer to it than could perhaps have been 
produced in any other country, and which, with the assistance of 
the numerous Bibliographical Notices collected together in Dr. 
Erichson*s Annual Summaries, may ultimately be made the ground¬ 
work of a complete work. 
Observations Relatives aux Sexes des Coleopteres Hydrocantiiarks en 
general et specialement de THydaticus verrucifer. Par M. le Corate Mannerheim. 
(Extracted from the Acta Societatis Scientiarum Fennicse. Tom. 1, fasc. ii. Helsing- 
forsise, 1841. 4to.) 
The spirit of association for the diffusion of science is here mani¬ 
fested in the publication of the first parts of the Transactions of the 
Society of Sciences of Finland; and to which several papers have 
been contributed by the Count Mannerheim, one of the first of 
modern entomological authors. In the memoir, of which the title is 
given above, he has published a series of observations on the 
peculiar characters which distinguish certain individuals amongst 
the predaceous water-beetles (family Dyticidae), which have long 
perplexed entomologists. These specimens amongst the Dytici, 
while they possess the simple tarsi of the females, have the smooth 
elytra of the males. These were first described as varieties of the 
males with simple tarsi, by Gyllenhal. By Ahrens and Kunze, as 
well as subsequently by Gyllenhal, they were considered as distinct 
species, in which both sexes had smooth elytra; and no less than 
four new species were thus established in the genus Dyticus. This 
opinion has been adopted by many subsequent entomologists, and 
in our own country the genus Leionotus has been formed for the 
reception of these supposed species with smooth-backed females. 
Other opinions have, however, been entertained respecting the 
nature of these individuals which have not been noticed by Count 
^lannerheim, but which will be found detailed in my ]\Iod. Class of 
Insects (vol. i. p. 105). The opinion of Dr. Erichson, that they are 
varieties of the females of species in which that sex has ordinarily 
the elytra sulcated.* is adopted by Count Mannerheim. Analogous, 
but less striking, variations also occur in the females of Cybister 
* Dr, Erichson’s 2ucl group in the genus, proposed in the genera Dyticeonim, in which the 
ema es have elytra similar to those of the males (D. circumflexus), is disproved by the dis¬ 
covery of sulcated females,'W’hich form the species D. perplexus Dei. Such specimens, however, 
occur but very rarely in this species, Kaf, M. Br. 1. 147. 
