The Entomologist's annual
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iHE ENTOMOLOGIST'S ANNU/IL I 5-.. . ' ^ MDCCCLXXIo LONDO: JOHN VAN VOORST, PAL *.'\<)STFR ROW, P7'ice'] MBCCCLXXl [Haifa- Crown. WILLIAM WESLEY 13oofeseUjr v^ iSublisfjer, .iS, Essex Street, Strand, REV. W. F. JOHNSON, SEVEN HOUSES, ARMAGH \)o A y-i .^^i::., ^cy" -i::::^ lf\ -<m f?>V-^^'f -^ <st .^- 3 .E.W.R<.iin.mi,I)4'.t..SJ.;870. THE ENTOMOLOGIST'S ANNUAL MDCCCLXXI. " Bj'-the-by, what is often called indolence is in fact the unconscious conscious- ness of incapacity : the importunity to overcome it is often as injudicious as to force an unwilling player to the whist-table, to the great annoyance of his partner*. "' — Crabb Robinson's Diary, iii. p. 355. LONDON: JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW MDCCCLXXI. PRINTED BY C. ROWORTH AND SONS, NEWTON STREET, HIGH HOLBORN, LONDON. EXPLANATION OF PLATE. Fig, 1. Acidalia slrigaria, Hiibner, see page 88. 2. Homceosoma senecionis, H. Vaughan, see page 91. 3. Trachoniiis (?) Pryerella, H. Vaughan, see page 90. 4. CorduUa metallica. Van d. Lind., see Ent. Month. Mag , vol. vii. p. 38. 4 a, front view of head ; 4 h, lateral view of appendices anales $. 5. Bemhidium quadripustulatum, Dejean, see page 26. 6. Hydroporus minutissitmis, see Ent. Ann. 1870, p. 46. 7. PhUonthus cicatrkosus, Erichson, see page 34. The Woodcut on the Wrapper represents— Tapinotus sellatus, Fab., see page 25. CONTENTS. PAGE My Second Visit to the Engadine. By H. T. Staintox, F.R.S ] Trichoptera. StrayNotes on Swiss Trichoptera. ByR. M'Lach- LAN, F.L.S 15 Coleoptera. New British Species, Corrections of Nomenclature, &c., noticed since the publication of the Entomologist's Annual, 1870. By E. C. Rye 18 Hymenoptera. Notes on various Species of Apidae, Formicidae, Fossores and Vespidae; with Observations on some of the Parasites of the latter. By Frederick Smith .. ..55 Lepidoptera. Notes on new and rare British Lepidoptera (ex- cepting Tineina) in 1870. By H. G. Knaggs, M.D., F.L.S. 71 Lepidoptera. New British Tineina. By H.T. Stainton, F.R.S. 9(i Notes ox Sericiculture. By Alexander Wallace, M.D. .. 101 Lepidoptera. New British Lepidoptera since 1853. By H. T. Stainton, F.R.S jOS MY SECOND VISIT TO THE ENGADINE. By H. T. Staintox, F.R.S. The readers of ** The Entomologist's Annual for 1866" need not to be told that my four days' sojourn at Pontresina in July, 1865, had rendered me extremely desirous to pay a second visit to the Engadine. I had hoped to have carried out this intention in 1866, but unfojtiinately the contest then going on between Italy and Austiia necessitated tlie presence of Swiss troops near the southern frontier, and I apprehended that the hotels in the Engadine might be inconveniently crowded ; so that after staying at Chur some days and visiting Churwalden, and even driving as far as Lenz, I resolutely turned my back on the Engadine and followed up the Vorderrhein valley to Dissentis and Sedi-un, and over the Oberalp Pass to Ander- matt. My determination this year had been early made to revisit the Engadine, and to devote a longer time to the exploration of its beauties. Three of the Stettin Lepidopterists had also determined to make it the ground of their Swiss tour lov 1870 ; and though 1 feared Dr. Staudinger with his " Cata- logue," and Herr von Heinemann with his work in hand on the " Tineina of Germany and Switzerland," were much too occupied to venture on an Alpine excursion, yet I hoped to meet some of my Munich correspondents ther \ as well as the trio from Stettin. I had heard that the hot weather had prevailed in Switzerland as well as in England, and that 1871. E 2 MY SECOND VISIT TO THE ENGADINE. the season, both florally and entomologically, was unusually forward, and I was urged by Professor Frey to start early, for he wrote on the 22nd June — "For the Engadine the first half of July may be very good, but the second will be almost too late." But at the time I received this admonition, I w^as already aware that the second half of July would be well advanced before I could reach the Engadine, for I could not see my way to leaving home before the 13th of July. My friends from Stettin were to start on the 7th of July, so that I calculated they would be there more than a week before me ; but yet I hoped that we should have some plea- sant days together and expected to profit by their experience. I slept at Dover on the 13th of July, and the following day had a splendid passage in the " Prince Imperial" (does this vessel still bear that name?) to Calais ; on board I read in the *' Times" that the candidature of the Prince of Hohen- zollern for the throne of Spain had been officially withdrawn, and so any qualms I might have had as to the ■possibility of war on the Continent were at an end. Conceive then my astonishment when at Rolandseck the following evening I heard that France had declared war against Prussia ; I thought the waiter was romancing. Having had some experience of travelling in time of war (in 1859 seeing the Austrian soldiers at Augsburg en route for Solferino), I saw no sufficient reason to turn back — be- sides I had a month to spend in Switzerland — and possibly I might find the course quite clear when I wished to return; moreover, the attraction of the coolness of the high stations in the Engadine was not to be lightly overlooked after the roasting and frying we had undergone at home — so on the 16th July we continued our journey to Frankfort. We found all our friends at Frankfort evidently very ill at ease ; having so recently experienced a hostile occupation, MY SECOND VISIT TO THE ENGADINE. 3 tliey had no wish to be again in the same predicament, but we quite satisfied ourselves before we left Frankfort that the notion of divisions in Germany existed only in the brains of dreamers. On Sunday (July 17th) at 5 a.m. we saw the regiment quartered in the barracks opposite the *' Romischer Kaiser" march off to the railway station, and we heard in the even- ing that all the troops had left Fi-ankfort for the frontier. We considered it problematical whether on the Monday we should be able to get by the *' Badische Eisenbahn" from Frankfort to Basle, but we resolved to try, and were only inconvenienced by the lai'ge number of fellow-travellers in a southerly direction, who went in the same train. The con- fusion at the Frankfort station, where Hauptmann Lucas von Heyden rendered us most essential aid, for wiiich we felt most thankful, was only a small foretaste of the confusion that awaited us at Basle ; there our luggage was not obtain- able till the next morning, and the hotels being all full, we had to sleep where we could. The next day (the 19th) we left Basle (a very Babel for the time) and pushed on to Chur, where I found letters from Professor Hering and Dr. Schleich of Stettin, and from Herr Hartmann of Munich. The Stettin entomolooists o had passed through Chur on the 9th on their way to Sama- den; Herr Hartmann found himself too much occupied to leave home, but he assured me I should find Herr Pfaffen- zeller, of Munich, at Samaden. ' I wrote a line to my Stettin friends to announce my arrival at Chur, and to say that I was going first to Maria, but that after a fev/ days' stay there I proposed to spend a day or two at Samaden. On the evening of Thursday (July 21st) we arrived at b2 ^ 4 :my second visit to the exgadine. Maria bei Sils, and were comfortably boused at tbe ** Alpen Rose." Friday (July 22rjd) was a splendid cloudless day; tbe thermometer outside our window was at 48° Fahrenbeit when I first looked at it, and never rose above 6'2^ in tbe shade the whole day. I may here mention, that during our whole stay in tbe Engadine we never saw the thermometer above 65° in the shade, though during that veiy time it reached 91° in the south of England. Our first attempt at exploring tbe locality was made up the valley of tbe Fex, on the left-hand side; here we had not progressed far, when, on a rock-face, we found Solenobia cases, which were however all empty, and whilst we were getting these we were accosted by an old gentleman, Herr Knateck, an entomologist from Berlin, settled in the Engadine, who informed us be was in the habit of collecting these Solenobia cases for Professor Frey of Ziirich. This is tbe species which was first eiro- neousiy supr)osed to be Conspurcatella, and is now known as AJpestrellaj Heinemann. As we walked alono- the narrow footpath we noticed from time to time swarms of a pale blue Polyommatus settled in tbe raoister, boggy places ; this I was afterwaids assured by Professor Frey was no other than our own P. Corijdon. Amongst the herbage I started a Gelechia trljmnctella (a creature just like our Cinerella, only rather larger and with three black spots), which I captured ; but, with the excep- tion of a Tortrix and one Dipterous insect, this was my only capture that day. We went gradually creeping up tbe valley till we came in view of tbe Fex Glacier and the surrounding peaks, all standing out gloriously against the cloudless sky. Of larvsB a ^e\Y of a Depresaria in the flowers of an UmheUifer were secured ; but my most intei'esting find that day was the deserted mines of a Mkropteryx larva in the MY SECOND VISIT TO THE ENGABIXE. 5 leaves of Alnus viridis (the Alpine alder) ; these mines were by no means scarce — and they probably indicate some species at present entirely unknown to us — and besides that, they give us the intimation that we should examine our own alder bushes to see whether we have not also with us an alder- feeding 3Iicropte7njx. The afternoon that day was spent in driving to Samaden and back, as I thought I ought to lose no time in inquiring for my Stettin friends; but I heard at the new Bernina Hotel, which had sprung up, mushroom-like, since my visit to Samaden in 1865, that Professor Hering and Dr. Schleich had already departed. Our driver, who seemed about thirteen, was asleep the greater part of the way from Mai-ia to St. ?»Ioritz, and we had to poke him from time to time lest he should "zu Grunde gehen." On our return we walked up the hill to St. Moritz, and there I found some more Depressarla larvas, in the umbels of a small Umbelli- fer ; from these I have since bred two D. Heydenii. The following day was again cloudless! and this time we ti'ied the right side of the valley of the Fex, which we found a much more prolific hunting-ground than the opposite side of the valley. We ascended through a steep firwood, the undergrowth consisting of Vacchiium myrtHlus and Vifis- idcBi. Some large yellow Conipositce were attractive lo m.any Tortrices and a few TinecBj as well as to the RJiopalocera. I could not resist catching a splendid Argynnis Latlionia., just to enjoy the pleasure of having a good look at it, and then let it go again. There was a decent winding path through the wood, and after surmounting the first steep ascent the ground was nicely broken into little knolls and hollows, so that there were snugly sheltered spots — exposed to the sun but sheltered from the wind. The ground was almost carpeted with Dryas octo- 6 MY SECOND VISIT TO THE ENGADINE. petala, unfortunately then out of bloom ; a careful and pro- longed search in every likely jDlace to find some straggling blossoms only furnished me with one solitary flower, a flower I had always longed to see and which I then beheld for the first time. Flying amongst the plant, and so constantly settling on it, that I felt convinced there was some intimate connection between the plant and the insect, I observed Pam- plusia monticolana, Duponchel.* This insect I afterwards found to be one of the greatest nuisances at Maria ; I was constantly catching it to see what it was, its flight not being sufficiently distinctive to enable me to recognize it with cer- tainty. At Pontresina, where there was no Dryas, I saw none of the Pamplusia. Here I also met with a pale ochreous JElachisfa, the Reinemanni of Frey. Sitting on a flower of Chrysanthe- mum leucanthemtim was a showy green Butalis {ampJiony- cella), and here I may notice that I constantly observed that the species of Butalis in the Engadine had a great fancy for the flowers of Compositcv, and I got into the habit of looking on all the large, showy composite flowers to see if they would furnish me with a Butalis. Amongst a small Daphne, which I presume must be Daphne alpina, I met with a specimen of Ancliinia laureolella; and this, with two speci- mens of Gelechia tripunctella and two of Penthina Char- pentiera7ia, was my morning's work. In the afternoon I revisited the same locality, and finding that the AncJiinia laureolella was freely on the wing from * In Staudinger and Wocke's CatsAogue Alpestrana, Herricli-SchafFer, is given as a synonym for the insect; but Herricli-Schaffer's insect is not the species I mean, which is quite recognizably figured by Duponchel in his fourth supplementary volume, pi. 83, f. 3, under the name of Coccyx monticolana, and has no affinities with the unicolorous Dichro" ramjihce to which Herrich-Schaflfer's Alpestrana seems nearly related. MY SECOND VISIT TO THE ENGADINE. 7 4.30 to 5.30, 1 captured nearly 50 of them ; another Eladiista JSeinemanni and another Butalis were the only other cap- tives which fell to my lot. The next day we had a few light clouds, which gradually increased in the afternoon. The morning produced 8 Ela- chista Heinemanni, 6 Gelechia tripu?ictella, 1 G. insta- hilella (fancy finding this sea-shore insect some 6000 feet ahove the sea level !), 2 Pleurota bicosfella, 4 Andiinia laureolella, 1 A. grisescens, &c., &c. The afternoon -vvas devoted to a visit to the Maloja Pass, which only a little above the head of the Lake of Sils diops down \tvY abruptly on the Italian side. Directly one had descended a little on the southern slope of the pass a different and more luxuriant vegetation was noticed, and the chiff- chaff, whose note we had not heard at Maria, showed that there was also an ornitholoo-ical difference. The light clouds of which I had already spoken prevented us from having the splendid view which we might have had under moi-e favour- able auspices. I was in great hopes, having found that Ancliinia laureo- lella was freely on the wing towards evening, that A. grises- ceJi.ij which has always been a rarity, might have a similar habit, but though I easily secured some 40 more of the first- named species I saw none of the latter; I, however, consoled myself with a Bucculatrix aurimaculella and one of B. alpina, Frey. The next day I tried some fresh ground, almost over- hanging the Lake of Sils, on the road to Isola, but with the exception of more Gelechia tripunctella (an insect, by the way, that you always find everywhere in these Alpine regions) and a Crambus radiellus I boxed nothing. In the afternoon we left Maria (N.B.— to go to Maria again earlier in the season and stop there longer) and pro- 8 MY SECOND VISIT TO THE ENGADINE. ceeded to Samaden. It began thundering before we left Maria, and though we managed to get to Samaden without much rain, we were no sooner housed (not in the large hotel, that was actually full, and we were obliged to be in a de- pendance some little distance from the hotel) than another thunderstorm began, and the rain poured down heavil^^ I must admit that T was disappointed with the effect pro- duced by the thunder amongst these hills ; I have heard far liner effects of sound produced among the low hills down the Clyde. The next morning I determined to ascei'tain whether Herr Pfaffenzeller, of Munich, was still at Samaden. I interro- gated the waiter, who could give me no information, so I applied to the landlord, whose answer was, " Er ist gestern gereist" — "He has been here for fully six weeks, but he left here yesterday." So perished my last chance of finding a colleague in the Engadine. The morning was bright and sunny, and I first tried down the valley in the direction of Bevers. I tried a dry steep slope on the left, but found nothing except a plant or two of Luiierpitium hirsuUnn, which were almost eaten down to the ground by the larvse of Depressaria laserpitii. Finding this collecting-ground unprofitable, I returned to Samaden, crossed the Inn and then turned into the meadows, where every one was busy making hay, and where I sau-, to my surprise, that even in the valley and at that elevation, the grass had been actually burnt quite brown; in crossing these meadows I gradually approached the rising ground on the south side of the valley, and there, under some fine arolla trees, I hoped to have had some sport. I tried several boggy bits of ground, several heathy places, but alike in vain. I saw no Tineina, so I was obliged to content myself with a Lithosla aureola and a C7'a7nhus radicUus, On the whole. MY SECOND VISIT TO THE ENGADINE. V from my morning's ramble, I did not form a very exalted opinion of the entomological capabilities of Samaden, though I am quite willing to concede that there may be good locali- ties about if one knew where to find them. On Wednesday, July 27th, we left Samaden for Pontre- sina. We were unable to get into the hotel, and were obliged to have lodgings a little way off, and it was three days before we could get housed at the Krone. In fine weather this is little inconvenience, but when it rains cats and dogs, as it did one evening at dusk, just as we were going to supper, it is no easy work to avoid the various spouts from the roofs which at such times send down peifect streams of water. Our experimental dodging about between them seemed to furnish great amusement to the small children of Pontresina. Our first afternoon at Pontresina was devoted to a pil- grimage to the Morteratsch Glacier ; it was dull but not raining as we went, but whilst we were staying at the foot of the glacier it began to drizzle and rained pretty steadily all our way back. My best capture was a specimen of Gelechia elatella sitting on a rock- face. I also met with single speci- mens of G. interalbicella and G. instabilellaj and with two specimens of Diasemia Uteralis. The following morning was rather inclined to be wet, but about midday it cleared up, and in the afternoon I visited the hilly ground between the Morteratsch and Roseg streams ; here I found a worn Chauliodus scwellus, and I also met with Cerostoma falcella (both insects I had never seen alive before). I noticed that the Falcella was attached to a broad- leaved shrub with blue berries, and doubted not that earlier in the season the larvae would be obtainable on this plant ; by the aid of Professor Frey I afterwards ascertained that this shrub was Lonicera ccerulea. In the course of my stay at Pontresina I obtained more than 30 Cerostoma falcella. 10 MY SECOND VISIT TO THE ENGADINE. The next day I returned to the same locality between the two streams, where I again obtained a Chaullodus scurellus, 4 Sophronia parenthesella, an Acrolepia, which I at first took for Arnicella, but which Professor Frey says is the Adjectella, Heyden ; I also caught a solitary specimen of a small yellow-headed Tinea, which I believe to be Jgfii- comella. The next day we had a splendid morning and we drove to the Bernina Pass, having magnificent views of the mountain tops as we went along; we passed the Lago Bianco and the Lago Nero, but by the time we reached the actual pass clouds had begun to form in the valley to the south, so that our view there was not what we had anticipated ; and as we returned we noticed that many a glacier and many a moun- tain top, which had been quite clear as we passed in the morning, were then concealed by the rapidly increasing clouds. That afternoon we flitted to the Krone, having at last succeeded in getting rooms there. Heir Gredig has pro- raised to enlarge his hotel by next summer, so as to be able to accommodate more visitors ; the large new hotel on the Samaden road may also perhaps be open in 1871. In the evening I went out, but the only noticeable capture was a fine sleeping Hadena, on a wooden fence, just as if it were in England — the specific name I have not yet ascer- tained. The following day it rained in the morning for some hours, but in the afternoon it cleared up, and we walked by the old Samaden road till we came to a nice rocky place, where there were bushes of Lonicera ccerulea and Cotoneaster vulgaris; the first-named plant furnished us with several Cerostoma falcella, and the Cotoneaster showed a plentiful supply of screwed leaves which had been tenanted by the MY SECOND VISIT TO THE ENGADINE. 11 larvae of Ornix Pfaffenzelleri. I fortunately found a hw leaves in which the larvae were still feeding, and after my return home I had the pleasure of breeding one imago. Here also I noticed leaves of Epilohium angusti folium, which showed the deserted mines of the larvae of Laverna RaschkielJa. August 1st was a glorious day, and we started off for the Roseg Glacier in a berg-wagen : the sensation of a ride in a berg-wagen (es)3ecially on the front seat) is something almost indescribable to those who have not felt it — you feel that if there is any thing in you free to obey the laws of gravity, it will be certainly shaken to the lowermost portion of you ; occasionally a bigger jolt than usual jerks you fairly off your seat : in short, it is almost impossible to resist laughing at the ridiculous position in whicii you seem to be placed, as if you were being specially jerked and jolted for the amuse- ment of the companions of the back seat. When we reached the place beyond which even berg-wagens cannot proceed, we were very glad to turn out and find that the jolting we had undergone had not deprived us of the use of our limbs. We followed the little path by the side of the stream till, as we approached the glacier, we found that our best course lay in the bed of the stream itself. It was a brilliant sunny day, and the extensive range of snowy peaks seen from the foot of the glacier looked glorious. Entomologically the day was not prolific ; of course there was the ubiquitous Gele- chia tripunctella, and a Butalis sunning itself on a flower, but these were the only Tineina I brought back from the Roseg Glacier. In the evening on the old Samaden road I met with single specimens of Gelechia instabilella, G. inter albicella and G. pictella. 12 MY SECOND VISIT TO THE ENGADINE. x'^iigast 2ncl, we had another glorious day, and this was devoted to the Val da Fain. The readers of the Annual ot" 1866 will recollect the description of the visit to this valley July 13th, 1865. On the present occasion there was no such extraordinary abundance of Rhopalocera^ but one must bear in mind that we had had a precociously forward season, with the hot forcing weather of the early summer, and it was now three weeks later than on the occasion of my previous visit. There was hardly a particle of snow to be seen on the sides of the valley. One noticeable insect was a day-flying Noctua, which specially frequented the flowers of a thick- stemmed red Sednm, sitting there so lazily that they might be quietly boxed ; they were in very good condition. I also took one specimen of a conspicuous Depressariaf which I showed to Professor Frey, but which he did not recognize ; he suggested that it might be some late-appearing species, which had fallen to my lot by my visiting tiie locality so late in the season. Since I returned home I find I obtained a specimen of this Depressarittf when at Munich in June, 1868, from Herr PfafFenzeller, under the name of Marmorosella, "in leaves o^ Laserpituun,^' and that I had previously noticed at Ratisbon in Dr. Herrich-Schaffer's collection a " Depressaria marmoroxella^ n. s., e. 1., seeds of Laserpitiiim, bred by himself, Engadine." I saw one other specimen in the Val da Fain, but failed to capture it, much to my annoyance. It is perhaps most nearly allied to the Livonian Depressaria hepatariella. None of my other captures on that day were at all note- woi'thy. August 3rd was our last day at Pontresina, and we again visited the hillv ground between the Morteratsch and Roseo^ streams. On this occasion I caught several Argyred]ii(Bf MY SECOND VISIT TO THE EXGADINE. 13 lioping they njight be Frey's Suhniontana, but they all pi'oved to be the common Sor'biella; I took however a single specimen of the Coleophora lepidella, Frey. In the evening I visited some Laserpitium plants, on the old Samaden road, which I had noticed were much de- vastated by Depressaria larvas ; I filled a good-sized tin \^ith pieces of the plant infested by these larvae, but these only produced, after I got Ijome, the ordinary Depressaria laserpitii. We left Pontresina after breakfast the next moi'ning, and drove over to Samaden, where we found the first news of the actual commencement of hostilities. Sarrebriick had been taken ! We leturned by the Albula Pass, which we then saw for the first time; in the evening we reached Chur. V/e spent two days at Zurich, where I had long talks with Professor Frey de omnibus Tineims Helvetica et quibusdam alas; and I had the pleasure of introducing to him my friend Mr. Arthur Grote, whom I had accidentally met at the Hotel Baur au Lac. On the Sunday afternoon Professor Frey showed us a short telegraphic communication announcing the battle of W5rth. We had still a week to spend in Switzerland, and this was to be devoted to Andermatt — so we went on the next day to Lucerne. There we found such a string of startling tele- giams, with the intimation that Paris was declared in a state of siege, that it seemed problematical whether, after all, our return journey would not be more easily effected via Gei-many than via France. We went on the next day to Andermatt, where we had three days of bad weather; the I'oads were in a dreadful state of mud, rendering excursions anything but pleasant. The larva I there saw of Vanessa Antiopa I have already noticed in the " Entomologist's 14 MY SECOND VISIT TO THE EXGADINE. Monthly Magazine," but the great feature of the locality ^vas the numerous larvee of Hadena pisi ; you could count them by hundreds, and on all sorts of plants. The last afternoon it cleared up a little, and we drove as far as Realp ; but there was this time no chance of good weather for the Furka. The mornino; we left Andermatt to return to Lucerne it was splendid — such a brilliant clear sky — it was magnificent ; we could not help regretting that we had not arranged to stop another day, so as to have been able to devote that morning to the Furka. However, as it turned out, it was just as well, for though in the gorge of the SchoUinen, and far below Geschenen, the fine crags and snow patches were seen to the utmost advantage, by the time we left Arasteg the clouds had already begun to form, and ere we reached Fluellen the tops of even very moderate hills were entirely concealed. On reaching Lucerne we eagerly sought all the latest news, but except that the French armies had retired upon Metz, we could not ascertain that anything further had occurred since we left Lucerne at the beginning of the week. "We therefoi-e resolved to return home by Friederichs- hafen, Frankfort, Cologne and Brussels, which we happily accomplished with little more than a few hours' delay. At Brussels Dr. Breyer showed me a recent capture (a specimen of Nonarjria hrevilinea)^ an insect which had pre- viously been unique in the collection of Messrs. C. and J. Fenn. On Friday (August 19th) we left Brussels and reached home. ( 15 ) TRICHOPTERA Stray Xotes on Swiss Trichoptera. By R. M'Lachlan, F.L.S. My friend Mr. Stainton, with his usual kindness, did not neglect to pin any Trichopterous insects that came in his way during his recent visit to the Engadine, and brought home a large number. In order to render his account of the visit more complete, I have drawn up the following list of species taken, the localities and dates being supplied from his notes. If all our entomologists who spend their vacation amongst the Swiss Alps were to follow his good example, w^e should soon obtain a fair idea of the Swiss Trichopterous Fauna, which is probably richer than that of any district of the same limited extent in Europe, — perhaps I might say in the world. Phryganea ohsoleta, Hag. One remarkably large and fine male example by the stream at Maria, flying early in the morning, 24th July. This hitherto little-known species is spread over all northern and central Europe, but would appear to be nowhere so common as its congeners. Anaholia (?) ccenosay Curtis? I am not quite clear as to the identity of the Engadine examples with this rare British species. They are nearly twice the size of ours, but appear to agree tolerably well in structural characters, though I do not possess a British male with which to compare them. 16 TRICHOPTERA. The position of the insect is doubtful. It is not a true Anaholia as restricted to A. nervosa and allies, nor will it come very satisfactorily in either Stenophylax or the De^- ■molauUus group of Lrnmophilus. On the 29th July, Mr. Stainton took nineteen examples from off stone posts bordering the road between Pontresina and Samaden, in the forenoon, and in the evening twenty-six more from ofi" the same posts, yet he did not notice, either then or at ot'ner times, a single specimen on the wing; on the 2nd August an additional nineteen ; and on the 30th July, three dead ones floating on tlie water of a little tarn above the Lago del Croce, in the Bernina Pass. These latter are much smaller than the others, but yet larger than British spe- cimens. Hydroptila tineoides, Dalm. Two examples, in tlie evening of July 23rd, at the Lake of Sils. Odontoceras albicornis, Scop. Six on the 25th July, at the south-east side of the Lake of Sils; sitting on grasses in the day-time. My.stacldes nigra, L. Forty-nine examples on the 23rd and 24th July, at the Lake of Sils, chiefly by sweeping ruslies ; a few were sitting on stones. Cyrmis tr'imaculatiis, Curt. Two examples from the Lake of Sils, on the 23rd July. At Ziirich, from the 5th to 7th August, were found Lej)- focerus cinereus, Curt., the brown form; L. albifrons, L., and one male of i. aureus, Pict.,a species I did not possess, and which appears to be rare, for I have only seen single specimens from Sweden, Holland, and Switzerland; Setodcs lacusiris, Pict. ; Cyrnus trimaculatus, Curt.; NeurecHpsis himaculata, L., in extreme abundance, recalling to mind one of its synonyms, tigurinensis, Fab.; Hydroptila angustella, JiI'Lacli.; PsycJiomyia (jracHipes, Curt.; P. fray ills, Pict.; STRAY NOTES OX SWISS TRICHOPTERA. 17 Hag., one specimen; Tinodes sp. Agapetus cornatuK, Pict. Also Sisyra fuscata, Fab., Chrysopa l-punctata^ Wesm., Ephemera glaucops, Pict., and sundry undetermined small PerlicIcB. At Maria, on the 24th July, thirteen specimens, and at Andermatt, 10th August, one specimen, of a JPanorpa, which is certainly that figured as jP. vulgaris in Imhoff and Labram's *^ Insekten der Schweiz," but which I cannot separate by any structural chai'acters fiom P. communis, although its small size and very shaiply-marked wings give it a difFei-ent appearance. M. De Selys-Longchamps finds the same form in Belgium with communis, yet appearing to keep itself distinct. If only a variety, it is certainly a well- marked one. I believe I have now given a rhume of my friend's doings in Switzerland, so far as they concern me. He brought home over 300 individuals, comprising the before-named species; and it must be remembered that these were only the casual captures of an entomologist who had his own special pets to look after, and who is probably not acquainted with all the devices whereby caddis-flies may be dislodged from their retreats. For instance, at the Lago del Croce in the Bernina Pass, Mr. Stainton searched in vain for a single Ti'ichopterous insect. Professor Zeller, however, assures me that had he been there he would not have re- turned empty-handed. Son3e years since, I heard that a Monograph of Swiss Trichoptera was in preparation by M. E. Pictet, son of the author of the ^'Recherches.'' Need I say how eagerly such a work has been looked for by me. But the realization of the project would now seem as far distant as ever. 1871. ( 18 ) COLEOPTERA. New British Species, Corrections of Nomencla- ture, ETC., NOTICED SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF THE Entomologist's Annual, 1870. By E. C. Rye. Although, compared with some former lists, the result now recorded of the past twelvemonth's work may not espe- cially impress that period upon the memory, the British Coleopterist will not, in all pjohability, be likely to forget 1870; during which year (in addition to the depression caused to all departments of science through the chief sources of continental knowledge being dried up by the fierce fires of war) he has had to lament the loss of the great Lacordaire, and of his own countrymen, the gifted and acute Haliday (who, if devoted to Coleoptera alone, would easily have been a second Erichson), and Dawson, the pioneer of the present small band of workers in Britain. That band, small as it is, is practically in imminent danger of reduction by two of its chief members extending, in perhaps the natural course, their field of study, to the detriment of merely British forms; and too many of its effective constituents have made no sign during the past year, so that the thirty-seven addi- tions to our list during that period (apart from insects raised to specific rank at the expense of others before known to us, or of doubtful value, or not yet isatisfactorily determined), are NEW BRITISH SPECIES, ETC., IN 1870. 19 to be credited to nine observers only; and of that number jNIessrs. Matthews, Bold, Hislop, and M'Nab respectively claim one each ; to Mr. Ciiampion must be referred two ; to the Rev. H. S. Gorham, three; to Mr. Crotch, four; to Dr. Sharp, seven; and the remainder to myself. I may observe, that I have in reserve more species to add to our list; but that I hesitate to do so until they sliall have re- ceived from German or French authorities a corroboration which, in the state of affairs existing on the continent, it is impossible for me to obtain at present. These thirty-seven additions consist of an A7nara,^ Bern- hidiumy an Actocharis, an Ocalea, two Aleocharce, a Calo- dera, an Oxypoda, a Homalota, a Placusa, an Oligota, a jPhilonthuSf a Xantholinus, a Sunius, a Stenus, a Trogo- pldoeus, an Anisotoma, a Colon, five MeVgethes, two Cryp- fophagi, a DoUchosoma, a Dasytes, a Melo'e, two Trachyph- loei, a Bayous, a BaridiuSj two Tomici, a Ptenidium, a Lathridius, and a Bythinus; and of them ten have been bi'ought forward as also new to science, by Dr. Sharp and myself in equal proportions. One new genus {Actocharis) has also been created by Dr. Sharp. The following notes will briefly indicate certain interestins^ papers and observations that have been published since the last "Annual:"— Dr. Sharp (Ent. Mo. Mag., vol. vi, p. 253 et seq.), in a most carefully written papei*, has revised tlie Bi-itish species of Hydrohias and Philhydrus, adopting Thomson's addi- tional genera JlJnochrus, Paracyniiis and Anac^ena, and Mulsant's Helochares, for all of which he sives diao^nostic ' OCT characters, and the principal cibarian organs of which I have illustrated from his dissections. He considers that an arrangement of the species of these genera in accordance with their facies would also be a natural one as regards their c2 20 COLEOPTERA. anatomical and generic characters ; and he increases our lists by one new species and one Stephensian revival, both at the expense of the insect usually known here as Hydrohius limhatus, but which is now to be recognized as Anacwna globulus, Payk. Dr. Shaip (Z. c, p. 230) has also published some interest- ing notes on the identity of certain species of Somalota taken by Mr. Crotch in the Asturias with our recorded Britisli species; and consideis that the number of European species in that genus will be found to be much smaller than would be supposed from the large number in this country. Mr. Champion, /. c, p. 257, has also contributed a list of localities for upwards of eighty British species oi' HoJiialota. Mr. Ciotch has communicated to the Entomological Society a laborious paper on " The Genera of Coleoptera studied chronologically," and has in Newman's " Entomo- logist," No. 73, given short characters for and observations upon the British species of Triplax, Engis and Rhynclutes. In the latter genus he adopts jnirpiireus, Linn. (1758) for cequatus, Linn. (1767), Desb. des Loges ; interpunctatus, Steph., for alliarice, Schon. ; and planirodris, Fab., for uncinatus, Thoms., pointing out characters whereby the rarer nanus, Payk., found on birches, may be known fi'om it, — viz., the considerably smaller size, obsolete punctuation of the head and less regular punctuation of the thorax and elytra, aud much shorter rostrum, which is angular at the base. Dr. Algernon Chapman (Ent. Mo. Mag., vol. vi, p. 230) has published some additional notes on the parasitism of Aphodius porcus upon Geotrupes stercorarius; — M. Reiche (in Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., 4me ser., ix, Bull., p. xxii) having stated his opinion that further obsei'vations on the point were necessary before that parasitism could be accepted as NEW BRITISH SPECIES, ETC., IN 1870. 21 proved. Dr. Chapman has also, in the same Magazine (vi, p. 259 et seq.)y described the larva and given an ehibo- rate account of tlie oeconomy of tlie rare Ahdera hifasciata, which lives on Corticium quercimnn, a fungus growing on oak boughs. He has also given (l. c, pp. 103 and 132) an exhaustive life-history, from original observation, of Pla- tijpus cyUndrus; and (Ann. and Mag. of Nat. Hist., Oct. 1870) has, by corroborating and extending the late Mr. Stone's observations, further elucidated the oeconomy of Hhipi- phonis, which is indubitably a parasite, and not, as argued by Mr. Muri'ay in the same publication (Nov. 1869), an inquiline. JNIr. Murray appears, however, to have himself abandoned his first views on the subject. Dr. Chapman's paper is illustrated by a carefully executed plate of the larva of Rhijiiphorus, with details. Mr. MoncreafF has (Ent. Mo. Mag., vol. vii, p. 81) given some interesting particulars of the oeconomy of the rare 3Iecinus coUaris, which he finds in galls on Plantago maritima; M. pyraiiter occurring in those of P. lanceo- lata; he also notes Baridius laticollis as bred in plenty from roots of Shymhrimn officinale. I reared some forty specimens of this beetle fj-om an inch or two of the infested i-oot sent to me by this careful observer, to whose energy we are indebted (besides very many rarities and other species new to our lists) for the discoveiy of a second British species of CathormioceriiSf which has been sent by Mr. Crotch to Dr. Seidlitz for determination, so that we may expect to be able to include it in our next year's list. 1 have given at full length (Ent. Mo. Mag., vol. vii, p. 150) the differences between this insect and C. socius, and have ventured to add some observations on the points supposed to separate Ca- thonniocerus fi'om TrachyphlceiiSj which in my opinion are not generically distinct. 22 COLEOPTERA. Mr. Moncreaff's captures in the neighbourhood of South- sea appear to me to be more interesting to British Coleoptei'ists tban anything that has occurred for many years ; and his records of Drypta as connected with Antlioxanthum odoratumj Homaloplia rurlcohi from blackthorn, Lucanus from elm, Hedobia from bramble, 3Iagdalrnus cerasi on elm, 3Iecinus circulatus from Planta(jo coronopus, Sylohius on thistles, Brachytarsus scabrosus from furze, and Stenostola feri'ea from hazel, are also noteworthy. The following minor observations have appeared in the Ent. Mo. Mag. :— the Rev. H. S. Gorham's identification of the '* Hop-flea" as Psylliodes attenuatus; Mr. A Miiller's note of indications of reasoning power in Ceuthorhynchus svlcicollu; Dr. Buchanan White's observations on the Coleoptera of Strath-glass, Inverness-shire; Mr. Hislop's list of Morayshire beetles, including several species new to Scotland, and the Rev. Mr. Soraerville's notes on the earlier stages of certain Scotch Phytophaga; the recognition by Dr. Kraatz of Donacia comari as a good species ; the hints of M. M. Bellevoye and Abeille de Perrin as to habits of ? of Drilus Jlavescens ; and Mr. J. F. Scott's note on the occur- rence of several Opilus mollis and Callidium variabile at *' sugar." In *^ Newman's Entomologist," Mr. Cordeaux's remarks on the oeconomy oi Ceuthorltynchus contractus, and Mr. Ro- mane's account of vast numbers of an un-named Gallernca floating on the sea, on the north-east coast, seem deserving of notice. Of work by continental entomologists reported during the past year as specially interesting to us, there is but little to record. The first volume of M. Fauvel's "Faune Gallo-Rhenane,'^ NEW BRITISH SPECIES, ETC., IN 1870. 23 containinf:: the introductory portion of the work, has been completed; but no idea can be formed from it of the method in which the practical portion will be treated, except that it may at least be opined that it will be exhaustive. M. Pandelle's monograph of the European Tachyporidae (iVnn. Soc. Ent. de France, 4me ser., T. ix, 1869, p. 261 et seq.) has been abstracted by myself in the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, vol. vi, pp. 209 — 12, with especial regard lo the British species. In it, Lamprinus is generically merged with Tachyporus, and Mycetoponis and Bryo- porus disappear in BoUtoMus; certain recognized species of Stephens are rejected on the score of " inconvenience," whilst one or two of that author's errors are endorsed ; and the following observations occur (besides a few others to be hereafter specifically noticed), possibly of interest to British Co\eo\)terists :~Hypocyptus pulicarius is suppressed spe- cifically, Dr. Kraatz being stated to have sent a large example of S. seminulum under that name (Erichson's pulicarius not being mentioned) ; the H. anisotomoides of our lists is not mentioned; Mycetoporus nanus is i-eferred to Erichson, and not to Gravenhorst; Hardy and Bold's name is retained for their Bryoporus castaneus, instead of Hardyij Crotch, as the prior Stephensian castaneus does not stand specifically ; and M. loiiyuluSj lepidus and hrunneiiSy Marsh., Steph. (= himaculatus, Boisd. et Lac, ruficornis, Ktz., punctiventris, Thorns.) are evidently considered as specifically non-separable, tliougli given as distinct by the author. M. Tappes( Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., 1869, ix, p. 7) has recorded his opinion, fortified by that of several of his colleagues, that Cryptocephalus bipustulatus. Fab., is perfectly distinct from C. hipunctatus, of which C. lineola is the only recorded British form ; and Mr. Crotch has noted Mannerheim's 24 COLEOPTERA. statement that C. Wasastjernii lives on Carduus hetero- ph7/llus in shady places. 