Page:VCH Sussex 1.djvu/182

 A HISTORY OF SUSSEX COLEOPTERA Beetles The county of Sussex is rich in Coleoptera, and the number of beetles already recorded is a very large one ; but it is probable that more species will be found, as a considerable portion of the county has not yet been properly worked : in fact some districts that are sure to yield good insects have hardly been touched. It will be noticed that the chief localities quoted below are in the neighbourhood of Hastings, Brighton and Lewes, and that the western part of the county has been compara- tively neglected. There is no reason to believe that the fauna of this part of Sussex differs much from the remainder, but the wooded districts of the county, with one or two exceptions, have not been worked like the coast localities, and it is probable that the country round Arundel and Petworth will supply many fresh records. In the course of a walk one afternoon through Arundel Park, on the only occasion in which I have been in the neighbourhood, I took Epitrix atropce in abundance, and this remains the sole record for the county. The chief source of our knowledge of the Sussex Coleoptera is the list of Hastings Coleoptera which forms the First Supplement of The Natural History of Hastings and St. Leonards and the Vicinity. This was published in 1883, and has since been largely added to by the Second Supplement published in 1888, and the Third Supplement published in 1898. For these excellent lists the Rev. E. N. Bloomfield of Guestling and Mr. E. A. Butler of Hastings have been largely responsible, and I am much indebted to them for their kind help on various occasions. I must also express my thanks to Mr. J. H. A. Jenner of Lewes for allowing me the use of his records of the beetles taken in his district. The chief collectors in the Hastings district besides those already men- tioned have been Mr. W. H. Bennett, Mr. Collett and Mr. Ford, while a large number of the Lewes records are due to Mr. C. Morris. The Brighton localities are in part taken from Mrs. Merrifield's History of Brighton, published many years ago ; but the chief species have been taken at Holm Bush near Brighton by Dr. Power, who has also collected very successfully at Littlington, Cowfold, Amberley and Seaford. The Rev. H. S. Gorham has worked the Horsham district, and I am indebted to him for many valuable notes. Four species at least have been recorded as British from Sussex only, viz. Homalota consangiiinea, Bruchus vicice, Cassida chloris and Apion opeticum. We might perhaps add Stenus oscillator, which was described by Mr. E. C. Rye as a new species on a single specimen taken by Dr. Power at Holm Bush, near Poynings ; but, as no more specimens have been found, it has been thought that it is a hybrid between S. paganus and S. latifrons, or it may perhaps be an extreme form of one of these insects. Among the rarer species we may note the following : Calosoma sycophanta (a casual visitant and not indigenous), Cafius cicatricosus, hathrohium pallidum, Me- don ripicola, Scydmcenus poweri, Eumicrus rufus, Oxylamus variolosus, Crypto- 136