The neighbourhood of Birmingham, and in fact the Midland district generally, has never been considered particularly rich in either the number or variety of its insect productions, and it is a fact that a collection of Midland species, of whatever order, shows very wide gaps, both in genera and species, when compared with one formed in the east or south of England. Nevertheless, the Midland Counties are not entirely barren in this respect, and a catalogue of the insects known to occur within a radius of twenty miles of Birmingham would be a very respectable one. During the last few years a large number of very interesting species have been discovered, and there can be no doubt that with more workers and greater enthusiasm considerable additions would continue to be made. By extending the radius somewhat our list would embrace a good array of species which seem to be peculiar to the Midlands, such as _Bembidium adustum_, _Eutheia clavata_, _Euplectus nubigena_, _Teredus nitidus_, _Macronychus quadrituberculatus_, _Hylecœtus dermestoides_, _Tropideres sepicola_, _Bagöus diglyptus_, _Notodonta bicolor_, &c., &c. At any rate these insects have not hitherto been detected in any other British localities. It is much to be regretted that local entomology suffers greatly from two untoward circumstances, viz., the lack of students and the want of a carefully compiled list of species of the several orders. The publication of a catalogue of local insects as far as our present knowledge extends, would undoubtedly tend to stimulate the intelligent pursuit of this study, and it seems surprising that such an important work has not long ago been undertaken by the Natural History Societies of the district. Having regard to the limited space allowed for this paper its object will, perhaps, best be secured by giving as full a list as possible, of the rarer and more interesting species belonging to the two most popular orders, viz., the Coleoptera and the Lepidoptera, together with some of the localities in which they occur. With few exceptions the references will be to insects which inhabit the twenty miles radius, a wider range being taken only in specially interesting cases, but even then it will be impossible to give anything like an adequate idea of the beetles, butterflies, and moths of the district. To prevent the possibility of error it should be stated that the nomenclature adopted is (for the beetles) that of the “Catalogue of British Coleoptera, by Matthews and Fowler, 1883,” and (for the butterflies and moths) “Synonymic List of British Lepidoptera, by Richard South, 1884.” COLEOPTERA.