From amongst the many results which I have been long accustomed to associate (whether rightly so, or not, I leave it for others to decide) with certain special situations, I would draw attention to the singular inconstancy which numerous insects are liable to when existing on the coast,--and which frequently causes them to assume an aspect so permanently different from their inland types, that, without local knowledge to guide us, they might be supposed at first sight to be specifically distinct. Ten years ago I offered a few comments on this fact in the pages of the 'Zoologist'; which, as I have seen no reason subsequently to modify them, I will transcribe at length:-- "The extraordinary changes which many insects are subject to when occurring near the sea, is a fact worthy of notice, and one which I do not remember to have seen recorded. The strictly maritime species must be left out of the question; for although many of them are exceedingly variable both in size and colour, still we have no means of ascertaining whether that variation is referable to the locality in which they are placed,--for, never being found inland, nobody can have an opportunity of asserting that the same changes would not take place, were they to occur in positions far removed from the influence of the sea. When we find, however, the same insects in profusion both inland and on the coast, and observe also numerous and marked deviations from the typical forms peculiar to the latter situation; then, _a priori_, we have strong presumptive evidence that the changes in question are the result of local circumstances, and not referable to chance. The alteration in size I have almost always observed to be from large to small, and scarcely ever the reverse; whereas in colour the change takes place very nearly as much from light to dark as it does from dark to light: nevertheless the majority of instances I possess come under the latter department. It has been remarked that all the specimens of _Mesites Tardii_, which I captured in Devonshire, were much smaller than the original series taken by Mr. Tardy at Powerscourt Waterfall, in the county of Wicklow; and so decided was the difference, that many of my friends, at first sight, concluded the two to be distinct species. This, however, I consider entirely owing to their locality, for my specimens were found only on the coast, and Mr. Tardy's at a considerable distance inland. And, inasmuch as neither of these instances rested on mere individual examples, but on long and conspicuous series, the certainty of the change from large to small was the more apparent. Mr. Holme of Oxford mentions having taken _Olisthopus rotundatus_ in the Scilly Islands, in great profusion, none of the specimens of which exceeded two lines and a half in length. At Whitsand Bay in Cornwall I have captured _Gymnaetron Campanulae_, none of which exceeded three-quarters of a line,--the usual length being from a line to a line and three-quarters.