diff --git a/fem/discfuncarray.hh b/fem/discfuncarray.hh
index bf3b8712434f59a22587130b5f3f5db8f98558d8..25b6633ea32365148f0da9f26775d4a20466d011 100644
--- a/fem/discfuncarray.hh
+++ b/fem/discfuncarray.hh
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ namespace Dune {
 
     //! update LocalFunction to given Entity en
     template <class EntityType>
-    void localFunction ( EntityType &en,
+    void localFunction ( const EntityType &en,
                          LocalFunctionArray<DiscreteFunctionSpaceType> & lf);
 
     //! we use the default implementation
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ namespace Dune {
 
   protected:
     //! update local function for given Entity
-    template <class EntityType > bool init ( EntityType &en ) const;
+    template <class EntityType > bool init ( const EntityType &en ) const;
 
     //! get pointer to next LocalFunction
     MyType * getNext() const;
diff --git a/fem/discfuncarray/discfuncarray.cc b/fem/discfuncarray/discfuncarray.cc
index f8e0dea7f104eef26205812061245162baa29240..2ac94324731b35a1d493bccc4c83aec2f560b96b 100644
--- a/fem/discfuncarray/discfuncarray.cc
+++ b/fem/discfuncarray/discfuncarray.cc
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ namespace Dune
   template<class DiscreteFunctionSpaceType > template <class EntityType>
   inline void
   DiscFuncArray< DiscreteFunctionSpaceType >::
-  localFunction ( EntityType &en , LocalFunctionArray < DiscreteFunctionSpaceType > &lf )
+  localFunction ( const EntityType &en , LocalFunctionArray < DiscreteFunctionSpaceType > &lf )
   {
     lf.init ( en );
   }
@@ -518,7 +518,7 @@ namespace Dune
 
   template<class DiscreteFunctionSpaceType > template <class EntityType>
   inline bool LocalFunctionArray < DiscreteFunctionSpaceType >::
-  init (EntityType &en ) const
+  init (const EntityType &en ) const
   {
     if(!uniform_ || !init_)
     {