22 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



what damaged, and two or three of the species are somewhat 

 difficult to determine owing to the close resemblance between 

 them. The species of this genus occur in carcases, rubbish, 

 etc., and this particular species is very widely spread. 



It is impossible to imagine that the ground beetles and 

 also the Staphylinids could have reached these remote islands 

 since they were separated from the mainland, and they must 

 be the survivors of species living on this particular spot when 

 these islands were separated from the nearest point on the 

 mainland. 



THE UNIVERSITY, EDINBURGH, December 1904. 



DIPTERA SCOTICA: IV. ORKNEY AND 

 SHETLAND. 



By PERCY H. GRIMSHAW, F.E.S. 



SOME months ago the Rev. E. N. Bloomfield, of Guestling 

 Rectory, Hastings, was good enough to send me for examina- 

 tion and determination a number of Diptera collected in the 

 Orkney and Shetland Islands by Dr. O. Reuter, of Helsing- 

 fors, Finland, in the summer of 1876. I have thought it 

 advisable, while publishing the results, to include all the 

 records I could find bearing upon the Dipterous fauna of 

 these islands, even although many of those hitherto published 

 still require confirmation and a few of which may be 

 erroneous. By this means it is hoped that all the information 

 bearing upon the subject may be placed in a convenient form 

 for future investigators, while attention will at the same time 

 be drawn by critical remarks to those species whose claim for 

 inclusion in the list rests upon wrong identification or some 

 other doubtful factor. 



So far as I am aware, our knowledge of the flies of 

 Orkney and Shetland is limited to the following papers and 

 notes: (i) a paper by W. Armston Vice in the "Scottish 

 Naturalist," vol. ii. (1873-74) pp. 274-276, entitled 

 " Diptera in the North of Scotland " ; (2) a second paper by 

 the same author in the " Scottish Naturalist," New Series, 

 vol. i. (1883-84) pp. 9-19, entitled "List of Diptera taken 

 in the North of Scotland, chiefly in the province ' Dee,' " in 



