174 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP, 



Ornithomya avictilaria is parasitic on birds, 

 usually the plover, partridge, and lark. 



Curtis gives good plates of three species : — 

 //. V(]iciiia, L., Curt. 421. S. hiriiiuUnis, L., Cuitf 

 122. J\L oviniis, L., Curt. 142. 



32. BrauUdic. 



The one British] species of this family, Braula 

 cicca, Nitzsch, is a small, horny, shining red-brown 

 apterous fly with black spines and hair ; proboscis 

 prominent, horny, yellow ; antenna three-jointed ; 

 scutellum and hreteres absent ; legs short, ail of 

 equal length ; tarsi five-jointed ; last joint with 

 large broad claws. Parasitic on bees ; very rare. 



33. NydcribidiL. 



In this family the body is crustaceous, the head 

 small, the legs thick, long and bristly, the abdomen 

 being composed of five or six segments in the cT, and 

 only two in the 9 . The coxae are remarkably large. 



Two species of iV^'^r/mi^/a are British, N. Hermanni, 

 Leach, and N. Latreillii, Leach, the latter being 

 rather smaller than the former ; both species are 

 rare, and infest the common bat. 



Ayctcrihia Latreillii, Curt. 277. 



In conclusion I should like to reiterate that this 

 paper is only intended as a groundwork on wliich 

 beginners can build up a more extensive knowledge 

 of this order, and is written more for the purpose of 

 gaining this neglected group additional students 

 than to represent even an approach to a handbook of 

 ' British Diptera. 



The descriptions, though short, are, I trust, 

 concise, and may enable beginners to obtain a fair 

 acquaintance with the general appearance and 

 structural characteristics of the majority of families 

 and sub-families ; and I am in hopes that the 

 diagrams of wings, though only roughly delineated, 

 may supply the student with the means of identifying 

 many a genus. 



I may add that, whenever my limited hours of 

 leisure permit, it always affords me the greatest 

 pleasure to render any assistance I can — in the way 

 either of naming specimens or supplying furtlier 

 information on any particular group. 



E. Brunetti. 

 129, Grosvenor Park, Cafnberwell, S.E. 



NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. 



r^LIMPSES OF NATURE, by Dr. Andrew 

 \JT Wilson (London : Chatto and Windus). Dr. 

 \Vilson has long earned his spurs as a trusted and 

 talented populariser of science. A few priggish 

 specialists, wlro imagine that a knowledge of a few of 

 the muscles of a flea's foot, entitles them to speak 

 authoritatively about the Creator and the creation, 

 sometimes sneer at "popular science." They might 

 as well sneer at popular politics, popular art, or 



popular theology. The greatest populariser of the 

 latter was Christ himselt. Knowledge, to be useful, 

 must be democratic. Hence we have no sympathy 

 with the few prigs who would keep what little they 

 know to their own select circle ; and, whenever they 

 have anything to say, say it in the least understand- 

 able and most technical phraseology their limited 

 knowledge of language permits. All knowledge 

 belongs to humanity, and the man who undertakes 

 the responsible position of interpreter of science to 

 the people, occupies a most important place. It is 

 given to but few men to be real teachers and genuine 

 popular writers. There have been thousands of 

 schoolmasters, but only one Dr. Arnold ; hosts ol 

 naturalists, but only one Gilbert White and one 

 Richard Jeffreys. The genuine populariser of science 

 possesses a distinct and rare gift. You can train 

 thousands of specialists to any department of work, 

 if they only possess industry enough ; but all the 

 training in the world would not make popular 

 instructors of them, like Charles Kingsley, Richard 

 Proctor, and Andrew Wilson. Therefore we welcome 

 this charmingly got-up book, with whose contents 

 many of our readers have doubtless already made 

 themselves partly acquainted in the pages of the 

 "Illustrated London News," where there may have 

 been suggested to them the desire to see these clever 

 papers collected in an available and consultable 

 form. The numerous illustrations, which accom- 

 pany the text now for the first time, render the 

 descriptions all the more intelligible. 



Our CouHtrfs Flowers, by W. J. Gordon (London : 

 Day & Son). A beginner in English botany could 

 not do better than procure this book. It is illus- 

 trated by upwards of 500 chromo-lithographs, which, 

 if a trifle over-coloured, can easily be allowed for, 

 and will doubtless tone down. Besides these, the 

 chapter headed " Index to the Genera " has a clear 

 and easily understood woodcut of the generic 

 characters of each kind. The chapter "Index to 

 Species " gives a clear account of each species of 

 wild-flower. There are also chapters on "Local 

 Names," "Classification," "Tabular Scheme," 

 " Natural Orders," " Examples of Identification" (a 

 very useful chapter to a beginner), "Derivation of 

 Generic Names," &c., as well as a copious glossary. 

 As it is bound in limp cloth, it can easily be 

 carried in the pocket. For the purpose of merely 

 identifying common British plants, it is one of the 

 best and cheapest works we have. 



Handbook of the London Geological Field Class 

 (London : George Philip & Son). A neat, handy, 

 and much required manual for the happily increasing 

 tribe of amateur London geologists. Five years ago 

 Professor Seeley, F.R.S., started a London field 

 class for geology, and took the members to all the 

 best sections and fossil collecting-grounds round the 

 metropolis. Professor Seeley is a born teacher, and 

 delights in his work. You have only to interrogate 



