96 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



Rarer Forms/' The list includes 21 Rhopalocera and 243 Heterocera. 

 Next follows a paper by James Waterston, entitled, " Notes on some 

 Ectoparasites in the Museum, Perth." This is devoted entirely to 

 Mallophaga, of which 17 species are recorded, with hosts and 

 localities and critical observations regarding" structural characters and 

 synonymy. The third paper is "A List of Perthshire Diptera (Family 

 Syrphidae)," by A. E. J. Carter. This list comprises only the species 

 captured by the author himself during the past ten years, and these 

 number 94, of which 10 are new to the county. [Lepidoptera, Diptera, 

 Mallophaga.] 



In the March number of the Entomologists Monthly Magazine 

 (pp. 70-72), James Edwards publishes the first instalment of a useful 

 paper entitled "A Contribution to a Knowledge of the British Notiophili." 

 We note N. blacki recorded from Peebles and Sutherlandshire, and 

 N. sfrigifrons from Braemar, Aviemore, Pitlochry, and Newtonmore. 

 [Coleoptera.] 



An interesting paper from the pen of H. St J. K. Donisthorpe, 

 appears in the March number of the Entomologists Record (pp. 61-68), 

 under the title of " Myrmecophilous Notes for 1912." It is to be con- 

 cluded in a future number, and in the present instalment we note the 

 following Scottish records : Formicoxenus nitidiilus, Nyl., at Nethy 

 Bridge (first record for Scotland) ; Myrmica ruginodis, Nyl, in the 

 Isles of Mull and Tiree ; Leptotlwrax acervorum, F., at Coatbridge and 

 Nethy Bridge ; Formica exsecta, Nyl., at Nethy Bridge ; F. fusca, L., 

 in Mull and Tiree, and also at Rothes. [Hymenoptera.] 



An important advance in our knowledge of Sheep diseases has been 

 made by J. P. M'Gowan and T Rettie, who have discovered that the 

 muscles of Scottish sheep suffering from the apparently infectious 

 disease of "scrapie" are riddled by a protozoon parasite, Sarcocysfis 

 tenella. The itching which is characteristic of the disease is probably 

 due to muscular irritation caused by the presence of the parasite. The 

 same investigators have conducted experiments which seem to show 

 that the obscure disease known in various districts as "loupin' ill," 

 "braxy, ,J "grass-sickness," or "trembles," is probably to be attributed to 

 the bacillus of hemorrhagic septicaemia, which is well-known as causing 

 great loss of sheep in France by pasteurellosis. {Proc. Path. Soc. Gt. 

 Brit, and Ireland, Abstracts, January 1913.) [Protozoa.] 



That smaller fleas have lesser parasites, receives almost daily proof 

 in these days of Protozoology. J. H. Ashworth and T. Rettie have just 

 described a new Gregarine, the stages in the life-history of which they 

 have successfully traced in the mid-gut of bird-fleas {Ceratopliyllus styx) 

 obtained in Sand-martins' nests from the Scottish Lowlands. {Proc. Roy. 

 Soc, B., vol. 86, 1912, p. 31, pi. 1.) [Protozoa.] 



