EDITORIAL 



219 



conclusions or not, has at least the merit of being out of the 

 beaten track. 



In a later number of the same Journal 1 two papers may- 

 be noticed. The first of these (pp. 83-92) is " A Report on 

 the Land-Rail Inquiry," by H. G. Alexander. From 

 schedules received in 191 3 and 19 14 a good deal of 

 information has been gained regarding the status of this 

 bird as a breeding species, principally from England. It 

 has been found that from Devon to Lincolnshire, and 

 including the south-east Midlands, the Land-Rail can no 

 longer be regarded as a regular breeding species, while in 

 South Wales, the west of England, and the greater part of 

 the Midlands, a fairly general decrease is taking place. 

 After discussing the various suggested explanations of this 

 decrease, the author expresses himself as not satisfied, and 

 doubts " if enough is known of the bird's requisites to 

 permit even of speculation on the subject." The second 

 paper (pp. 93-94) is by H. W. Ford-Lindsay, recording the 

 occurrence of a new British bird, Ruppell's Warbler {Sylvia 

 riippelli, Temm.) in Sussex. Two males were obtained on 

 5th May of this year at Baldslow, Hastings. A photograph 

 of the bird is given on p. 94, while the two following pages 

 are devoted to a detailed description of the species. 



The article on British Oribatidae, by the Rev. J. E. Hull, 

 to which we referred last month, has now been completed. 2 

 Twenty species are dealt with in this concluding part, eight 

 of which are described as new. 



Rev. F. D. Morice continues 3 his very useful "Help- 

 notes towards the determination of British Tenthredinidae, 

 etc." Most of this instalment is devoted to a synopsis of 

 the males of the genus Tenthredopsis, a difficult group of 

 species, into which awkward questions of synonymy enter 

 to bewilder the student. Ten species are included in this 

 synoptic table, yet the author confesses himself unable to 

 name specimens of more than three with confidence. 



So far as we are aware, few cases of viviparity in 



1 British Birds, September 19 14. 



2 Naturalist, September 1914, pp. 281-288. 



3 Ent. Mo. Mag., September 1914, pp. 209-212. 



