115 



Chislehurst Excursion, May 28, 1870. 



In a search among the nettles in the vicinity of the Kailway station 

 I obtained a fly, to the abdomen of which were attached three 

 parasites. The fly was a small Psychoda, one of those curious 

 small flies with broad deflexed hairy wings, and long antennaa, com- 

 posed of globular verticillated joints, often found on windows, and 

 said to reside, while in the larva state, in dung ; and the parasites 

 were acari, nearly allied to the parasites common on the humble 

 bee — a species of Gamasus in fact. Though the fly, when put into 

 a collecting tube, ran about actively, I doubt not it was much in- 

 convenienced by its triple burden (which to the naked eye appeared 

 as if the fly's abdomen were red), for on my arrival at home, I 

 found it had succumbed, though the parasites still remained in 

 position. I, therefore, shook it out of the tube, and dropped some 

 benzine upon it immediately it had fallen upon the glass-slip. This 

 of course killed the parasites ere they had time to escape, and was 

 preliminary to further applications of benzine and balsam. The 

 final result was moderately successful : the fly and its parasites 

 form a slide in my cabinet. 



The Curculionidse obtained were not numerous, it being rather 

 early for them, yet such as we did find were of great beauty. As 

 about 400 species are known to be inhabitants of this country, it is 

 a matter of difficulty to be certain as to the names. Westwood, 

 however, says that "the Polydrusi and Phyllobii" are not less 

 beautiful than the Diamond Beetles of the Tropics, though of 

 smaller size than they; and this is all the authority I have for 

 considering the brilliant green or red beetles found on this occasion 

 to belong to this genera. The same authority says that the larvae 

 of these beetles are more or less like the fleshy grub which we often 

 find in the inside of nuts, and that they are vegetable feeders in all 

 stages of their existence. I believe all that we found on this oc- 

 casion feed on herbaceous plants, especially the nettle, and the foli- 

 age or soft twigs of the oak and the beech trees. 



