132 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



seen flying about the rocks, and it is probable the majority 

 of these nested. None has yet been seen about the Mingulay 

 cliffs. Mr W. Donald writes me (in lit., 8th February 191 2), 

 that three years ago he saw one bird between the " Dutch- 

 man's Cap" and Bunessen, near StafTa. 



ON SOME SCOTTISH SPECIES OF MYMARIDjE. 



By P. Cameron. 



The species of Mymaridce are the pygmies of the order 

 Hymenoptera. They are exceedingly minute, and are thus 

 difficult to collect unless one paid special attention to them. 

 All are parasites in the eggs of other insects, and are conse- 

 quently of economic importance, as, in many cases, they 

 are very useful in keeping down the numbers of injurious 

 caterpillars. Probably no order of insects is free from 

 their attacks. One species, Caraphractus ductus, Hal. 

 (Polynema nutans), enters the water, using its wings as 

 swimming organs, and oviposits in the eggs of a dragon-fly, 

 Calopteryx virgo. 



The systematic position of the group is a debatable one. 

 The Rev. T. A. Marshall, in his Entomological Society's 

 Catalogue, places them at the end of the Proctotrypidce as 

 the Mymaridce, and enumerates twelve genera and thirty-six 

 British species, a number that has been considerably added 

 to since its publication. Other writers exclude them from 

 the Proctotrypidce, and treat them as a tribe or subfamily of 

 the ChalcididcB, or as a separate Family. Ashmead, in his 

 great work on the genera of the Chalcididce, regards them 

 as a Family of his Super-family CJialcidoidca, and splits 

 them up into two subfamilies, as I have indicated in my 

 list. 



Not having paid much attention to these atoms, my list 

 of the Scotch species I have collected is a short one. 

 Nevertheless it includes four species new to the British 

 Fauna. 



