CURRENT NOTES. 281 



siderably chastened as to our prowess on the field, Imt thirsting for 

 more knowledge. -TT. E. Page. Xoreiiihrr, 1915. 



(.^^URRENT NOTES AND SHORT NOTICES. 



In the Se[)teniber nuuiber of the Hut. Mo. .!/<///., Mr. Edwards 

 announces a Dipteron, new to science and to Britain, under the name 

 Plastiisciara kcilini, bred from larviK found at Barton Mills, Cambs., in 

 rotten wood, in large numbers. 



Our colleague, Professor Hudson Beare, F.R.S.E., F.E.S., has, we 

 understand, diverted all bis energies into the making of munitions. 



Our colleague, Captain Burr, M.A., D.Sc, has a paper in the 

 October issue of the Jnuv. of the lloi/al Micro. Snc, " On the Male 

 Genital Armature of the Dermaptera," Pt. I., with five plates and 

 three text figures. In this first part the Protodermaptera (except 

 I'salidae) are dealt with in much detail. Two previous authors have 

 written on this subject, H. W. Verhoeit", " Ueber Dermapteren, I. 

 Aufsatz. ^'ersuch eines neuen, naturlichen Systems auf vergleichend- 

 morphologischer Grundlage und ueber den I\[icrothorax der Inseckten," 

 in Zool. Ami'iij. (U)02), and Dr. F. Zacher, " Studien iiber das System 

 der Protodermapteren," Zool. Jaltrh. (1911). The former paper, 

 although of considerable merit, was not fully appreciated by students 

 on account of " the entire absence of figures, the employment of a 

 number of new characters under new and unfamiliar names, which are 

 nowhere explained, the author's ignorance of the literature of the 

 subject, and the rather obscure language which he employed." 

 " Zacher's work has a double virtue ; it not only has its own inherent 

 goodness, i.e., the actual original observation, but it has a key to 

 Verhoeflf rendering his crabbed words intelligible." The present con- 

 tribution is really a review and supplement to Zacher's pioneer papers, 

 based upon an immense amount of material more than was then 

 available, and very considerably modifies Zacher's results, in many 

 parts based on only meagre material. The matter here published was 

 really intended to form part of an introduction to Dr. Burr's projected 

 Monograph of the Dermaptera of the world, which he now has to in- 

 definitely postpone owing to the war. The more primitive earwigs, 

 the Protodermaptera, are here dealt with, omitting the more difficult 

 and large family, the Pxalidae, which will be considered in a second 

 part. Part III. will deal with the higher earwigs, the Eudermaptera. 

 The Family, Sub-family and Generic characteristics are all set out in 

 tabulated form, and the species are also dealt with in the same way. 

 There is no doubt that this paper is the most important on this subject 

 up to the present time, based as it is, by a master of the subject, on 

 snch abundance of material. 



In the October number of the /v»f. Mo. Ma;/., Mr. Norman 11. Joy 

 describes a new species of Coleopteron, ili-ntica e.rilifonnis, which he 

 has separated from M. I'.rilis. It is probably generally distributed ; 

 specimens have come from Lundy Is., Berkshire, Norfolk, etc. Mr. 

 E. A. Butler at the same time describes a Capsid llomopteron new to 

 the British list, Biacltijartluum liniitatiim, hitherto recorded only from 

 Scandinavia, Finland and Bohemia. It was found in Epping Forest 

 in some numbers on aspen. 



The third number of the quarterly J«ur. of F.nt. and Zool., from 



