27G 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



abundance of 2 s over the J s. I am sure last season (1913) I shall 

 never forget ; the females were so abundant that they simply came in 

 droves. I did count the number taken with one sweep of the net, it 

 was over 50, and not a male amongst them, but there were three ab. 

 semisijntfra/iha, no doubt they were taken for males, for they were often 

 chased by a goodly number of ordmary females. I could never under- 

 stand what became of the males, they seemed almost absent. When 

 one looks back at past seasons on this same spot, almost the same 

 conditions prevailed, there was certainly a great preponderance of 

 females over the males, the males appearing extremely few compared 

 with those taken from other localities. This female preponderance has 

 occurred for a number of years, but in particular 1913 seemed to be an 

 extraordinary season for this femaleness. This season (1914) was 

 nothing compared to it, but the females were in great abundance, the 

 males were more in evidence than I have seen them before from Herts. 

 They vary so little that I have not seen a really good aberration from 

 here. One of my best I took this year, it was an albino ^ , quite a 

 whitish example. This season was quite a contrast to that of 1913, 

 when I counted 25 collectors during my stay all with the seinif<!/n<irapha 

 fever, this year all seemed peace and quiet, very few collectors being 

 seen. I ran down during the first days of the " war," when railway 

 traffic was partially held up, having to wait long hours to get through, 

 but once on the spot the war was quite forgotten till my return, when 

 I had much the same treat. I was able, however, to capture six asym- 

 metrical specimens and two females (normal size) with deep dashes of 

 blue on wings, in one on the right forewingand in the other on the left. 

 I hear several of this kind were taken this year, so it seems as if there is 

 still another side issue appearing in A. corulon. No doubt there seems 

 to exist a certam amount of hermaphroditism in these asymmetrical 

 females, and one awaits for further explanations in making clear this 

 mystery. I look forward to 1915 with an extra amount of renewed 

 energy to cure this " fit of the blues." 



Some notes on the Genera Platyphora, Verrall, and Aenigmatias» 

 Meinert, and a species new to Britain. 



By HOKACE DONISTHOEPE, F.Z.S., F.E.S. 

 Plati/jihora, Verrall, 1877= 3 ; Aeniiiinatias, Meinert, 1890= $ . 



Platyphoka LUBBocKi, Verrall. 



Platyphora liibbocki, Verrall, " Journ. Linn. Soc, Zool.," 13, 260(1877)1. 

 Aenuimn'tias Idattoide^, Meinert, " Ent. Medel," 2, '212-27 (1890)-. Plalijphora 

 lubbocki, Wasmann, '' Krit. Ver. Myr. Ter. Art.," 174 (1894)-\ Aeiii(jinatias 

 blattoides, Wasmann, "Krit. Ver. Myr. Ter. Art.," 175 (1894)^ ; " Biol. Centralb.," 

 28, 728 (1908)'''. Platiiphora lubbocki, Collin, " Proc. Ent. Soc. Lend.," i904, 

 lxix.«; Mallocb, " Anii. Scot. Nat. Hist.," 1910, 17"; Collin, "Ent. Mo. Mag.," 

 49, 174, Pit. 3, tig. 3 (1913)'^ ; Donisthorpe, " Proc. Ent. Soc. Lond.," 1913, Ixxvi.^ 

 Aenigmatias blattoich'x, Donistborpe, " Proc. Ent. Soc. Lond.," 1913, Ixxvi.i"; 

 "Ent. liec," 25, 277-78 (1913)." Flatjiphora lubbocki, Donisthorpe, "Ent. 

 Rec," 23, 277 (1913)^'^ ; H. Sebmitz, " Jaarb. Nat. Hist. Genoots. Liraburg," 

 J9i5, 123.''' Acni(jnuiti(is blultoidc!<, H. Sebmitz, " Jaarb. Nat. Hist. Genoots. 

 Limburg," 1913, 1241"; " Zool. Jahrb.," 541-44 (1914).!^' 



In 1877 Verrall described a fly, bred in one of Lord Avebury's 

 observation nests, under the name of Platyphora luhhocki} This 



