isrfi. 4 ! 



Suffolk). The species is also staled by Koerster, in the " Verliamlluu^eii iles tuitur- 

 historisclien Vereins der preussischeii Rheinlande," Band v, 71, 4 (1848), to have 

 been found on the mistletoe in Gt-erniany — the larva at Aachen, and the imago at 

 Bergheim. In his work " Die Pflanzenfeinde aus der Klasse der Insecten," p. 293, 

 Kaltenbaeh says he found the larvae in March and April on the flowers of mistletoe, 

 and that Herr StoUwerk took the imago on the same plant. I find no other notices 

 of the insect, which is unknown to me, and as the mode of life has not been observed 

 in detail, or at any rate not recorded, it would be of service to our native entomology 

 if any one, who may have it in his power to get at the plant, would take the trouble 

 to work up the life-history of Psylla visci. I believe all the species of PsyUidm live 

 for a considerable time in the perfect state, and so the month of July may not be too 

 late to obtain the adult females and begin the work of investigation by observing 

 the oviposition. 



There are some other species of PsyUldie, mostly first described by Foerster 

 (op. cit.J as from England and Ireland, sent to him by Messrs. Walker and Haliday, 

 but no precise locality, time of capture, or food-plant, is given (except the latter in 

 two instances). Such are : — 



Psylla viridula, Frst. (on nut-trees, Walker) ; melanoneura, Frst. ; costato- 

 punctata, Frst. ; picta, Frst. ; (eruginosa, Frst. ; occulta, Frst. 



Tfioza gain, Frst. (on Galium vermn, Haliday) ; velutina, Frst. ; abieticola, 

 Frst. (on spruce fir, and spindle-tree, Flor) ; munda, Frst. (on nettles, Flor). 



Aphalara flavipennis, Frst. ; exilis, Weber and Mohr (on Rumex acetosella, 

 V. Heyden). 



It is very desirable to re-find these in Britain ; the time to obtain them in the 

 adult state is from June to October, and, in looking for them, it is all but certain 

 that other species, new to this country or to science, will be captured ; the latter not 

 improbably, because hitherto there have been very few collectors of Psyllidm in 

 particular. We know now about 40 native species ; about 150 are recorded as 

 European, but there are doubtless many more. 



Some plants nourish more than one species of PsyllidcB, yet, as a rule, each 

 species seems to be attached to the particular sort of plant (or allied plants) on 

 which it stays ; sometimes, however, they fly to others, and, of such as hibernate, 

 many species are found together in autumn and spring among the foliage of fir trees. 

 In the first instance, Psyllidce may be expected to occur to collectors of insects of 

 other Orders ; but I hope that when an interest in them is awakened, and the fact 

 known that the natural history of only a few species has been observed, they will be 

 reared from the egg, and their development regarded by specialists, just as the 

 Lepidoplera now are. In (he imago-form, the Psyllidce are easily taken from an 

 umbrella or sweeping-net in small bottles containing a small portion of cut laurel- 

 leaf, or chloroform, and are thus killed at once in situ, where they may remain for a 

 day or two ; they can then be set out on card with great facility. I would, at first, 

 even excuse a Lepidopterist who woidd insist on pinning them, although by this 

 treatment some of the markings on the thorax must be disfigured ; by and by he 

 would be converted to the method of fixing them on card by gum when he saw the 

 manifest disadvantages of this plan in respect of the preservation and examination of 

 his specimens. May I commend this neglected section of a neglected Order to the 

 attention of some of our young Alexanders who are sighing for more worlds to 

 conquer I 



