1ST7.] 237 



that remain for it to accomplish before it dies. Each flower contains but one insect ; 

 and on opening one in August, besides the perfect Hemipteron, the skin of the pupa 

 is found. The insect always has its head turned towards the base of the flower. By 

 collecting the flowers that are inflated in the form of a sac, and unopened, a very 

 large number of the insect may be obtained, which it would be much more diflicult 

 to capture by means of a net or cloth." 



" This habitat is very summarily indicated by Amyot (Methode mononymique, 

 No. 294., Mephisse) , and by Fieber, who says that it is in the interstices between the 

 stunted leaves and the flowers of Teucrium chammdrys." 



To this I would add that Re'aumur, more than a century ago (Memoires, iii, 513, 

 pi. 34, fig. 1 — 6), described and figured this insect, its "nymphe," and the flowers of 

 T. chamcedry.t swollen and unable to open in consequence of the inquiline, to which, 

 however, he does not give a name. 



Greoffroy (Hist. Ins., i, 461, 56) refers to Reaumur, and confirms his account, 

 saying that the larva of this bug, which he calls " La punaise tigre," lives in the 

 interior of the flowers of " chamoedrys," which appear larger and more swollen than 

 ordinary, when they contain the insect. 



Herr von Frauenfeld (Verhandl. z.-b. Ges. Wien, iii, Sitz.-bcricht, p. 157, et seq.) 

 describes Laccometopus clavicornis, Lin., and L. teiicrii, Host, confirming the previous 

 authors, and showing the differences of the insects and their economy. L. teiicrii 

 he found on the flowers of Teucrium montanum growing near Modling. 



The genus Eurycera, Laporte, to which Cimex clavicornis, Lin., is referred by 

 M. Andre, is long anterior to Laccometopus, Fieber, but the name was rejected by 

 the latter author (Entomologische Monographien, p. 21, 1844), on account of its 

 previous employment by Dejean, for a genus of Coleoptera. 



I have adverted to the subject, and cited M. Andre's account of the economy of 

 L. clavicornis, because it contains some interesting details not .given by previous 

 authors, chiefly in the hope that the species, which is distributed throughout Europe, 

 and is common in France, may be re-discovered in this country. It is given as 

 British by Stephens, in his " Catalogue," and by Walker, in his " List of British 

 Hemiptera," but in each case the authority for saying it is a native is unknown, no 

 authentic specimens, as far as I know, being in any collection. Teucrium chamcedrys 

 is a rare plant in Britain, found chiefly on old walls, and I believe specially in the 

 northern counties of England ; but the; localities are doubtless kno^mi to, and maybe 

 learned from, local botanists. ^J. W. Douglas, Lee : 19//i January, 1877. 



On mountiiiy TyphlocylidcB. — Finding it impossible satisfactorily to examine 

 certain TyphlocyhidcB, especially those of the ros(2 type, when carded in the ordinary 

 way, I have adopted the following method : — Having carded the insects in the 

 ordinary manner, and allowed them to get thoroughly dry, I take two ordinary 

 glass microscope-slides, clean them, and, a few minutes before I am ready to operate, 

 put on the one which is to be the lower, six or eight small patches of gum, at equal 

 distances along the length of the slide, just largo enough to hold the body of i\\6 

 insect securely ; I then proceed, by the aid of a setting needle applied underneath 

 the legs, elytra, and wings, to carefully raise each insect from the card, and place its 

 body in a patch of gum on the sUde, and, having filled the slide, put it away for a 

 few hours, secure from dust, to allow the gum to set. I next cut, in one piece, a 



