191C.] 63 



4— Muse A AUTUMNALis De Gr. (Mem. Tom. VI, p. 83, 1776). 



De Greer gives a short and rather incomplete description of this 

 species, which is nevertheless quite recognisable as applying to the fly 

 generally known as Masca corvina Fab. Fabricius' name, liowever, 

 w^as not pnlilished until five years after De Greer's (Species Insectorum, 

 II, p. 440, 1781) ; he not only quotes De Greer's diagnosis and name, 

 but has apparently based his own short description on De Geer's, and 

 is in fact only re-naming the species. He gives no reason for this 

 change, and yet his name has been used by practically every subsequent 

 author, without any question as to its validity. There being no earlier 

 homonym of Mnsca atitumnalis De Geer's name ought to be used, as 

 has been done recently by Howard in his book on the house-fly. 

 Fortunately, antumnalis is an appropriate name for this fly, which 

 corvina is not. The term "raven-fly," which has recently been in- 

 vented as a popular name, should be dropped; it is merely a translation 

 of the name corvina, and is neither in common use, nor has it any 

 relevance. 



British Miiseum (Natural History) .- 

 November 11th, 1915. 



British Fossil insects. — In the "Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum," 

 Vol. 49, pp. 469-499, pis. 60-65, dated December llth, 1915, Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell 

 gives a brief summary of our knowledge of British fossil insects up to the date 

 of writing. The total number of species is 368 : Carboniferous 27, Lias 82, 

 Oolite 209, Tertiary 42, Post Tertiary 8. This number includes various (44) new 

 forms described in the same paper, all obtained many years ago, from the Lias 

 or Oligocene, by the Rev. P. B. Brodie, in the Isle of Wight. The duplicates 

 only of this collection (from that of Lacoe) have been examined by Mr. Cockerell, 

 the first set being contained in the British Museum. The new genera and 

 species described are as follows: Lias insects — Obthoptera \_Eospilopteron 

 (n. gen., with n. fam. Eospilopteronidae) ornat^^,m, Locustopsis lacoei, Haglopsis 

 hrodiei^ ; Neuroptera {^Nematophlehia (n. gen. Sialiclae) plicata^ ; Palakohe- 

 MiPTERA \_Meshemipiero7i (n. gen.) incertuni^ ; Coleoptera \^Protocuneus (n. gen., 

 ? Rhijnchophora) punctatus, Elaterophanes acutus, Pseudotelephorus punctulatus 

 and grandis, Phanerogramraa (n. gen., ? Tenebrionidae) , for Akicera heeri Giebel, 

 Holcoptera conjluens, Glaphyroptula anglica]-. Oligocene insects— Htmbnoptera 

 [Philoponites (n. gen. Philanthidae) clams, Aneurhynchus (n. gen. Diapriidae) 

 conservatiis, Ponera hypolitha, Dolichoderus britannicus, anglicus, ovigerus, 

 Leptothorax gurnetensis, Oecophylla atavina, perdita, megarche^ ; Homoptera 

 [Necropsylla anglica, Psylla exhumata, Schizoueurites (n. gen. Aphididae) brevi- 

 rostris^ ; Diptera \_Culex protolepis, protorhinus, petrifactellus, Paltostoinopsis 



