1 Q [January, 



Tho following additional localities for Norellia spinigera may be noted 

 here: Nethy Bridge (Inverness), Jvily 2Hth, 1904; taken by Col. Yerbury. 

 New Forest (Hants), Juno, 190:3 ; taken by Dr. Sharp. Barton Mills (Siift'olk), 

 May 31st, 1911, and the Monnow Valley (Herefordshire), A\igust Sth, 1910; 

 taken by myself. — J. E. C. 



What is the true host of Ninnus inlerruptus, Piaget ? — In describing- this 

 species, found originally on a museum siiecimen of Phalacrocorax carbo, Piaget 

 (Les Pedicidines, p. 173) draws attention to its close affinities with N. furvus, N., 

 whose usual hosts are wadei-s of the genera Totanus, Vanellus, Mgialitis, &c. Five 

 years later, in the " Supplement " to the " Essai " (1885), p. 21, Piaget again 

 records interruptus, this time from Toianus glottis. This record is appended to 

 the description of a new sj)ecies, Ninnus incertus, obtained from the same bird. 

 The author points out that incertus, thoiTgh found on a Wader, is evidentlj' 

 away from its true host, which must, from the structure of the j^arasite, lie a 

 bird of prey. He goes on to remark that Nirinus interruptus on Totanus glottis 

 is equally inexplicable. Apparently, then, Piaget considered both N. incertus 

 and N interruptus to be stragglers on the Greenshank, and takes the Cormorant 

 to be the real host of the second parasite. The writer has in his collection one 

 or two- examples of what he takes to be N. interruptus. The host on which they 

 occurred was a Totanus canescens ( = glottis), shot on the east coast of Scotland. 

 N. interruptus seems to be very closely related to furvus, and the Greenshank is 

 probably a true host. Its nearest congener is apparently the form got on 

 Totanus calidris. One would like to know whether this parasite is as closely 

 attached to Phalacrocorax carbo and P. sulcirostris. The writer will be glad to 

 receive Nirmiis for examination from Tringa, Totanus, Vanellus, &.c. — James 

 Watebston, The Manse, Ollaberry, Shetland. — December 5th, 1912. 



Variation in the genal comb o*' T gphloceras poppei, Wagn. — When introducino- 

 this peculiar insect to the notice of British Entomologists (Ent. Rec. and Journ. 

 of Var., Vol. XV, No. 8, p. 196, pi. ix, 1903), Mr. Rothschild remarked that instead 

 of the normal four, one female showed five spines on one side of the liead. Up to 

 the time of writing Mr. Rothschild had received 10 examples of the insect. As 

 the number of genal spines is an important systematic character, and as poppei 

 seems to be unusually variable in this respect, the following note of the teeth 

 in the genal combs of a small series of this flea (from Shetland), may be worthy 

 of record. Of 38 examined 31 were normal, while 4 $ ? and 3 c? J wei-e 

 aberrant. Two ? $ showed right and left respectively 3 and 4 spines. Two 

 had arrangement 4:3. In the ^ <J one found 5:4; 3 : 5; 4:3. Where 5 

 spines occur in these examples, the extra one is placed behind the normal 4th ; 

 where a spine is wanting it is the normal 1st, counting from the palpus back- 

 wards in each instance. — James Watebston. 



The new Keepership of Entomology at the British Museum. — Entomologists 

 will be pleased to hear that the Princiijal Trustees of the British Museum have at 

 last appointed a Keeper for the Department of Entomology, the vast collections 



