I'.ioo.] 43 



pterous, Micromelus pyrrhogaster, the Clmlcids. There were few Coleoptera of note, 

 the best, perhaps, being Psammoeckus bipunctatu.i, Psylliodes dulcamara, Nanophyes 

 lythri (new to the District), and Ceuthorrhynchus melanostictus. Elachyptera 

 brevipennis and several other small Diptera were by no means rare. 



In the same wood on November 4th, 1897, I swept several Sienns bifoveolatus, 

 Psylliodes picina, Erirrhinus festucce, and numbers of Aphthona. ccBruJea, which last 

 is still abundant, together with a single Pezomachus pedicularius. Fab., and Procto- 

 trypes aculeator, Hal. — Claude Morlbt, Ipswich : October 15th, 1899. 



Sympetrum Fonscolombii, Selys, in Alderney. — On July lllh Mr. E. D. Mar- 

 quand sent me a dragon-fly which he had captured in the island of Alderney a day 

 or two previously. I at first thought it was a variety of Sympetrum ."triolatum, but 

 Mr. R. McLachlan kindly informs me that it is a fine mature female of Sympetrum 

 Fonscolom,bii. Mr. Marquand saw about half a dozen specimens, but having a very 

 small net with him at the time, only succeeded in capturing one. 



This is the only dragon-fly recorded fi-om Alderney, although the Rev. F. A. 

 Walker saw one on the wing in 1897, which he thought was Libellula quadrimacu- 

 lata. — W. A. Luff, Mount Pleasant, Q-uernsey : January, 1900. 



[The example is a fine characteristic female, so mature that the ventral surface 

 has become pruinose. Supposing the other examples seen to have been of the same 

 species, it is pretty certain that a migratory swarm had crossed over from the 

 French coast. — R. McL.] 



Psocidm on the wing : a query. —^WWl any observer state how many, and what 

 species of Psocidce he has seen voluntarily on the wing ? I have often thought over 

 this matter, and can reoal to mind only one species, and that nearly the smallest of 

 all winged Psocidce, by which I of course mean Ccecilius {Pterodela) pedicularius, 

 L. On calm hot days in autumn this may be seen almost anywhere in countless 

 myriads, rivalling swarms of Aphides, the atmosphere appearing full of iridescent 

 specks as the tiny wings catch the sun. As to other and larger species the record 

 seems a blank. Let any one try to induce a winged Psocid on a tree-trunk or paling, 

 or in the net, to enter a box or tube, and note the difficulty. It will run with 

 extreme rapidity, it will dodge round slight inequalities of surface, and almost the 

 only means of persuading it to go where you wish is by jerking it into the receptacle 

 by a grass stem or something of that kind. At such times it will, when hard 

 pressed, occasionally take wing, but only for a few inches, and in a downward (or 

 dropping) direction rather than upward. It hae been suggested that the flight is 

 nocturnal, but so far as I am aware no proof of this has ever been brought forward. 

 I am alluding to European forms. But is it different in the tropics? Tears ago 

 I interrogated Bates as to the habits of the large and brilliant Thyrsophori. He 

 said they ran about rapidly and " sunned themselves " on leaves, but he had not 

 seen them on the wing. — R. McLachlan, Lewisham, London : October, 1899. 



Carcinops li-striata, Steph., in a London bakehouse. — Through the kind inter- 

 mediary of Mr. F. Milton, Mr. E. C. Bedwell and I recently had an evening's 

 collecting in a bakehouse at Old Ford. The staple Coleoptera here were Alphitobius 



D 2 



