92 [Apiil, 



district. Mr. J. J. Walker and myself have taken the species 

 iu abundance at Algeciras, Spain. L. neuter, Kuwert, from the 

 south of Europe, a specimen of which has been lent me by M. 

 Grouvelle, of Paris, is extremely like L. Dargelasi, but it is a little 

 more elongate and relatively narrower, with the punctures of the 

 elytral stria? not so coarse, the 2nd and 3rd interstices distinctly uni- 

 seriate-punctate, and the sutural stria shallower; it is quite unrecog- 

 nisable from the description. L. (Elmis) ruqosus, Babiiigton (the 

 specific name of which appears to have been taken from the rugose 

 appearance of the elytra, and not of that of the thorax), a species 

 noted fi'om Britain only in the last European Catalogue, has been 

 resuscitated by Kuwert, though he does not pretend to identify it. 

 Stephens describes the species, but I can find no trace of an insect 

 thus labelled in his collection. The name has long since been dropped 

 by British Coleopterists, and no useful pur[)ose can be served by 

 reviving it. 



M. Grouvelle has been kind enough to examine Mr. Edwards' 

 insects ; he considers them to belong to two species only, L. Dargelasi 

 and L. troglodytes, awA states that he has often seen similar specimens. 

 It may be here remarked that the Limnii, like other Elmidce, require 

 thoroughly cleaning from their usual earthy incrustation before the 

 sculpture can be properly seen. The excellent photographs of these 

 insects taken by Mr. Edwards, which cannot be conveniently repro- 

 duced here, show that many differential characters, especially of 

 relative measurements, and even of sculpture, can be readily made 

 clear by this method, and more easily understood than by the most 

 lengthy descri|)tion. 



Horsell, Woking : 



March Uli, 1901. 



THE LIFE-HISTORY OF WARBLE-FLIES. 



BY ERNEST E. AUSTEN. 



Accurate observations on the oviposition and life-history of the 

 British Cattle Warble-Flies, Hypoderma lineatmn, Vill., and iJ . bovis, 

 Deg., are urgently needed. 



Since it was shown more than half a century ago by Bracy 

 Clark* that the ovipositor of Hypoderma bovisf is incapable of piercing 



* Trans. Linn. Soc, vol. xi.x;, p. 83 (1845). 



t That the larva of //. lineatum is likevs/ise parasitic in cattle was not definiteli' known until 

 the publication in 1890 of Prof. Brauer's paper : — " Ueber die b'e.ststelhint? des Wohnthiores der 

 Hi/po(l.eriiia lineiita, Villers," &c. (Verh. z.-b. Ge.s. Wien, Bd., xl, 18!M), pp. r)(l9 -5151. Bi'auer 

 showed that larvie of both species may occur in the same animal. 



