1905.J 207 



Shobdon, Do ward, &c.), and to his kindness 1 owe four specimens in 

 my collection. 1 have also seen a specimen taken by the Jiev. T. A. 

 Marshall at Teigumouth. 



Phytomi/ptera nitidiventris, Rdi., a distinct little species taken by 

 Mr. a. C. Bradley at Barmouth in 1901, and by Dr. Wood at Stoke 

 Wood, Herefordshire, on J 1.7.02. 



Graspedothrix vivipara, B. and B. This species 1 have referred 

 to in my list of the Diptera of Warwickshire in the Victoria County 

 Histoj'ies, Mr. K. C. Bradley having taken it at Moseley. 1 have also 

 had it sent to me by Rev. W. J. Wingate from Bishop Auckland, 

 20.7.00, and by Dr. J. 11. Wood, who has taken nine specimens at 

 Tarrington and Stoke Wood, Herefordshire, at various times. 



Thryptocera frontalis, Mcq. This species, which Dr. Wood re- 

 corded as British as recently as January, in the Eut. Mo. Mag., 1905, 

 p. 7, from specimens taken by him in Herefordshire, at Shobdon 

 Marsh, was taken by myself in Wyre Forest, in July, 1901, when 1 

 obtained a little series. 



45, Handsworth Wood Road, 



Handswoi'tli, Staffordshire : 

 March 26th, 1905. 



lihopalomesites tardyi, Curt., in the lute of Alan. — I met with a auiuber of 

 specimens — both male and female, and of verj varying sizes — of this species at 

 Eallaclague, Kirk Arborj, Isle of Man, in June and July, I'JO'd, and May, 19U4, 

 under bark of dead ash trees. An example of the pupa occurred in the soft rotten 

 wood of one of the stumps, but I did not succeed in rearing it. At Eallakeigan in 

 the same parish there are numerous borings of the beetle in a row of old pollarded 

 hawthorn trees, and my friend Mr. R. W. Teare obtained one example of the beetle 

 in this locality. 



The presence of this interesting wood-feeder in the Island suggests some reflec- 

 tion on trees in the Isle of Man from the point of view of the Coleopterist. We 

 can definitely commence our consideration of the present flora and fauna of the Isle 

 of Man subsequently to the Glacial period, during which some Geologists hold that 

 an immense ice sheet covered the Island, all traces of tiie pre-existing flora and 

 launa being scraped away and destroyed. Another theory postulates the presence 

 of an icy sea crowded with icebergs having covered the Island during the Glacial 

 period. In either case, a complete restocking of the flora and fauna must have 

 taken place after this period. The Irish Elk reached the Island — whetl-.er by land 

 connection or across an ice sheet is a hotly debated question amongst Geologists — 

 probably during the late Glacial or early post-Glacial periods, its remains having been 

 found in the basins of fresh water marl in the " curraghs," in every case underlying 

 the layers of peat. It may perhaps have lingered into the age of forests when the 

 principal peat bogs of the Island were accumulated. In the peat of the curraghs 

 in the north and in the central valley between Peel and Douglas, and more sparingly 



