1909.] 131 



Apart from structural characters M. nobilis may be easily separated from 

 M. fafiventris, Ileeger, and 3/. hesperus, Moultoii, by the colour of the tibiae ; and 

 from BacUlothrlps linearis, Buffa, and M. longiceps, Reuter, by the broader form 

 and shorter head. Superficially it more closely resembles M. bonannii, Uzel, and 

 M. spinosus, Hood ; from the last-named, of which tlie female only is tnown, it 

 may be separated by the shape of the head, the colour of the antennae (apparently 

 black in spinosus) which are also longer and have the intermediate segments more 

 elongated, the shorter post-ocular bristles and the more sparingly spinose fore-legs ; 

 from M. bonannii, Uzel, M. nobilis may be easily recognised by the shape of the 

 head, the shorter tube in the female, and by the lateral projections on the eighth 

 abdominal segment in male, which are absent in lonannii. 



Numerous brachypterous ypeeimens of both sexes were taken by 

 Dr. Sharp, F.E.S., in the spring (April and May) of 1896, from 

 amongst a bundle of dried sedge that had been left long lying in the 

 middle of Wieken Fen. Dr. Sharp is to be congratulated on this 

 very interesting capture, M. nobilis ranking as one of tiie largest 

 known European species, and only equalled in size by M. bonannii. 



Cryptothrips dentipes (Reuter), 1880 ; 

 Bagnall, The Irish Naturalist, xviii, p. 41 (1909). 



I have only recently recorded this species from the British Isles 

 on specimens taken by myself at Portmarnock near Dublin, September, 

 1908. Dr. Sharp took several specimens with Megathrips nobilis at 

 Wickeu Fen in the spring of 1896. 



DiSTRtBUTiON : Finland {Renter), Bohemia ( ZJzeZ), and Ireland 

 {R. S. B.) ; England. 



Tricliotlirips semiccscus, Uzel, 1895. 

 Trichofhrips semicxca, Uzel, Mon. der Ordnung Thysunoptera, p. 249, 1895. 



T. semiccecus is a more slender insect than T. pedicularius, Hal., 

 and may be readily recognised by the type of coloration. The tube, 

 excepting base, is blackish ; the first three antennal joints are yellow 

 and the rest blackish-brown, whilst the general colour of the body is 

 greyish-yellow, the prothorax being darker. 



Uzel evidently described the species from the apterous form ; 

 the macropterous form, apart from the presence of wings and the 

 corresponding development of the pterothorax, has the eyes much 

 larger than in the apterous form. In the autumn of 1908 I found 

 both sexes of the winged and wingless forms and also the larvae, and 

 other earlier stages, in profusion under the bark of a decaying willow 

 at Greatham, near Hartlepool, co. Durham, 



DisTBiBUTiON : Bohemia (ZJareZ) ; England. 



