1920.] 137 



discovered in tlie S. W. corner of Cassiobiiry Turk, Watford, in an allotment 

 situated on well-drained ground a few hundred yards from the liiver Gade. 

 The gTound was diif^' for the first time in 1918 ; dng; over again, dresised with 

 lime, and planted with potatoes in 1919; and was beinof dug again this year 

 when the colony of TriecpJiora was brought to light. The insects were about 

 6 inches below the surface, just at the top of the subsoil, in an irregular cavity 

 10 to 1:2 inches long and Is to 2 inches in diameter, which may well have 

 been a disused mole-run ; for the ground was honey(!ombed with runs, ap- 

 parently not much used of late, since the young roots of the weeds above 

 were growing into them. The cavity was dlled with a sticky froth, like the 

 familiar cuckoo-spit only much more sticky, in which were suspended some', 

 three to four dozen nymphs in various slages of development, t)'e larger more 

 deeply coloured than the smaller. On the outskirts of the froth were two or 

 tlivee adults, which did not seem to want to be disturbed. No specimens were 

 collected that day, and the colony was scattered by the process of digging. 

 But on May 4th Mr. Philbrick returned to the spot and found part of the 

 colony ; their development was more advanced, and there were several adults 

 ])resent, which were apparently more active, as one of them jumped several 

 inches when touched. A nymph was noticed on tlie underside of a particular 

 clod, and when this clod was lifted again a week later (May \'li\\), the insect 

 was found to be an adult. Further careful search on May loth revealed no 

 more froth or nymplis, but only a few active adults, which executed jumps of 10 

 to 12 inches ; and a Cuius {nervosus ?) 2 , which, when first examined at Cam- 

 bridge (May 17th), was evidently newly tmerged from the last nymph stage. 



Mr. James Edwards (Heraip.-Homop. I5rit. Is., 1896, p. 77) records 

 Triecplwra indnerata from a number of places in England, extending as far 

 north as Yorkshire, and mentions it as taken on alder, sallow, grasses, and 

 Fteris. The vegetation on the surface of the soil where the Watford colony 

 was found consisted chiefly of grass, dandelion, sorrel, chickweed, groundsel, 

 and thistle. Near by stand trees of several kinds, both deciduous and 

 coniferous. 



The four nymphs sent to Cambridge were alreadj' dead when I first saw 

 theui, and may have been dead a day or two at most, but the following descrip- 

 tion was made without delay, lest the colour should fade. The specimens have 

 wing-rudiments reaching back about as far as the apex of the second abdo.ninal 

 segment, and are presuniiibly the final nymphal stage. Head, thorax, wing- 

 sneaths, legs, and feet pale straw-coloured; a patch of salmon-pink is visible 

 through the nymph-skin at the base of both front and hind wings, and blackish 

 pubescence can also be seen through the skin on the sloping portion of the wings. 

 Abdomen suffused above and below with bright salmon-pink or orange-salmon, 

 visible through the nymph-skin; ventrally the dark pubescence of the adult 

 is similarly visible. The cast nymph-skin is entirely pale straw-coloured 

 and devoid of pubescence. The hind tibia has a group of fine spines on the 

 under side of its apex, but the two large spines present on its outer side in 

 the adult, near the base of the tibia and at about half its length respectively, 

 are represented in the nymph only by very minute rudiments. — Hugh Scott, 

 University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge: May iSth, 1920. 



Some records of British Diptera. — In the "Canadian Entomologist " for 

 February 1920, pp. 35-37, Mr. C. Howard Curran, of the Canadian Department 



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