1922.] 109 



Curious malfonnnfion in Forficula auricularia Linn. — Mr. B, Morley of 

 Skelmanthorpe, near Iluddersfield, lias given me a very curious Forficula 

 auricularia which he took in that district last year. It is a large specimen of 

 the variety /oy«}>rtf«, and the right side calliper seems tome to be of abnormal 

 length, even for that variety. On the left side there is no calliper at all, uor 

 can I find any trace of there ever having been one. If one did not know the 

 Earwig had this variety forcipata., the ordinary man might well be excused 

 for supposing that in this specimen both callipers had been developed into one 

 long one on the right side ! — Gko. T. Pohiiitt, Elm Lea, Dalton, Huddersfield : 

 March IQth, 1922. 



Miridae ( Capsidae) common to Britain and N. America. — Mr. 11. II. Knight 

 in a paper entitled " Nearctic Records for Species of Miridae known heretofore 

 from the Palaearctic Region" (Canad. Ent. liii, pp. 280-288, Dec. 1921) adds 

 several European species to the American list, eight of which are British. 

 He is able to account for 48 species of Miridae which are common to the two 

 regions, and as many of them are found in this country it seems worth while 

 calling attention to the distribution of the insects in question, two only wanting 

 confirmation {Bothynotus pilosus Boh. and Apocremnus variabilis Fall.). The 

 species common to Britain and N. America are : — Teratocoris saundersi D. &; S., 

 Miris dolabratus L. and M. ferrtigatus Fall., Merjcdoceraea redicornis Geoffr. * 

 [longicornis Fall.), Monalocoris Jilicis L., Camptobrochis bdescens Schill., Calo- 

 coris bipunctatus F., Adelphocoris lineolutus GoezH* (chenopodii Fall.}, Lygus 

 pabidinus L., L. prcdensis L., L. pastinacae Fall., L. riibicundus Fall., Poecdo- 

 scytus unifasciatus F., Deraeocoris ruber L. {laniarius L.), Pdophorus clavatus 

 L., Orthotylus co7icolor Kirschb.,* Chlatnydatus pidicarius Fall., Plagiognathus 

 chrysanthemi Wolff* (viridulus Fall.), Psalliis alnicola D. & S.,* Megalocoleus 

 molliculus Fall.,* Blej)haridopterus angulatits Fall.,* Globiceps dispar Boh.,* 

 Neocoris bohemani Fall., Heterot.oma meriopteru Scop., Pithanus mar/celiH.-ii., 

 Cytorrhinus caricis Fall., Halticus apterus L., Orthocephalus nvitabilis Fall. 

 The species marked with an asterisk have been added by Mr. Knight. The 

 others are nearly all mentioned by Dr. Ilorvath in his paper " IjCS Relations 

 entre les Faunes Ilemipterologiques de I'Europe et I'Amerique du Nord" (Ann. 

 Mus. Hung. vi. pp. 1-14, 1908).— G. C. Champion, Hor.sell: A2tril, 1922. 



A Dolichopid fly sivarmiyig in houses. — Though a number of kinds of 

 Uiptera and other insects have been recorded as swarming in buildings, this 

 habit has not frequently, if ever before, been observed among Dolichopodidae. 

 Towards the end of June, 1921, the writer was staying at West Trevose, 

 Padstow, N. Cornwall. The house was suddenly invaded by great numbers of 

 the Dolichopid fly Medeterus petrophilus Kowarz ; the swarm was not so dense 

 as those of Chloropisca circumdata (one of which the writer also observed this 

 summer in Scroope House, Cambridge), nor was the phenomenon so severely 

 localised. The insects occurred in large numbers in most rooms, but the chief 

 swarm (which must have numbered a few thousands) was in a lower room 

 facing east. The same species was also noticed in other houses near by in 

 great numbers, though not so great as in Trevose. The insects remained 

 quiescent, and the swarm persisted for several days, gradually dwindling away. 

 The phenomenon was quite new to the occupiers of the house. M. petrophilus 



