1928] X41 



as it should give many important clues t^) the past history of the 

 Mediterranean fauna. In fact, Mr. Bellamy's discovery is highly 

 important in this respect, since it speaks most decidedly against the 

 generally adopted theory of the volcanic origin of the Canaries, and in 

 favour of their (or, at least, of some of them, like Gomera) being 

 remnants of a sunken continent, as the possibility of a recent introduction 

 in the islands of such a sluggish insect as a member of the Pamphatjinae 

 is quite out of the question. 



May 1922. 



The Lifc-lliitonj of the Pelobius tarchis Herbd, hij F. Balfour-Broicnc, 

 M.A. — The attention of Coleopterists is called to Mr. I3alfoui--Browm;'s valu- 

 able paper on this well-kuowu water-beetle (P. Z. S. 1922, parti, pp. 79-97, 

 pis. i-iii, April 1922). He divides the subject under five headings: 1. The 

 family Pelobiidae ; 2. Britannic distribution of P. ^arc^iis (with a typo-map); 

 3. The Imago (habitat and habits, loiig-evity in artificial environmer.t, stridu- 

 lation, sexual differences) ; 4. The Life-history (oviposition, incubcation, vital 

 staining of embryo, the larva, food of the larva, stomodaeum of the larva, 

 liabits of the full-grown liirva) ; 6. The Life-cycle. On plate i the variation 

 of the larva is shown (figs. 1-6), also the e^^y (figs. 7-10), and on plate iii 

 (fig. 6) an elytiou showing the stridulatory-file upon which the apex of the 

 abdomen rubs, this being present on each of them in both sexes. The paper 

 is too lengthy to quote in detail, and must be consulted for further par- 

 ticulars. — Eds. 



lihhiocola eucalypti Mask, in Enyland. — In 1916, Mr. II. Britten, whilt; nt 

 the Hope xMuseum, Oxford, reared this species of PsylHclae through all its 

 stages from material which he found on a Eucalyptus at Headington Ilill 

 House. Recently I have received examples of the same species from 

 Dr. Hugh Scott. They Avere found by a nurt^eryman at Felixstowe, Suffolk, 

 Avho says : '* We have some [^Eucalyptus] planted out in a border, some 20 feet 

 high, ar.d this fly was first noticed by the down or woolly substance falling on 

 the plants underneath. It lives outdoors during the summer on plants used 

 for bedding purposes. We keep it under by fumigation." The host-plant is 

 Exculyptus ylohuhts (Blue Gum), the species upon which Maskell originally 

 found the Psyllid in New Zealand, and this is the only recorded food-plant for 

 it. Rhinocola eucalypti has been recorded from New Zealand, Australia, and 

 S. Africa. Maskell's description and figures (Trans. NewZeah Instit. vol. xxii, 

 1800, p. IdO) make the species readily recognizable. The wing venation of 

 many of the specimens I have seen is abnormal in that the median is un- 

 branched. — F. Laing, Natural History Museum: May 14th, 1921. 



Tariation in the yenus Psithyius Lep. in the neiyhbourhood of Leeds. — In 

 Dr. P. C. L. Perkins' clear summary of the principal variations known to occur 

 in Britain (Ent. Mo. Mag. April 1921, p. 82) he opens with the remark that 

 the many variations have been insufficiently studied and " their distribution 

 especially is very imperfectly known." This fact is my excuse for offering the 

 following list of varieties which fell to my net in 1920 and 1921 in the northern 

 outskirts of Leed.»:, chiefly in the suburb of Poundhay. All ^ix British species 



