RETROSPECT OF A DIPTERIST FOR l90-.>. 35 



(ione, thei'e are still many problems which reqiiivti solution. Our lists, 

 for example, are still cumbered with a number of names which have 

 been introduced upon somewhat flimsy grounds, and for which no solid 

 justification can apparently be adduced. I myself am working at this 

 question, and trying to determine whether or not it is desirable that 

 certain names should be removed, on two grounds, first, that the 

 original introduction Avas due probably to some mistake, not in identi- 

 fication, but in locality, and secondly, that there have been no 

 authentic records of any capture since the insects were first introduced. 

 Trichii(s ab(liiiiiiji(tlis is an illustration, and there are many others. 



Another set of prol)lems, waiting for some one with sutficient 

 leisure and patience, are those in connection with the life and habits 

 of certain of our more remarkable beetles ; these Avill never be solved 

 till the plan followed by Mr. Crawshay in dealing with l>rHiis 

 fiavcsccm, Rossi, is adopted. Mr. Burgess ISopp has, I know, been 

 dealing with the life-history of ( '/lyijsoinda cercalix, and it is to be 

 hoped that he will shortly publish the results of his investigations. 



Retrospect of a Dipterist for 1902. 



Uy J. E. COLLIN, T.E.S. 



The record of the published work on Diptera during the past year 

 is a small one, especially that relating to the British Isles; possibly 

 the most important British publication was a new edition of Verrall's 

 LUt (if British Dijitrra, published in December, 1901, in which were 

 included a number of species not hitherto recorded as British, but 

 nearly all of which are represented in Mr. X'errall's collection. Wain- 

 wright has given two notes on Tachiaidae, introducing Mcriana anjeii- 

 tifera [Kiitoni., p. 219, pi. iii), and UeroincDiia sonlidisijiiaiiia, Zett.= 

 ii-idpii, B. and B. [Knt. Mo. Ma;/., p. 227). I have described four new 

 species of Borboridac occurring in England, and given notes upon 

 Aiit'tu.iriius funiKisKs, Liw-. = si/rijhuides, Frauenf. {Eut. Mo. Ma;/., p. 55, 

 and pp. 1 and 282), and the Hon. N. C. Rothschild has described some 

 new JJritish tieas [I'^iit. Mo. Ma;/., p. 225, pi. iv), which, though not 

 now generally recognised as Diptera, may well be mentioned here. In 

 the Irish Xatiiralist (vol. xi., pp. 74-93), Colonel Yerbury has given a 

 list of the Diptera met with in Cork and Kerry during the summer of 

 1901, with some interesting notes on their habits, &c.; and J. H. 

 Carpenter, in the Kcon. Proc. Uoy. Dublin Soc, i. (iii.), no. 5, pub- 

 lished an account of the injurious insects observed in Ireland during 

 1901, among which are some Diptera. Connold's book on British 

 vegetable galls should prove of interest to students of the British 

 (Jccido)injidac. 



A special feature of the work of Continental dipterologists during 

 the past year has been the study of type-specimens. Meigen's types 

 of the so-called M}(scida(' Acahii)terac [Miiscaria koloiin'topa), and those 

 of the genus Chilo.sia, have been examined by Becker, who has pub- 

 lished his interpretation of them (Zcifschr. tiijiiieii. a. Di/)t.); hJtein has 

 given the result of his examination of the types of Wiedemann's and 

 Jaennicke's exotic Anthoinijidae in the same periodical, and of Zetter- 

 stedt's, Boheman's, and Holmgren's Antkoimjidae [Wicn. P'.nt. Zeit.) ; 

 Speiser has published a paper on the type-specimens of Bigot's Dipkra 



