U)() rHK K\T<)MOT/)0IST S RECORD. 



reachin;^ the stomach they hatch, the larvae fastening themselves to the 

 stomach by hooks with which they are provided, feed on the partially 

 digested food. When full-fed, which is about the end of June, they 

 pass through the horse, and may then be found in the droppings. 

 They pupate within the larval skin, and the flies emerge about the 

 beginnmg or middle of August. Those I bred were exceedingly 

 restless on emerging, and seemed unable to hold on to the box or 

 gauze, and one of them was spoilt through falling about so much. At 

 last I stuck a stick in the centre of the box and that seemed to be just 

 the thing for them. On reaching the top of the stick they were quite 

 comfortable, and I had no further trouble with them. I often used to 

 see and kill them when I followed the plough, but never remember 

 seeing them setde even when the horses were at rest, and I never saw 

 them follow the horse to the stables and very rarely to the roads. 

 Although so common as to be very troublesome to horses in the fields 

 they are rarely taken elsewhere. A nephew of mine squeezed out two 

 larvre of Hypodcrina hovis from the cows. One of them (the larvae) 

 died at once, and the other pupated, but did not emerge. They are 

 exceedingly large for the size of the insect, and the orifice of the 

 tumour leading to the larvae beneath the skin is about the size of a 

 pencil when the larvng are fu'l-fed. I also took the following in the 

 neighbourhood : Straiiotoma pofomiJa on Heracleum sphondyliiim over 

 a brook ; this is the second species I have of this rare genus, the 

 other being riparia ; Echinomyia firox, fera, both on and near the 

 hills ; Micropalpus vulpinus on the hills ; Theriopledus 7nicans on the 

 trunk of a tree ; Xylota sylvai-ium flying along a hedge near a river ; 

 Atylotus fulvus flying over heather on the hills ; Tabanus hromius, a 

 {^\^ on umbelliferous flowers over a brook ; Volucella bombylans and 

 var. plumata, common on the hills. I took a male of the latter and 

 female of the former in copula ; Nichrochrysa polita on horse-droppings; 

 Pcdicea ri'vosa in a marshy meadow; Tipiila scrip fa in a wood, one 

 specimen only ; T. lutcscens fairly common in most woods. The males 

 of this seem very difficult to capture, as they were up and away before 

 I could get within ten or twelve feet of them, and the brambles and 

 ferns made pursuit very difficult. I only took one, and that was owing 

 to its being hampered and doubtless much weakened by parasites. Its 

 thorax was quite red with them. The females were much easier to 

 capture. Mesambrina me7-idia)ia was not common except in one 

 sheltered spot, where I took four by one stroke of the net as they were 

 settled on the trunk of a tree. My captures also included Conops 

 quadrifasciatus, Sericomyia borealis, Chilosia a'stracia, Chrysotoseum 

 aniiafi/:'!. — F. Mir.TOX, 184, Stamford Hill, N. Aprii, 1892. 



Erratum. — p. 160, line 7, "PI. xvi." read p. 16. 



Societies. 



South London Entomological and Natural History Society. — 

 Thursday, July 14///, 1892. — Mr. Oldham exhibited a number of species 

 recently captured at Epping, including Cymatophora ocularis. Mr. Fenn, 

 a magnificent series of dark varieties oi Liparis monacha, originally from 

 New Forest specimens, the darkening having been intensified by selection 



