1896.] 



181 



Dytiscus dimidiatus near London: a correction. — Tlie insect referred to in luy 

 note in the May Ent. Mo. Mag. {ante, p. 112) proves to be an interesting variety of 

 Dytiscus marginalis, apparently undescribed, having the basal and apical margins of 

 the thorax concolorous with the disc. One of the coxal plates is rounded (acci- 

 dentally ?), and this, with the colour of the thorax, led to my mistake.— E. A. 

 Newbeey, 12, Churchill Road, N.W. : June IZth, 1896. 



Agrion tnercuriale, Chp., in the Neio Forest. — I have more than once recorded 

 how, in June, 1868, I took A. mercuriale rather commonly in the New Forest, and 

 that I had never since been able to find it. As I know of no other locality for it in 

 this country, fears as to its extinction existed. Yesterday, however, in company 

 with Dr. Sharp, I visited the old locality (or somewhere near it), and we secured six 

 males ; this morning, in indifferent weather, I went alone, and found two more ; 

 altogether less than a dozen were seen, and it is excessively local, occurring only for 

 about 200 yards along a drainage ditch; other parts of the same ditch produced 

 nothing but the very common A.puella. This ditch lies at the back of the New Park 

 enclosure, and is crossed by a footbridge in the drive leading from the Lyndhurst 

 (or Brocklehurst) road to Bank. As the ditch is only one of several others of a 

 similar nature that exist in the Forest, it is reasonable to infer that the insect is not 

 confined to it only. 



It may be of interest to record the dragon-flies seen in the Forest in less than 

 three days' (June 22nd — 24th) visit: — Sympetrum striolatum,& few, very immature ; 

 Platetrum depressum, not common ; Lihellula quadrimaculata, very common at a 

 pond near Lyndhurst ; Orthetrum ccerulescens, abundant, especially at the ditch 

 referred to ; Cordulegaster annulatus, one only ; Anax formosus, in drives in the 

 woods, and over ponds, not common, but conspicuous from its commanding size and 

 power of wing ; Calopteryx virgo, common ; Pyrrhosoma minium, abundant at the 

 ditch referred to ; Ischnura elegans, a few ; Agrion mercuriale ; A. puella, common ; 

 Lestes sponsa, a few, and all immature. — R. McLachlan, Lewisham, London : 

 June 25th, 1896. 



Spilomyia speciosa in the New Forest.— In 1893 I caught two male specimens 

 of this fly in a glade near Brockenhurst, resting on decayed oak trees. From May 

 28th to June 7th this season I secured in the same spot eighteen male specimens, and 

 this does not represent all I saw ; I was disappointed in meeting with no females. 

 Can any of your readers give me any information as to these latter ? — G-ertkude 

 RiCAKDO, 34, Kensington Mansions, S.W. : July lith, 1896. 



" Flies riding on beetle-back."— B&ron Osten Sacken calls our attention to notes 

 on this subject in the Bull. Soc. Ent. de France, 1896, pp. 162—166, where M. P. 

 Lesne and Dr. Chobant relate their experiences with regard to the same habits as 

 observed by them in Algeria on Ateuchus laticolUs, L., and A. puncticollis, Latr., 

 respectively. M. Lesne identifies the fly with Limosina sacra, Meig. (Syst. Beschr., 

 vii, p. 409), originally found by Dr. Waltl on the under-side of an Ateuchus sacra 

 in Andalusia. — Eds. 



