230 [October, 



horses employed in harvest operations, and found most of them badly 

 infested. 



I went over to Woolhampton, 6 miles from Newbury, on August 14th, 

 and on the following day saw several horses under elm trees in a field. 

 A few bot-flies flaying round their legs rendered them extremely restive, 

 so much so indeed that at the least flick of the net they would scatter 

 at full gallop round the field, returning again later to the same spot 

 for the shade. The bot-flies apparently accompanied them on their 

 gallop, for no sooner did they stand still than they were subject to the 

 same attentions as before. At Woolhampton I examined many horses 

 at work, or turned out to feed, and found, as at Newbury, most of them 

 badly infested with eggs. 



Though I closely watched the flies many times and for considerable 

 periods, I never saw one settle on a horse. Their mode of ovipositing is 

 to hover close to the animal, the body approaching the vertical ; then, 

 still hovering, the long ovipositor-like abdomen is turned upwards to 

 attach the egg to the hair. The horse seems fully conscious of the fly's 

 intention, for no sooner does the tip of the abdomen touch the animal 

 than it gives a twitch or brings its head to the threatened spot, or a flick 

 of the tail if on the hind-quai-ters or hind legs. Though driven off for 

 the moment, the fly returns and succeeds by her persistence, and so 

 absorbed is she that capture would be extremel}^ easy if only the horse 

 would stand still. 



I have heard it stated that shade gives the horse some relief from 

 these attacks, but so far as I observed little or no jjrotection is afforded 

 by it. 



22 Southfield lload, Oxford. 

 September Uth, 1919. 



Notes 0)1 the Staphylinid genera Hoplandria Kr. and Coenonica Kr. — 

 Hoplandria was said by Kraatz (Linn. Eiit. xi, 1857, p. 4) to have the anterior 

 tarsi 4-jointed. Sharp (Biol. Centr.-Amer., Coleopt., i, 2, p. 219, 1883) 

 moditied the description as regards the palpi, obsei'ving- that a minute 

 accessory joint was present which had been overlooked by Kraatz. 1 find that 

 a further modification is necessary, as the anterior tarsi are really o-jointed, 

 and the genus must be placed near Aleochara, with which it likewise conforms 

 in the structure of tbe palpi. By Fenj^es, however (Gen. Insect., Pt. 173 a, 

 Aleockarituie, 1918, p. 19), it is accepted as one of the Myrmedoniini. 



Coenonica, also described by Kraatz {op, cit., p. 45), was defined as having 

 "tarsi antici 4-, posteriores 5-articulati," so that the structure of the inter- 

 mediate pair is not definitely stated. Fenyes {op. cit., p. 18) places it iu 



