276 [December, 



On my return to Liverpool I visited the Wallasey Sandhills on two occasions, and 

 succeeded in obtaining several ? and one S Ccelioxys mandihularis flying round 

 burrows of Megaehile maritima. I also picked up about a dozen shells of Helix 

 wemora/^? containing cocoons of Osmia anrnfenta. — G. A rxold, University of Liver- 

 pool : Octoher, 1006. 



Phora sordida, Zett., in Dumhartonshlre. — On September 22nd last I took, in 

 a wood near here, from decaying fungi several species of Phoridse, among which I 

 found two (? (? and two ? ? of Phora sordida, Zett., a species not hitherto recorded 

 from Britain. It is allied to P. rufipes, but lias (he basal half of the hind femora 

 ciliated beneath, and is devoid of the characteristic scale-like abdominal hairs that 

 are present in that species. Dr. J. If. Wood and Mr. J. E. Collin have seen a S , 

 and agree in the identification of the specicH.- J. R. Mallocii, Bonhill, Dumbar- 

 tonshire : Novemher, 1906. 



A PuKLlMFNATiY LiST OF DuilRAM DiPTRRA, WITH ANALYTICAL TaBLKS : 



by the Rev. W. J. Wingate. Trans Nat. Hist. Soc. NoHhumberland, Durham, 

 and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. New Series. Volume ii. 416-pp., 7 plates. 



One would never suspect from the title that this volume was an attempt to 

 supply an English work on Biptera, whereby a beginner might be able to get a 

 general idea of the Order, and make an attempt to name his captures ; but such 

 being the case, it should appeal to all those who have been waiting for some such 

 publication before commencing the study of this interesting Order. 



A few short notes are given at the commencement upon collecting and pre- 

 serving specimens, followed by an explanation of the numbering employed in the 

 tables, &c., and a description of the terms used in describing the exterior parts of a 

 fly, with an index ; but the bulk of (he volume is composed of analytical tables of 

 the families, genera and species. These tables are not limited to the species oc- 

 curring in Durham, as one would gather from the title, but even contain many 

 species which have not yet been found in Britain, while many British species are not 

 included. The pystem of numbei*ing used in the tables, with the repetition of the 

 distinctive numbers for each family and genus at the top of every page, makes these 

 tables very easy of reference, but the tables themselves, being mainly compilations 

 with many of the genera and species quite unknown to the author, arc necessarily 

 somewhat untrustworthy, and should be used with much caution. 



The author has felt obliged to introduce a new system of numbering and 

 lettering for the veins of the wing, and falls into the common error of considering 

 the mediastinal and subcostal as branches of one vein (his Vi), whereas they are 

 two distinct veins with two distinct roots, though the mediastinal is often rudimental ; 

 he seems to have overlooked Comstock's system, an elaboration of which would have 

 answered his purpose of brevity and been morphologically more correct. 



One notices various names of genera and species incorrectly spelt, and the 

 author phould have been aware that the life-history of Lipara is well known, while 

 a reference to Zetterstedt's " Diptera Scandinovica," vol. xiii, p. 5019, would have 

 shown him that there in such a name as Rhamphomyia fumi2>ennis, Zett. 



