7G I March, 



on this insect in the last vol. (1894) of this Magazine, and which has probably been 

 generally overlooked. The article is in the Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society 

 of Edinburgh, vol. iv, pt. 3, pp. 187-188 (1878), and is entitled, " On a species of 

 Lepisma supposed to be undescribed," by James Simpson. It refers to an insect 

 found in quantity in a largo baking establishment in Edinburgh, and is accompanied 

 by a diagnosis (as "Lepisma sp.") by the late Dr. Buchanan White. From this 

 diagnosis, and the account of habits given by Mr Simpson, there can be no doubt 

 that the insect in question was no other than our heat-loving friend so often alluded 

 to in 1894, and I think the record, with the exception of Newman's vague account 

 of his Lepismodes inquilina in 18H3, is the earliest of its occurrence in Europe. 

 Does it still exist in Edinburgh.? — R. McLachlan, Lewisham, London : Feb. 1st, 1895. 



An aberrant (?) form of Stenocephalus agilis, Scop. — On August 8th, 1893, 

 I took a pair of Stenocephalus agilis amongst thick grass on the Common near 

 Maidenhead, known as Maidenhead Thicket. The $ was an imago, but the ^ was 

 a nymph, which, however, became an imago a few days after. On comparing these 

 insects with continental examples, I have noticed several differences, but as I have 

 no other British examples, I cannot say whether these differences are merely an 

 aberration in the particular specimens referred to, or whether they are characteristic 

 of our insular specimens generally as distinguished from continental ones. The 

 object of the present note is to call the attention of other Hemipterists to the 

 subject, in the hope that the point may be settled by comparison of other specimens. 

 The differences are as follows. The most noticeable ones are connected with the 

 antennae, which are much shorter than in the continental forms, but this abbreviation 

 is effected by a proportionate shortening of all the joints, so that the relative length 

 of the joints is the same in both, and hence both agree wilh the published descrip- 

 tions of the species. The basal joint is not only shorter but also considerably stouter. 

 The shortening of the 2nd joint has produced a very considerable abbreviation of 

 the intermediate dark ring, the basal and terminal ones remaining of about the 

 same absolute size as in the continental specimens. Similarly in the 3rd and 4th 

 joints, it is the pale part at the base that suffers abbreviation. The shortening of 

 the falcate 4th joint is very obvious. But these are not tlie only differences. The 

 hairs on the legs and antennae are much shorter in the English sjiecimens, and this 

 is the case also with those carried by the thoracic punctures, wliich in the English 

 specimens are hardly noticeable, but are very distinct in the continental ones. 

 Finally, the cheeks are not produced so far beyond the central lobe of the face, the 

 legs are proportionately slightly shorter, and the pale spot at the junction of the 

 corium with the membrane at the end of its inner nerve, is either absent or very 

 indistinct. The continental specimens differ slightly amongst themselves; these 

 differences may perhaps be sexual, the <J differing from the ? in having shorter 

 hairs and rather longer antennfe. But these differences do not appear in the English 

 specimens. What I should like to know is — 1st, are these differences constant in 

 our English repi-esentatives of the species ; and 2nd, if this is not so, may this 

 shortening of antennae and hairs, involving as it docs a slight reduction in the 

 material used, so to speak, in the construction of the form, be connected with the 

 extreme drought, which, it will be remembered, characterized the summer of 1893, 



