NOTES FROM THE NOETH-WEST COUNTIES. 291 



Fig. 5 — Male, apterous. Antennae nine-jointed, not including 

 the basal short joint, to which the first long elbowed joint is 

 united; second joint wider, about half the length of first, and 

 pear-shaped ; third joint the smallest, very small and collar-like; 

 fourth and fifth of equal size and round, same thickness as the 

 first ; the remaining four united as one, forming a club. Head 

 wider than either the thorax or abdomen, closely and firmly set 

 on the thorax. Wings quite rudimentary, merely scale-like, and 

 visible only under high microscopic power. Abdomen slightly 

 wider than the thorax ; anal segment furnished with bristles. 

 Legs very muscular, well adapted for leaping. Colour pale 

 ochreous, excepting the abdomen, which is dark brown, inclining 

 to black. Size, the merest speck, only just visible to the naked 

 eye, one hundredth part of an inch being somewhere near 

 the size. 



Fig. 6. — Female. Antennae same as male. Head round, and 

 much smaller than that of the male, and slightly wider than the 

 thorax. Wings : primaries ample and rounded, costal vein only 

 running along the costa, turning before reaching the middle of 

 the costal margin, and then running towards the middle of the 

 wing; the very minute scale-like hairs are arranged in a series 

 of lines, giving a vein-like appearance ; fringes long. Secondaries 

 long and narrow, without veins, only one row of scales down the 

 centre ; fringes longer than those of the primaries. Legs 

 muscular. Colour: antennae and legs pale ochreous; head, 

 thorax, and abdomen shining black; costal vein very pale 

 brown; scales on the wings dusky. Size, considerably larger 

 than the male. 



Many pairs emerged (from the mass of dead flies, Atherix 

 ibis, and their ova) on several consecutive mornings, but they 

 lived only for a few hours. I watched them copulating several 

 times, which process lasts for not more than fifteen seconds. 

 The males are very active, the females more sluggish, when 

 touched, leaping for about half an inch, apparently not using 



the wings. * 



F. W. Frohawk. 

 Balham, S.W., 1889. 



NOTES FROM THE NORTH-WEST COUNTIES. 



By J. Arkle. 



With a preceding season like last year's— marked as it was 

 by extraordinary rainfall, low temperature, and early frost — it 

 could hardly be expected that 1889 could be very prolific in 

 Lepidoptera. At any rate my anticipations for this district were 

 not high, and I find their verification to be at least on the same 

 footing as the notes of disappointment which reach me from far 



3 D 2 



