188 



THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



P. COMMUNIS. 



P. COGNATA. 



P. GERMANICA. 



1. Size larger. 



2. Markings on wings 



arranged more or 

 less in bands. 



3. Colour of markings 



on wings approach- 

 ing black. 



4. Antepenultimate seg- 



ment conical. (Plate 

 IV. fig. 1^.) 



5. Appendices of male 

 linear, curved. 



(Plate IV. fig. le.) 



6. Eostrum castaneous, 

 with two longitudi- 

 nal blackish stripes. 



1. Size intermediate. 



2. General appearance 



of markings rather 

 suffused. 



3. Ditto, brown. 



4. Ditto, cylindrical. 

 (Plate IV. fig. 2 c-.) 



Ditto, linear, straight. 

 (Plate IV. fig. 2d.) 



6. Ditto, reddish, with 

 scarcely darker 



stripes. 



1. Size smaller. 



2. Wings have the ap- 



pearance of being 

 spotted, rather than 

 banded. 



3. Ditto, as P. co7n- 

 munis. 



4. Ditto, conical (last two 



joints and forceps 

 hairy.) (Plate IV. 

 fig. he.) 



5. Ditto, flattened, di- 



lated and truncated 

 at apex. (Plate IV. 

 fig. 3/.) 



6. Ditto, testaceous, 



with two longitudi- 

 nal indistinct fus- 

 cous stripes. 



[No. 6 can scarcely be relied upon ; but the species may be distinguished 

 with certainty by means of Nos. 4 and 5.] 



BoREUS HYEMALis (Plate IV. 4), the remaining British repre- 

 sentative of the group, I have never succeeded in finding, although 

 I have occasionally made search for it. Mr. K. J. Morton, who 

 finds it near Edinburgh, once {'ni lift. Nov. 20th, 1908) sent me 

 suggestions with regard to searching for the elusive little 

 creature, and no doubt he will not mind my publishing them. 

 He says: — " Borcus may be a little local, but it is certainly 

 widely distributed. I suppose the mode of taking it is that 

 adopted by coleopterists for catching moss-frequenting beetles. 

 Try moss-covered walls, both top and base, mossy banks, and 

 open woods where there is a good growth of moss around the 

 foot of the trees. The best moss is not that which grows in close 

 cushions, but the more luxuriant sorts which allow of a good 

 handful being torn away from the earth. This should be care- 

 fully separated with the hands and shaken, the operation being 

 performed over a newspaper. If the little beast is there, he 

 usually shews his presence by jumping." 



Compared with the scorpion-flies, Boreus is a tiny creature, the 

 figure (Plate IV. 4) being magnified about two and a half times. 

 The wings are quite rudimentary, but the beak-like head reveals 

 its relationship with Panorpa. Again we have to look to Brauer 



