12 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



search on the ground among plants. Moss, both from dry 

 and damp places, and dead leaves, &c., may often be sifted 

 with advantage, especially from autumn to spring. Sandy 

 and stony banks of rivers, ponds, and lakes, will furnish him 

 with certain species, and the sea-shore with certain others. 

 A few live under the bark of dead trees, many in marshes, 

 and not a few on or in the water. In a word, let the 

 Hemipterist, who wishes not only to deserve but to attain 

 success, look everywhere — from the heart of the crowded city 

 even to the azure plains of mid-ocean, and in both he will 

 find Hemipiera. 



That a great deal remains to be done in Britain is apparent 

 from the fact that a very few workers have added to the list 

 of British Hemipiera- Heteroptera npwards of thirty species 

 between January, 1874, and December, 1876, although 

 a great part of the country remains still unexplored. 

 In fact, with the exception of the London district and part 

 of the south and sonth-east coasts, the bugs of the rest of 

 the country are either not known at all, or only to a slight 

 degree. Next to the London district, the Tyneside and 

 Cheviot district has been perhaps most worked. Scotland 

 has been examined partially, here and there, but no syste- 

 matic collecting has been carried on throughout the year in 

 any Scottish locality Very little indeed has been recorded of 

 the Irish bugs. 



May the year 1877 be an "annus mirabilis" in the history 

 of British Hemipterology, in adding many recruits to the 

 small band of Hemipterists, and — what is almost an unavoid- 

 able sequence — many species to the British Fauna ! 



I would take this opportunity of asking for help in the 

 shape of contributions of Exotic Hemiptera, especially from 

 countries beyond Europe. As may well be imagined, a very 

 great deal remains to be done amongst the extra-European 

 Hemipiera, and very few specimens are collected. If it is 

 found inconvenient to pin or set them, they may be preserved 

 in alcohol, care being taken that the bottles in which they are 

 placed are always full of fluid to avoid breakage of the speci- 

 mens by shaking. A ie\y pieces of paper, to fill up the empty 

 space in the bottle, will be an additional safeguard. 



I now proceed to enumerate the Heniiptera-Heieroptera 

 added to the British list since January, 1874. As it is only 



