NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. " 239 



Eockhampton. PlioUdoptera griseowptera, De Geer, is frequent in 

 brushwood, as is Mctrioptera alhojmnctata, Goeze, on the coast, in 

 uncultivated places, whether chalky or heathy. MetriojJtera brachy- 

 ptera, Linn., is common on pastures, heaths, and in open woodland 

 spots. Acridiodea : Gompliocents rufus, Linn., occurs in dry places, 

 and G. viaculatus, Thunb., is a plentiful heathland species. Steno- 

 hothrus lineatus, Panz., is to be found on arid tracts. Mecostethus 

 grossus, Linn., occurs on extensive marshlands at Morden, and Omo- 

 cestus rufip)es, Latr., at Owermoigne. 0. viridulus, Linn., and Stauro- 

 clerus hicolor, Charp., are ubiquitous. Chorthipjms elegans, Charp., 

 appears less plentiful and widely distributed than the abundant 

 C. parallelus, Latr. Tetrix subulatus, Linn., may be met with often 

 on the heaths and near marshes, as may T. bipunctatus, Linn., very 

 frequently on the heaths, and, it would seem, occasionally almost 

 from January to December. — F. H. Haines; Brookside, Winfrith, 

 Dorset, August 30th, 1919. 



Odonata near Lille, France, in 1919. — On May 17th I saw a 

 large dragon-fly hovering over a canalised river. For a few seconds it 

 hovered motionless about eight or ten inches above the surface of the 

 water. Then it would drop and rise immediately, just touching the 

 surface of the water with its abdomen. This operation it repeated 

 a great many times, and I concluded it was a female ovipositing. 

 There was another specimen which did not indulge in the dipping 

 process, so I concluded that it was a male, and from its general 

 behaviour it appeared to be in attendance on the female. After some 

 little time the female came and settled close to where I was sitting, 

 within four feet of me, and the male followed and settled about two 

 feet away. I was, of course, able to see at once that they were 

 specimens of Libelhda quadrimaculata, Linn. About five days 

 earlier I caught Ischnura elegans, Lind., Agrion puella, Linn., and A. 

 pulchellum, Lind., and saw a Pyrrhosoma. On May 25th I saw a 

 newly emerged male L. quadrimaculata clinging to a grass stem 

 with the empty nymph-skin about four, inches below him. — D. 

 Whittaker ; Ashton-on-Mersey. 



Neuroptera in the Balkans. — A very interesting family of 

 Neuropterous insects, represented in England by only a few small 

 species, is the Megaloptera. Next to the grasshoppers and their 

 relatives, I should think they excited more interest amongst the 

 troops in Macedonia than any others. I was continually having 

 specimens of the largest of them brought to me for identification. 

 This was Palpares libelhdoides, which has a strong superficial 

 resemblance to the dragon-flies, although on close inspection and 

 study of its habits it is seen to be entirely difi'erent. It is a very 

 large insect, many specimens spreading over six inches. The body 

 is marked in black and yellow very much in the dragon-fly style, but 

 is soft and feeble and the wings are also very much more pliant than 

 those of the dragon-flies. These are extremely beautiful appendages, 

 broad, delicately veined and heavily spotted with black ; but their 

 chief beauty consists in the high gloss, which gives the insect a 

 shimmei'iag appearance as it flies about in the bright sunshine. Its 

 flight is very difi'erent from the powerful swoop of the dragon-flies, 



