318 



than a quarter of the number which might be found by diligent 

 search, for Dale, in his " History of Glanvilles' Wooton," records 

 178 species as having been taken in that parish, and I have no 

 reason to believe that this neighbourhood will prove less prolific. 

 His father and he had however been assiduous collectors for at 

 least 70 years. 



The total number of described British species is about 415, 

 many of which are said to be very rare ; but when really 

 indigenous, and not a mere chance introduction, " rare " must be 

 taken to mean, as a rule, locally so, and I have little doubt, that 

 if anything like the attention bestowed on the butterflies and the 

 beetles were given to this sub-order, a great proportion of our 

 so-called scarce species would be shown to be in reality quite 

 common. There is a rather handsome insect in the box, among 

 the Capsidae, Calocoiis Sexguttatus, regarding which Messrs. 

 Douglass and Scott, in their monograph say, " This species 

 appears to be somewhat scarce. Dr. Power has taken it at 

 Thornton Reservoir, Leicestershire, in July." This insect swarms 

 in places near here on the blossoms of various umbelliferous 

 plants in July and August. And the converse I also find to hold 

 good, of many species said to be " abundant everywhere " I 

 have never succeeded in finding a single specimen. 



In their classification, the Heteroptera have been a good deal 

 shifted about. The Linnean order, Hemiptera, was divided by 

 Latreille into two sub-orders, Homoptera and Heteroptera. 

 Dr. Leach and Mr. McLeay considered them as separate orders — 

 an arrangement adopted by Professor Westwood in his " Modern 

 Classification of Insects." 



The order, Hemiptera is now divided by some entomologists 

 into five sub-orders (1st, Phytophthiria, scale insects and Aphides, 

 tarsi one or two jointed ; 2nd, Homoptera, tarsi three jointed — 

 these two forming Westwood's order Homoptera ; 3rd, The 

 Heteroptera ; 4th, Thysanoptera — Tlirips — regarded as a distinct 

 order by Westwood ; and 5th, Mallophaga parasitic, mostly on 



