( ii ) 



comparison. He pointed out, and illustrated by means of 

 enlarged photographs the superficial differences in the wing- 

 markings between the two species, and also drew attention to 

 the fact that specimens of Lycxna orbitidus taken on the 

 Simplon, Switzerland, are identical with L. orbitidus, var. 

 oherthiiri of the Pyrenees. 



Ants from Kew Gardens. — Mr. H. St. John Donisthorpe 

 showed eleven species of ants taken in the hothouses in Kew 

 Gardens in December 1907 and January 1908, eight t being 

 new to the published Kew list, and six * species not before 

 recoi'ded as introduced in Britain. The species were : — 



Prenolejjis lonyicornis, Latr. 9 ? ^^^ ^ ^• 

 t Tetramormm simillivium, Smith, ^ ^. 

 Technomyrmex cdbijjes, Smith. $ , ergatoid $ and ^ ^. 



* t Wasmannia mtro-pioiciata, Roger. 6,99 *i^<^ ^ ^• 



Triglyjyhothrix striaiidens, Emery. ^ ^. 



* t Fi'eiiolepis Jlavipes, Smith. <6 , 9 9 ^^'^ ^ ^• 



* t Plagiolepis alluaudi, Forel. ^ ^. 



* t Prenohpis Ccccilise, Forel. ^ ^. 

 t P. vividida, Nyl. ^' ^. 



* t Stvuinigenys royeri, Emery. ^ ^. 



* t Ponera punctatissima, sub. sp. boerorum, Forel. $ and ^ ^• 



All found in numbers, except the Ponera and the Sirtoiui- 

 genys. 



Potato Gnat in Britain. — Mr. J. E. Collin exhibited 

 microscopically-mounted specimens of a minute species of 

 Diptera belonging to the family Mycetophilidse, and closely 

 related to the genus Sciara which Mr. H. J. Charbonnier had 

 discovered attacking and doing considerable damage to narcis- 

 sus bulbs in the neighbourhood of Bristol in 1907. The 

 species, which was remarkable inasmuch as while the male 

 had abbreviated wings the female had neither wings nor 

 halteres (an exceedingly rare structural condition in the 

 Diptera), had been described under the name of Epidapus 

 scabiei in the Proceedings of the Entomological Society of 

 Washington, U.S.A., published in 1895 by Mr. A. D. Hopkins, 

 of the "West Virginia Experiment Station, who found it 

 attacking potato tubers and causing conditions which in one 



