232 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



add to our (and the British) list. Although the localities in 

 which we have as yet detected it are comparatively few, 

 we have no doubt that further research will show it to be 

 widely distributed in the district. It is an aquatic species, 

 inhabiting the margins of pools and ponds, where it may be 

 observed skipping on the surface of the still water, or resting 

 on the stems and leaves of sedges and other plants; but 

 being only about J to | of a millimetre in length, and of an 

 active disposition, it is a difficult object in the first place to 

 see, and, in the next, to capture. It is most readily seen 

 when on the water, and a good plan is to shake the plants 

 and then drag the surface of the pool with a piece of black 

 cloth — white, in this instance, is not so suitable. 



The typical form, which is of a uniform red-violet colour, 

 and is recorded only from Spitzbergen, Novaya Zemlya, 

 and Behring Island, was described by Tullberg (17) in 1876. 

 The striped form — to which all our specimens belong — was 

 described as Sminthuriis elegantulus by Keuter from Finland 

 four years later. It is also recorded from Sweden, Eussia, 

 and Bohemia (Schott erroneously adds Germany and France 

 — cf. Eeuter's "Finlands Collembola," p. 13). Schaffer had 

 not seen it prior to our sending him specimens. Folsom's 

 Sminthitrus soda lis, described (4) from Massachusetts, U.S.A., 

 in 1896, is evidently so very closely allied to our insect that its 

 right to more than sub-specific rank may well be questioned. 



The example from which our coloured figure was drawn, is 

 one of the best marked we have seen : usually the dorsal mark- 

 ing is narrower, and the pale portions rather more yellow. 



Local data. — On tiny pools, Bavelaw, near Balerno (Midlothian), 1st, etc., 

 March, and April 1899, common ; small pond, Bush, near Rosslyn (Midlothian), 

 a few, 17th March ; Otterston Loch (Fife), a good many, 18th March ; 

 TordufF Hill, Pentlands, and near Midcalder, a few, May ; old flooded quarry, 

 Longniddry (E. Lothian), Aug., common. 



Sminthurus aquaticus, Bourl. 



Locally common. Most of our specimens — all of the 

 bluish or greenish white form, with purple antennae and 

 dark spot on forehead — are from a stagnant pool on the north 

 side of the road through the Braid Hills, where the species 



