1452 THE STORY OF THE UNIVERSE 



should be examined under the microscope, and the 

 relative proportion of each joint of the antennae be 

 compared with closely allied species just as they 

 are with all large Hymenoptera. The curve, too, of 

 the delicate wings is a most important feature which 

 must not be hurried over. This point leads me to 

 speak of the immense superiority of photo-micro- 

 graphs over drawings of these fairy flies. No matter 

 how exact an enthusiastic naturalist may be in his 

 endeavors, it is a physical impossibility for any one 

 to follow out and reproduce the exact curve of these 

 microscopic wings; and as the flies when properly 

 prepared and "set" in Canada balsam lend them- 

 selves peculiarly to photo-micrography, it is wise to 

 take advantage of this. The details can afterward 

 be drawn to a much larger scale. It is my intention 

 to do this with every species which I have collected 

 during the past twenty-five years, and of which I 

 have a very large number, far exceeding those 

 known to science. The illustrations accompany- 

 ing this short article will, I think, show what ex- 

 ceedingly good subjects the fairy flies are for 

 photo-micrographs. 



Since Haliday's arrangement of the British My- 

 maridae, elucidated by Francis Walker, no new spe- 

 cies have been recorded, the genera numbering 

 eleven, the species, thirty-five, as follows, viz.: 



Ooctonus, four species Mymar, one species 



Gonatocerus, five species Cosmocoma, eight species 



Alaptus, two species Caraphractus, one species 



Litus, one species Anaphes, seven species 



Eustochus, one species Anagrvs, four species 



Camptoptera^ one species 



