224 LETTERS TO DR. FLETCHER [CHAP. xx. 



fruit. I watched and recorded until I got so weary of acting 

 as their fruiterer that I thought seventeen days' observation 

 was enough. 



Amongst pine attackers I have had a lovely specimen of 

 the Astynomus cedilis (Timberman beetle), sent me from the 

 north of Scotland, the longest horned of the European 

 "longhorns." It is wonderfully pretty to see the tiny beetle, 

 not three-quarters of an inch long, comfortably bearing 

 its delicate antennae, nearly half a foot in expanse. Also 

 I have got a good observation of the Pine Shoot moth's 

 bad doings ; the Retinia buoliana, the " Post-horn " attack 

 as they call it in Germany, from the twisted shoots ; and 

 some other fresh work but the great point of this year's 

 observation is Horse and Cattle Diptera, Warble flies, Gad 



Slightly larger than life ; line showing natural length. 



FIG. 54. TIMBERMAN BEETLE, ASTYNOMUS CEDILIS. 



flies, and Forest flies. Just now Forest flies are being sent 

 me from India. The Indian species is very pretty. I have 

 been working up the structure of the Hippoboscal foot, which 

 is indeed wonderful (pis. xxni., xxiv.). I do not understand 

 the details, so I have had two great drawings made, and litho- 

 graphed, for my next Annual Report, with the tiny foot mag- 

 nified to a size of 6 inches by 5, showing every detail that 

 appears to me observable, and I wonder what the parts will 

 be considered to do. I think I have made out a good deal, 

 but there is some apparatus that none of the few people I 

 have consulted make out. 



May 15, 1897. 



You will have seen the state of enthusiasm this whole 

 country is in about the celebration of the Queen's Jubilee. 

 I trust that the exertion and excitement will not be quite too 

 much for her, but it will be a great trial. 



Another matter I feel more at home in do you happen 

 to have seen in some of our English papers that some of us 



