A NOTABLE RECORD. 

 CAPTURE OE A NEW SPECIES OE MYMAR. 



I'.v 1-Ri:i) KNOCK, F.E.S., F.L.S., I'.K.M.S. 



Last Ju1\- (1910), it was my pleasure to record in 

 the pages of " Knowledc;!-:," the interesting fact 

 that I bred that wonderful insect, Myniar puhlteUiis, 

 the Battledore Wing ¥\y, on June 14th. when a 

 male and female emerged from their host egg. 

 During the past winter, I made collections of various 

 stems of plants, in and upon \\ hich I found numbers 

 of eggs, cunningly hidden away, in the pleated leaves 

 of grasses, or embedded 

 in the stems in such a 

 manner that the utmost 

 care is needed to detect 

 them and preserve them 

 from drying up or 

 becoming mouldy. Great 

 ingenuity is displayed by 

 the parent in distributing 

 them either singh' or in 

 groups of three or four, so 

 that the minute operculum 

 shall be just flush with 

 the outer covering. Some- 

 times a single hole is made 

 about a sixty-fourth of an 

 inch in diameter, and 

 through this minute 

 opening, seven or eight 

 eggs are laid in such a 

 manner that the head 

 end la mere point), starts 

 from this hole. It is such 

 eggs that the Myniaridac 

 search for with unw earying 

 care, running up and dow n 

 the stems, keejiing uji an 

 incessant drumming with 

 their clubbed antennae — 

 the under-side near the 

 tip being covered with 

 most delicate sensory hairs 

 — until, by their marvel- 

 lous sense of touch or 

 hearing, an egg of the 

 right species of host — (not 

 any other), is located. The 

 tip of the ovipositor is then brought into position 

 until it is at right angles with the stem, and the 

 boring through the egg-shell commences, the tiny 

 mechanic bringing its muscular power to bear upon 

 the microscopic " broach "' which gradually goes 

 deeper and deeper and then with a bump goes right 



through, sometimes 



The germ 



of the host's egg- 



Myiiiar 



Figure 1. 

 rcgalis, new species (enlarged 



up to the bas( 

 transmitted, sealing the doom 

 the fluids of which go to the nourishment of the 

 ovivorous larva. I ha\-e repeatedly obser\-ed the 

 oviposition of many of the Myniaridac. 



The intense heat of June has brought out Myinar 

 piilchclliis in confinement four days earlier than 

 in 191(J. Of some S[)ecies we have but single 



specimens — and have yet 

 to obtain more data before 

 we can state the time of 

 '■ their appearance. One of 



these is Walker's genus 

 L/;«i7c/.s — of which but five 

 specimens are known. Mr. 

 W'aterhouse has taken a 

 male and female : my 

 nephew. Mr. [ohn Knock 

 a female, and I have one, 

 a male. Limacis is, we 

 find, one of the earliest 

 ti) appear — in May. On 

 I one 3rd. I had a long 

 da\'s sweeping for it at 

 Burnham Beeches, but 

 without success. I only 

 captured a dozen very 

 common species, and I 

 confess to feeling a little 

 disheartened: for five hours 

 sweeping and examining 

 the contents of one's net 

 with a magnifier is very 

 trying and fatiguing work. 

 I had almost decided to 

 })ack up m\- kit, when I 

 noticed a likely stretch 

 of grass, which I swept. 

 On examining the 

 sweepings of grass seeds, 

 and bits of sharp tipped 

 rushes I was \ery pleased 

 to see the familiar form 

 of Mymar running and 

 skipping about in its own 

 peculiar manner — running along with its battle- 

 dore wings arched over its back, then after a 

 sudden pause — and a jump — somewhere, the search 

 begins again, until at last a phial is placed over 

 it, and safely corked. This was my thirteenth 

 phial, and I "wended my way to the motor-'bus 



271 



