sweepings; 



]!v l"K]:i) KNOCK, K.K.S. 



ElciicliKs 



FllU'Rl 1. 



tcilKiconiis. lai"\al 

 inch loiiL'. 



Ai'c.rsT 22nd. ]')1K will long be remfiiibcnil bv 

 Mr. Chas. O. W'atcrhouse and myself as a "' red 

 letter da\',"" for we had swept the grass and herbage 

 in and about Richmond Park .so often without 

 capturing an\-thing particu- 

 lar, though we have both 

 swept man\- localities in 

 the hope of a prize, and 

 we have taken several firsts, 

 as well as specials, offered 

 to all who will enter the 

 arena open to ever\- one so 

 inclined. 



The day opened threaten- 

 ingly, the clouds looked as 

 though thev had a thunder- 

 storm in hand, but it 

 cleared off and bright siui- 

 shine appeared. 



We swept our crossing 

 backwards and forwards for 

 a couple of hoiu's without 

 much luck, just a few ot 

 our favourite Cdsmocdiini 

 fiiiilipeniiis (femalest, tlu' 

 male ot which we had 

 searched for for man\- 

 vears. I captured my first 

 female at Woking, in KS(S5. 

 and have been lookin,g for 

 the male ever since. I 

 intended to go on sweeping 

 for another ten minutes. 

 Mr. ^^'aterhouse had gone 

 on about a mile, when, on 

 taking m}- seat to examine 

 the contents of my net. I 

 ran mv eyes over the grass 

 seeds, bits of sharp-pointed 

 rushes, tumbling out the 

 numerous s[)iders. when ni\- 

 eve was caught b\- the 

 long filiform antennae of a 

 Cosmocomid with hairy wings. My 

 readv to be popped o\-er it. when a j, 

 spider intervened and 1 lost sight of my <]uarry — 

 but found it again and succeeded in getting it 

 into m\' phial, and corking it up. Then I saw 

 that after twent}'-five years " keepin' on," I had 



sta.y 



,Sn of an 



FlGURM 2. 



Hlcnchiis fciiii iconiis ifcinale). 



[)hial 



was 



capturt'd the male ot Cosiikkoiiui fiiiiiipcnnis ! 



Thinking there might be another prize in my net, 



I soon had mv lens in position, when I saw a tiny 



insect buzzing about m the net. 1 instantly thought 



— '-Wh)-! it"s a Sfylops or 

 its relative Hu/ict(ipJia}iiis." 

 .\s soon as the cork closed 

 on it I confirmed this. Mv 

 ten minutes was now up, 

 but I could not lease without 

 telling Mr. Waterhouse. so 

 1 hurried across m the direc- 

 tion he had taken, and as 

 I neared the wcioil I shouted. 

 ■■ Waterhouse. I've got it I" 

 ■■ ^^'aterhouse, I've got it I " 

 At last I heard the re- 

 sjionse, 'Ts that \ou shout- 

 ing. Knock. \\'hat ha\i' 

 vou got?""" Then the two 

 old boss camp-stooled to- 

 gether and revelled ni ex- 

 amining ni\ captures. 



When I reached home my 

 buzzing Hdlictoplm^iiiis was 

 dead and mounted as soon 

 as possible. 



I had turned and killed 

 nn- other captures, among 

 which were several Frog- 

 hoppers, and close to one, 

 an egg-like bod\-. with black 

 e\es. just one hundred and 

 twentieth part of an inch 

 long. Thinking it an egg 

 containing a Mymarid, I put 

 it under the (]uarter-inch 

 lens, and inuuediatel}" recog- 

 nised it as the hexapod lar\-a 

 of one of the Strepsiptera. 

 and no doubt, as I at first 

 imagined, of Hcilktopha^tis. 

 But on reference to West- 

 ssoikTs " Modern Classification of Insects," I identi- 

 fied m\- capture as Hlcnchiis fciiiiicontis (Templetonl, 

 of which but one examjile had hitherto been recorded, 

 over fifty years ago. 



I am now searching for missing links in the life- 

 histor\- of this strauije insect. 



400 



