A HISTORY OF HERTFORDSHIRE 



Cephus troglodyta 



pallipes 



pygmajus 



tabidus 

 Janus connectens 

 Xyela pusilla 

 Ichneumon rufipes 



pumilus 



crassicornis (' I believe at Hertford ') 



fulvipes 



candidatus 



iridipennis 



submarginatus 



primatorius 



flavolineatus 



ornatorius 



laboratorius 



occisorius 



equitatorius 



castanopyga ? 



troglodytes 



ruficoxatus 



mutabilis 



Ichneumon mitigosus 



ruficollis 

 Ischnus porrectorius 

 Stilpnus blandus 

 Mesoleptus submarginatus 



melanocephalus 



sticticus 



spheginus 



gracilis 

 Tryphon praerogator 



nanus 



anceps 



mesoleptoides 



erythropalpus 



parvulus 



quadrilineatus 

 Exochus mansuetor 

 Cryptus cyanator 



assertorius 



brevicornis 

 Phygadeuon exiguus 

 Megastigmus dorsalis 



Diptera. Mr. Verrall in his List of British Diptera divides the order into two great 

 sections, the Orthorrhapha and the Cyclorrhapha. The old sub-order Aphaniptera has been 

 done away with, and the Puliddte or ' fleas ' have been included among the Nematocera, one 

 of the sub-sections of the Orthorrhapha. The Hon. N. Charles Rothschild, who has made 

 the family a special study, enumerates twenty-five species of Pulicidae belonging to six genera 

 which have been found within a radius of five miles of Tring, and doubtless two others 

 Ceratophyllus columbee from the domestic pigeon and C. styx from the sand martin which 

 have not yet been detected are also present. Typhlopsylla pentacantbus was first taken by Mr. 

 Albert Piffard of Feldon, Boxmoor, and was described by Mr. Rothschild. The capture of 

 T. dasycnemus near Tring gives, so far as is known, the only British record for this species, and 

 Ceratophyllus mustelts and C. penidlliger are here recorded for the first time. The following is 

 the Hon. N. Charles Rothschild's list of Tring Puliddte : 



Hystrichopsylla talpae 

 Ceratophyllus sciurorum 



gallinae 



hirundinis (from house martin) 



fasciatus 



mustelae 



penicilliger 



Ceratopsylla elongatus (from noctule bat) 



jubatus 



octactenus (from Natterer's bat) 



pentactenus 



hexactenus (from long-eared bat) 



Pulex irritans 



canis 



felis 



goniocephalus 



erinacei 

 Typhlopsylla gracilis 



pentacanthus 



agyrtes 



sub-sp. nobilis (from water vole) 



bisoctemdentatus, Wagner 



dasycnemus (from common shrew) 

 Ctenopsylla musculi 



spectabilis (one specimen) 

 The Hessian Fly (Ceddomyia destructor) has a special county interest, as this pest was first 

 recognized in Britain at Revell's Hall, Hertford, in July, 1886. The barley crops at that 

 place were found to be badly ' root-fallen ' and much injured. On examination the presence 

 of pupae resembling linseed was detected in the joints of the stem, and on specimens being 

 submitted to Miss E. A. Ormerod she identified the pupae as those of the Hessian Fly, a 

 minute insect which commits serious ravages in America and on the continent of Europe. 

 Infestations were subsequently reported from other farms in the same neighbourhood, from 

 Ware and Hitchin in this county, and from numerous other localities in the British Isles. An 

 investigation of the parasites which were reared from some of the Hertfordshire specimens 

 enabled Miss Ormerod to draw the conclusion that the pest had been imported from the east 

 of Europe. 1 A carefully prepared paper on the subject was written by Mr. F. Maule Camp- 

 bell, F.L.S., F.Z.S., the then President of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society.* & 



1 Manual of Injurious Insects, E. A. Ormerod, p. 89. 



8 Trans. Herts Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. iv. p. 1 80. 

 170 



Diplosis 



