i8 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



twenty years of age, with one exception, that of a lady over 

 forty : and in all these cases the swelling and irritation were 

 considerable. Other persons in the house may have been, 

 stung without more than transient discomfort ; in which 

 case I should have heard nothing about it. 



There is this further and noteworthy difference between 

 M. du Buysson's experience and ours, that he states that he 

 has never been stung by one of these parasitic flies unless it 

 had been held in the hand or otherwise irritated, and he 

 concluded that it was a natural act of self-defence. But so 

 far as I have ascertained, all the persons stung in my house 

 were in bed when attacked, and the only provocation offered 

 to the insect must have been through unconscious or semi- 

 conscious movements in sleep. It was proved last August 

 that even these are not necessary to provoke attack. A 

 young lady, reading in bed, felt a sharp stab on her arm, and 

 saw the fly with its abdomen arched in the act of stinging. 

 In the same month, I foolishly missed a chance of observing 

 this insect's proceeding. While reading in bed, Opliion alighted 

 on the sheet close to my hand. Acting under instinctive 

 impulse, I killed it, which I have regretted ever since. 



Every year of late, when working in the flower-garden, I 

 have been stung or bitten once, twice or thrice during the 

 summer by some insect. I have not seen the creature, and 

 inclined to attribute the attack to Stomoxys calcitrans; but 

 the similarity of the pain and swelling which ensued to that 

 caused by the sting of OpJiion dispose me to think it probable 

 that it was the real aggressor. It is difficult to divine the 

 motive of the female Ophion using her ovipositor in attack- 

 ing a human being without provocation. I understand that 

 this species deposits its eggs on or in the larvse oi Nocttiidce. 



[Seventeen species of Ophtoft have been differentiated as British, 

 although the validity of some is doubtful. Amongst all these is the 

 stinging habit confined only to O. luteus (sens, str.) ? Further records 

 are desirable, and we should be glad to receive specimens for identifi- 

 cation. The only Scottish records of the species given by Morley are 

 from Dumbartonshire and Renfrewshire. But we have further records 

 from Wigtownshire, East Lothian, Midlothian, Fife, Perthshire and 

 Argyllshire. — Eds.] 



