269 



DURHAM DIPTERA. 



Rev. W. J. WINGATE, 

 St. Peley's Vicarage, Bishop Auckland. 



About six or seven years ag'o, \Vhen old Natural History tastes 

 had been revived by country residence after years of town work, 

 I thought how stupid it was not to know anything- about the 

 common flies which crowded the windows in summer. So 

 I turned my attention to the Diptera, and since then I have been 

 collecting in the county of Durham only. The following, com- 

 prising 559 species and varieties, are those I have caught and 

 been able to identify with reasonable certainty up to the present. 

 Of course there are many more not yet identified. Several 

 which puzzled me have been named or checked by experienced 

 dipterists, and I have especially to thank Mr. Austen, Col. 

 Yerbury, Mr. Collin, Mr. Henderson, Mr. Wainwright, Herr 

 P. Stein, and Mr. Grimshaw for their kind help from time to 

 time. I am sending all the specimens to the Newcastle Museum 

 to form the nucleus of a collection of the Diptera of Durham 

 and Northumberland. I shall be glad to help to the best of 

 my ability any beginner taking up the study of the Diptera. 

 Begin young. I wish I had begun younger. But better late 

 than never, only — begin. I would like to have one fellow- 

 worker at least in the two counties. 



I should also be greatly obliged if any Durham entomologists^ 

 collecting in other orders, would send me any peculiar Diptera 

 that they may catch, or that, to their disgust, may appear in 

 their breeding cages. I have already received several Tachinidaj, 

 which I have not seen on the wing, from an enthusiastic local 

 lepidopterist, Mr. Greenwell. But I do not want Ichneumons 

 or anything except two-winged flies. 



My collecting has been chiefly in two localities — one inland — 

 round Bishop Auckland and up Weardale, and one near the sea. 

 The following is the character of the diff'erent localities : — 



LOCALITIES. 



North Durham. Gibside, 100-400 ft. Wooded estate on 

 the Derwent, about 7 miles south-west of Newcastle. Marley 

 Hill, 500-700 ft. On the ridge east of Gibside ; rather bare 

 colliery district. 



South Durham. An interrupted strip 4-12 miles broad along 

 the southern border. Beginning from the sea: (i) Hesleden. 



1903 July I. 



