EETROSPECT OF A DIPTERIST FOR 1905. 75 



occurred in decaying potato tops. Phloeophilus edwardsi, Steph., still 

 turns up in limited numbers on the fence posts round a small wood. 

 Hydrothassa hannoverana, F., swarmed in the flowers of Caltlia palustris, 

 L., during May, and, later in the season, the leaves were riddled by the 

 swarms of iarvte. A single example of Quediiis obliteratus-% Er., was 

 taken in moss on the banks of the Solway Firth ; also an example of 

 Hypera variabilis--' , Hbst., both being additions to our county list. These 

 species are ia addition to those recorded by me in the pages of the 

 Naturalist during the past season. — H. Britten, Prospect House, 

 Salkeld Dykes, Penrith. February 22nd, 1906. 



Dromius agilis ab. bimaculatus, Dej., a new ab. to Britain. — 

 Whilst at Hastings last week, Mr. Bennett and I went over to Battle 

 to try for coleoptera in the woods there. Beetles were very scarce, and, 

 having tried moss, dead leaves, and everything we could think of with 

 very little result, Mr. Bennett went ofi' to try and find a better spot, 

 whilst I set to work to scrape the lichen oft' the bark of a tree to see if 

 that would produce anything. The result was one Dromius, which 

 startled me by having two bright yellow spots on the shoulders, and I 

 shouted to Mr. Bennett I had got a new Dromius marked like poly- 

 stichus ! This turns out to be the ab. bimaculatus, Dej. {Spec, i., 240). 

 Ganglbauer writes {Die Kafcr v. Mitteleuropa, vol. i., p. 407) : "In the 

 ab. bimaculatus, Dej., the elytra show on the front half a light spot 

 stretching out towards the base, and before the apex a small, often 

 lost, mark." This aberration is of interest as being probably a case 

 of atavism, as many species of Dromius are spotted, and probably the 

 ancestral form was so. — Horace Donisthorpe. February 10th, 1906. 



Species marked with * are new to our list. 



Retrospect of a Dipterist for 1905. 



By J. E. COLLIN, F.E.S. 

 Undoubtedly the absence of any English text-book on diptera in 

 general is the reason why so few students of entomology take up the 

 study of the order ; even European dipterology is sadly in need of 

 another work like that of Schiner, published in 1864, bringing together 

 the results of someforty years' labour; students of our British fauna of 

 diptera must, therefore, have welcomed the appearance of the series of 

 articles dealing with the Doliclwpodidae by Verrall, and the commence- 

 ment of a monograph of the British species of Hydrotaea by Grimshaw 

 {Ent. Mo. May.) ; in the former paper, eight species have been added to 

 the British list during 1905, viz., Chrysotus femoratus, Ztt., Medeterus 

 obscurus, Ztt., Xiphandrium, lanceolatum, Lw., Porphyrops rivalis, Lw. 

 (all from Scotland, and all taken by Colonel J. W. Yerbury), Systenus 

 bipartitus, Lw., S. leucurus, Lw., S. scholtzi, Lw., and S. tener, Lw. 

 (bred by Dr. Sharp and others, from rotten wood debris, mainly in the 

 New Forest district). Two other species of Dolichopodidae {Dolichopus 

 aryyrotarsis, Whlbg., and Porphyrops rivalis, Lw.), were also added to 

 our list last year, again due to Colonel Yerbury's collecting in Scotland. 

 The first instalment of what is to be hoped will be a series of "Notes 

 on Tachinidae," by Wainwright {Ent. Mo. J/a^y.), introduces ten species 

 of that difficult family to our list, though some of these are only 

 tentatively introduced, the author being satisfied with the identity of 



