59 



some-time-expected " ForficulidcE and Hemimeridae," and 

 Redtenbacher's " Austro-Hungarian and German Dermatop- 

 tera and Orthoptera." 



Our knowledge of the Collembola and Thysanura has 

 been increased by the paper on those insects in the Edin- 

 burgh district, by G. H. Carpenter and W. Evans, pubhshed 

 in the " Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society of 

 Edinburgh." 



To turn now to the Neuroptera, in the sense used by 

 Linnaeus, into which I must beg you to excuse my entering 

 a little more fully. Mr. C. A. Briggs has added a Psocid — 

 Bcrtkaiiia prisca — ^from Lynmouth, to the British list. The 

 British Trichoptera have been increased by two species — 

 BercBti articularis and Pledrocnemia brcvis, both from South 

 Devon. A new British Chrysopa — C. dorsalis — has been 

 taken at Oxshott by Mr. Beaumont. 



As regards the Dragonflies, the season was a good, and 

 in some respects a remarkable, one. By the capture in 

 Strathglass, in the north of Scotland, on June 28th, by 

 Colonel Yerbury, of a single specimen of Agrion hastulatuni, 

 the meagre list of British species has been increased by one 

 — the total now standing at forty-one. In the Introduction 

 to my book on " British Dragonflies," I ventured to state 

 that " in all probability the future changes in the total number 

 of species of British dragonflies must be looked for in the 

 way of decrease only. But six months had elapsed, and a 

 new species was added to our lists — a fact which brings to 

 my remembrance a prediction made by Mr. Briggs, that no 

 sooner is an attempt made to try to bring a subject into line 

 with the times, than something happens to put it out of date. 

 When I say that the British list had scarcely been added to 

 during the century, I think it will be admitted that Mr. 

 Briggs' statement was a bold one, and that I had ample 

 justification for my gloomy foreboding. 



But this is not all. One little dragonfly on our list, 

 Ischnura puniilio, had scarcely been seen since the first half of 

 the century, and it is safe to say that previous to last year 

 no one knew where it could be taken in England. Early in 

 the year, however, another of our members, Mr. S. Blenkarn, 

 brought up to one of our meetings a number of dragonflies 

 that he had taken during the previous season, and amongst 

 them were a few specimens of the long-lost little pumilio. Of 

 the small number he had brought away, he was good 

 enough to give me two (one being headless) which, with the 

 greatest pleasure, I added to my collection. We are often 



