“ 
ee 
4379.) 181 
war. 5, 9 = Hemiteles palpator, Gr., g, and var. 4, g (excll. 2 and other varr.), 
=H. palpator, Tasch., . The g of another species is now known to me, through 
the kindness of Mr. F. Smith, who has lent me a number of Pezomachi. The ¢ in 
question is the one referred to in Tr. Ent. Soc., ser. 2, 1859, vol. v, p. 209; and 
was reared with Pezomachus fasciatus, F., from the eggs of Agelena brunnea, The 
synonymy in this case is as follows: Pezomachus fasciatus, Fab., Gr. 9 = Hemi- 
teles luteiventris, Gr., &,—Hemimachus fasciatus, Ratz, ¢ 9. Both species 
belong to Hemimachus, Ratz., a genus to be retained at present as convenient ; and 
their respective names, without an alias, should, I presume, be Hemimachus trua, 
Foérst., and Hemimachus fasciatus, Fab. The trivial names hortensis, Gr., and 
palpator, Gr., have the priority indeed, but must be thrown aside as including a 
jumble of species.—T. A. Marsuat, St. Albans, December 15th, 1871. 
On dipterous pupe found in gall-like nidi on the fronds of Athyrium filia- 
femina.—Among many other novel and welcome contributions from across the 
border, I am indebted for the subject of the following note to the kindness of that 
indefatigable naturalist, Mr. George Norman. 
In the middle of July last, this gentleman transmitted to me a series of very 
curious foliaceous green balls, ranging from the size of a hazel-nut up to that of a 
walnut, each one consisting of a crumpled up and distorted frond of Athyrium 
filix-femina. A memorandum accompanied the specimens, stating that they had 
been found at “ Relugas, Morayshire.” 
My first involuntary impression, for which I feel sare Mr, Norman will readily 
grant me absolution, was, that my well-known penchant for the study of such 
objects had led to the perpetration of a mild joke, as the balls looked as if 
they had been rolled up by human hands. 
But closer examination very soon convinced me that my esteemed correspondent 
had again been one of those lucky observers, of whom we read : 
* Nature showing whom she will 
Where her inner secrets lurk.” 
On unrolling one of the balls, I found that the main rib of the frond had been con- 
tracted in such a manner as to act like a rough sort of spring, of the more or less 
spiral contortions of which the ball was made up. The loose centre of the ball con- 
sisted of the crumpled up anterior part of the frond, in a semi-decayed, and brown, 
moist condition. Within this central nidus, a larva seems to have lived; and, as 
evinced by the peculiar state of the surroundings, seems to have partaken of the 
sap of the plant for sustenance, after the manner of the Cecidomyide, Trypetide, and 
other Diptera. But this larva I do not know; on the other hand, an examination 
of several specimens of this leafy nidus has produced four dipterous pups, one 
from each nidus; and, although I carefully searched all the specimens, no trace of 
any other insect, dead or alive, turned up. The following is a description of one 
of these objects: 
Dipterous Puparium: Coarctate, rigid, coriaceous, shining chestnut-brown, 
extremities darker, elliptic, elongated, tapering to both extremities, but less so 
to one than to the other; upper-side slightly arched, under-side somewhat 
flattened ; -stouter extremity viewed from above distinctly produced into a 
narrower, short, truncated, and somewhat flattened cone; the two extreme distant 
points of the cone drawn out into an extremely short truncate joint; thinner 
