18 • [January, 



the instrument she has blocked u})) she starts again, and the specimen I send 

 blocked my stethoscope on four successive days. She also makes nests in old 

 nail-holes in wood, but I have not found her boring her own hole. AYe 

 sliould all like to know her name. — F. Thompson, M.R.C.S., LJi-CP. Lond., 

 R.A.M.C.: September {jth, 1917. 



[The insect sent by Mr. Thompson to Commander Wallver is a $ of 

 Megachile apicalh Spinola. This species is pretty common in all districts 

 round the Mediterranean. I ha^-e taken it in Spain, S. France, Algeria, Italy, 

 Greece, Palestine, and Egypt. Its nearest British ally is M. argentata F., 

 which is also common — as well as several other species nearly related to it — 

 throughout the Mediterranean region. — F. D. MomcE.] 



Diptera in 1917. — Except on two or three occasions, when the weather was 

 uniformly unfavourable, I have only been able this year to collect in localities 

 within easy reach of London. However, I tliink the following species are 

 worth recording, as being from new localities, or sufficiently uncommon to 

 merit attention : — Fachygaster atra Meig., Cleeve Hill, Glos., on a window, 

 July 28th. Stratiomys potamida Meig., on Heracle.vm in a field at the foot of 

 Leith Hill, Surrey, July 2nd. Beris morrisii Dale, 1 (^, near the top of 

 Leith Hill, July 2nd. Therioplectes tropicus Meig. var. hisiynatus Jaenn,, 

 a $. ai: Oxted, June 14th. T. distinguenchis Verr., males seen in abundance 

 on Leith Hill on July 2nd, hovering in the sun over roads, 15 or 20 in ten 

 yards of road. I noticed them as early as 6.30 a.m. (Greenwich time), and 

 they seemed to have disappeared by soon after 10 a.m. The males of Tabanus 

 hromius L., were also common here, but resting on palings, never hovering. 

 Leptogaster guttiventris Zett., one specimen on Leith Hill, July 2nd. L. cylin- 

 drica Ue G., abundant near Oxted, .Tune 14th. Dolicliopus ivahlhergi Zett., one 

 male at Great Bedwyu, Wilts, July loth. Rhaphium longicorne Fin., Epping 

 Forest, several males in a limited locality, June 7th. Pipuncidus modestus Hal., 

 Leith Hill, July 21st. P. terminalis Thorns., one male in Epping P^'orest on 

 June 7th, also at Oxshott, Surrey, on August 16th. P. varipes Meig., Leith 

 Hill, July 21st. P. xnntJiopus Thorns., one male in Epping Forest, June 7th. 

 Cliilosia praecox Zett., common at Barton Mills, May loth. ISyrphus umbel- 

 latarum F., Oxted, August 30th. Volucella intmis L., Oxshott, August 16th. 

 Jlelophilus hybridus Lw., near Oxshott, August 23rd. Chrysotoxum octo- 

 maculafiim Curt., Oxted, August 30tli. Microdon devius L., near Oxted, 

 June 14tli. Alophora hemiptera F., Great Bedwyn, Wilts, one male on an 

 Umbellifer, July 15th. Acidia lychnidis F., Cleeve Hill, Glos.. July 28th. — 

 T. W. KiRKPATRiCK, The Deanery, Ely, Cambs. : October 13th, 1917. 



77/e association of Oribatids zcitJi I/tsects. — One is constantly coming across 

 convex and more or less circular mites under moss and in similar situations 

 during the winter, which I remember to have had some trouble in my young 

 days to satisfy m3'self were not beetles. From this bowing acquaintance 

 I learnt to call them collectively Oribatidae, and passed them by on the other 

 side ! That the^^ were associated in any way with insects 1 cannot remember 

 to have heard, nor can I here refer to the Hay Society's monograph upon the 

 family. It was because I noticed some of these mites on a specimen of 

 the beetle O.rytelus seidjjttiratus Grav., under a board, lying on the ground in 



