A FEW REMARKS UPON DIPTERA. 
R. H. MEADE, 
Bradford. 
I orrEN wonder that dipterous insects (flies) are not more studied. 
Their life’s history is often very interesting, some being leaf-miners, 
others gall-makers, and many parasites upon the larve of other 
insects. Diptera also are ubiquitous; several species of small flies 
may be found on the windows of houses and stables at all times of 
the year except in the depth of winter, and numbers may be caught 
in almost any garden even in the neighbourhood of a large town. 
If any student anxious to know something about them will take the 
trouble to capture all the different flies that he can find, I will gladly 
name them for him; only he must promise after a short time to try 
to determine the genera and species for himself before he sends 
them to me. 
I would recommend anyone who possesses a garden to collect 
all the diptera that he can find within its precincts, and keep them 
Separate from others, and thus make a small local collection. He 
might afterwards extend the radius. 
With regard to the mode of capture and preservation of diptera 
I would like to make a few suggestions. I always catch my 
specimens with a pair of muslin forceps of five or six inches in 
diameter, but some dipterists prefer a net, which is useful for 
Sweeping grass. After taking the fly between the blades of the 
forceps it should be gently squeezed between the finger and thumb 
(but not crushed), and then placed in a small cyanide bottle, which 
should contain some small pieces of good white blotting paper to 
absorb moisture and prevent the flies from turning black, and also 
to keep them from injuring one another when the bottle is shaken. 
When taken from the bottle they should be transfixed with a fine 
and rather long pin in the following manner* :—The fly should be 
Placed upon a small pincushion, and the pin passed so far through 
the thorax that when it is drawn out of the pincushion there will be 
room to take hold of it, with the steel forceps beneath the fly, so as 
not to bend the pin. If the insect stands some distance above the 
cork in the box or drawer it is also less likely to be injured by mites. 
It is not necessary to set diptera beyond spreading out the legs 
l 
Jan. 1894. B 
