Insects. 



7305 



enlargement in the males only being visible. Beneath the shields there are, however, 

 considerable differences; in the fern ile Coccus the mere fact of a fly being developed 

 is sufficient to indicate an unnatural state, and whereas the male Coccus, when in its 

 pupa state, undergoes considerable changes in its form, the smooth, hard shell in which 

 the ichneumon-fly is developed is invariably uniform. This shell is left behind when 

 the imago escipes, in the male Coccus one or other extremity being removed, but in 

 the female a clean round hole is made through both shell and shield. From exami- 

 nation of some skins of Aphides, from which the ichneumon flies have escaped, T 

 believe that in making the hole this portion of the shield is not destroyed, but a piece 

 is cut out which has very much the appearance of the cover of a " man-hole" to a 

 boiler. The external features of the ichneumon are also of a much higher class than 

 those of the Coccus. The head is perfect in all its parts ; there are four wings ; the 

 eyes are compound ; the extremity of each leg is provided with a beautiful trumpet- 

 shaped sucker, and the ovipositor is capable of being protruded or otherwise. To sum 

 up these few and very short remarks, I venture to repeat the two facts which I con- 

 sider of most interest, — first, that the male of this Coccus may, under some circum- 

 stances, be detected in our own gardens; second, that the same species may differ 

 very considerably, more especially on the exterior of the shield, according to the 

 climate, its position, or the nature of its food.— Richard Beck, in ' Quarterly Journal 

 of Microscopical Science? 



Notes on the Entomology of the Isle of Man. 

 By the Rev. Hugh A. Stowell, M.A. 



The Isle of Man has certainly hitherto had scant measure of justice 

 done to its Natural History. Edward Forbes catalogued its Mollusca, 

 and he and others have contributed a paper or two on its Flora; but 

 with these two exceptions, and a few scattered references in the works 

 of Yarrell, the page is still blank. Turning to the t Zoologist,' that 

 storehouse of local Natural-History lore, we find that four brief notices, 

 not occupying more than half a page collectively, — two of them orni- 

 thological, by Captain Hadfield, a third recording a large flight of 

 Vanessa Urticae on Christmas Eve, and the fourth noting the occur- 

 rence of a dark variety of Hydroporus 12-pustulatus, by the Rev. 

 Hamlet Clark, — are the sole contributions towards its Fauna which the 

 eighteen volumes of our familiar friend contain. Stephens' 'Manual' 

 just recognises its existence by noting it as a locality for Carabus 

 granulatus and the ruficeps var. of Harpalus fulvipes, both of which 

 still abound here. Mr. Stainton could glean no item of intelligence 

 about its Lepidopterous productions for his ' Manual.' No wonder 

 then that he bestows this piece of advice upon a correspondent, " The 

 island has been very little worked entomologically, but if you keep 



