46 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



In the ' Entomologist/ vol. 6 (1872 and 1873), we find that the 

 German entomologist Foerster added several new genera, about 

 some of which there appears to be a little doubt as to their occurrence 

 in Great Britain. Their names are as follows : Camptoptera, 

 Limacis, Gonatocerus, Doriclytus, and Stichothrix. I have not yet 

 captured the last two. 



The Rev. T. A. Marshall, M.A., F.L.S., under the title of 

 ' Hymenoptera Britannica,' gives a Hst of the British Mymaridae : 

 Oocfonus insignis, 0. vulgatus, 0. notatus, 0. hemipterus, Limacis 

 dimidiata, Litus cynipseus, Gonatocerus acuminata, G. pictus, G. 

 litoralis, G. fuscicornis and G. crassicornis, Alaptus minimus, A. 

 fusculus, Eustochus atripennis, Mymar pulchellus, Cosmocoma ovulorum, 

 C. fiavipes, C. fumipennis, C. pusilla, C. fuscipes, C. atrata, C. euchari- 

 formis, Caraphr actus cinctus, Anaphes fuscipennis, A. collinus, A. 

 longicornis, A. regulus, A. auripes, A. latipennis, A. punctum, Anagrus 

 atomus, A. incarnatus, A. ustulalus, A. fiavovarius. 



Strange to say, Foerster did not give any figures by which species 

 could be identified; long descriptions of these microscopic insects 

 are of little help to either young or old entomologists, and for some 

 years I could do little more than collect and mount specimens in 

 Canada balsam, which medium is the only one for permanent pre- 

 servation, though most of the natural colours are lost — but these can 

 be noted down before mounting. 



From 1876 to 1907 (thirty-one years) I was the sole entom.ologist 

 working up this hitherto much-neglected family of insects. In 1907 

 Mr. Charles Owen Waterhouse, I.S.O., late of the Natural History 

 Museum, commenced to collect the Mymaridae, and ever since has 

 helped me in naming the numerous new genera and species which we 

 have discovered. During a three years' sojourn at Woking (1882 

 to 1885) I was fortunate in discovering seven new genera, which 

 we have since named as follows : Stethynium triclavatum, male 

 and female ; Cleruchus pluteiis, male and female ; Parallelaptera 

 panis, male and female ; Erythmelus Goochi, male and female ; 

 Enaesius laticeps, female only ; Stephanodes elegans, male and female ; 

 Dicopiis minutissima, female only ; also at Richmond Park in 1908 

 Oophilus longicauda, males and females ; and last year in August 

 I added another altogether new to science, and which we christened 

 Neiirotes iridescens. Of this beautiful species I caught a male and a 

 female. ISIo doubt, were there more workers among this family, many 

 more new species would be added. 



The habits and economy of these Fairy Fhes are so cryptic that it 

 is a most difficult matter to follow them up, when circumstances prevent 

 one from making continuous observations upon insects which are 

 microscopic in size— all (so far as the writer knows) being ovivorous 

 in their habits. Searching for the eggs of Lepidoptera is no easy 

 matter, and my experience leads me to think that the Mymaridae 

 do not oviposit in the eggs either of Butterflies or Moths, but in 

 those of Homoptera, Hemiptera, and Coleoptera. The difficulty of 



