124 
THE WEEKLY ENTOMOLOGIST. 
Demarniana may be beaten from the 
boughs ; Platypteryx Lucertala may 
also be so obtained. If there are no 
game keepers about we will take a 
short raid on the heath, leaving the 
gay Venilia Maculata to enjoy its 
gambols in the woodland glades. 
Panagra Petraria and Fidonia Ato- 
maria at once greet us ; but as we 
have been trespassing rather rashly, 
we had, perhaps, better betake our- 
selves to the safe and profitable ex- 
amination of the fence. Platypteryx 
Falcula is first boxed, then the ec- 
centric looking but elegant Grracil- 
laria Elongella is recognised, and 
shares the same fate. The common 
Dodoneata and Abbreviata represent 
the “ Pugs.” But let us diverge 
again into the road for a few 
minutes, turning through this gate 
on our right, down a gloomy avenue 
of larch. Tephrosia Biundularia at 
once rewards us, being a very strik- 
ing insect at rest, and the beating 
stick dislodges the very local Eu- 
pithecia Pusillata and Coccyx Stro- 
bilana. But having taken as many 
of these as we consider necessary, to- 
gether with a few Sivammerdammia 
Griseo-capitella , we are brought to 
the end of the fence, so we will re- 
fresh ourselves at the “ Fox,” at 
Shirley, and make the best of our 
way to Croydon or Norwood station, 
with the prospect of visiting the 
Shirley downs at no distant day. — 
Todd Flyshort. 
Diptera. 
Phytomyza Aquifolii. — I have this 
morning succeeded in hatching the 
fly that is instrumental in blotching 
the leaves of the common holly, and 
thus so seriously disfiguring the 
beauty of our native evergreen. Its 
history would seem to be as follows : 
at the end of May or the beginning 
of June the parent fly deposits one 
egg - or more in the young and tender 
leaves at the end of the shoot. The 
larva is soon hatched, and begins its 
mining operations, preying upon the 
pareuchyma of the leaves, and feed- 
ing in security below the surface. 
The tunnel increases with its growth, 
and in process of time becomes con- 
spicuous as a single blotch, whence a 
shaft is driven, not unfrequently 
towards the edge of the leaf. In 
this blotch the larva feeds through 
the winter, not assuming its pupal 
garments till the close of March or 
beginning of April, The larva is 
smooth, oval, yellowish white, with 
brownish head ; apodous as dipterous 
insects usually are. The pupa is 
light brown, adhering by one end to 
the epidermis of the leaf, which is 
thinner here than in the surround- 
ing parts. The imago is found in 
England, Scotland, and Ireland. Its 
characters are accurately given in 
Mr. Walker’s" Diptera Britannica,” 
Vol. II.; and an account of the 
economy of the fly appeared in the 
“ Revue et Magazin de Zoolagie,” 
for 1851, from the pen of M. 
