85
REMARKS ON COLLECTING DIPTERA, WITH
NOTES ON THE DIPTERA OF EPPING
FOREST.
By E. BRUNETTI. With Additional Remarks by G. H. VERRALL, F.L.S.
[Read November 2nd, 1889.]
IN a paper of such limited length as this one must necessarily be,
it is of course impossible to give more than a few general re-
marks on the study of the Diptera or Two-winged Flies, but such as
they are they may be of some assistance to those endeavouring to
work up the British species of this much neglected order. Over a
twelvemonth ago I promised the Secretary of the Essex Field Club
to assist him in his compilation of the Entomological Fauna of
Epping Forest, by furnishing a list of the Diptera that I have
taken there, but having found it impossible to visit the Forest more
than once last season, and once the year before, the materials I have
to offer are meagre in the extreme, and for the present I must con-
fine myself chiefly to general hints on collecting.
The only two works of importance on British Diptera are
Curtis's "British Entomology" (1823-1840) and Walker's "Insecta
Britannica, Diptera" (1851 -6); but both works are faulty and in-
complete, and as a basis of operations Mr. Verrall's "List of British
Diptera" (1888: London, Pratt and Co., 15, Mill Street, Conduit
Street, W.) is the most important work ; it is, of course, only a list,
with no descriptive matter.1
1 [It may be useful to give the titles of and references to some of the more recent papers
published in England, of importance to the student of Diptera. Such are :—"On the arrange-
ment of the British Anthomyiidae," by R. H. Meade, Entom. Month. Mag., xi., pp. 199-203
and pp. 220-224—"Monograph of the British species of Sarcophaga, or Flesh-fly," by R. H.
Meade. Ent. M. M., xii., pp. 216-220 and pp. 260-68 -" List of British Syrphidae," by G. H.
Verrall, E. M. M., vi., pp. T73-6. Additions and Corrections to ditto, E. M. M. vii., pp. 200-3,
ix. App. 251-6, and pp. 201-6—"List of British Dolichopidae," by G. H. Verrall, E. M. M., xii.,
pp. 31-5 ; 142-8 ; 195-8 ; 245-8 ; 268-270—"List of the British Tipulidae with Tables and Notes,"
by G. H, Verrall, E, M. M., xxiii., pp. 117-125 ; 156-160; 205-9; 263-7; xxiv., pp. 108-112 ;
xxv., pp. 20-27 ; 97-99—"List of the British Stratiomyidae, with Analytical Tables and Notes,''
by E. Brunetti, ''Entomologist," xxii., pp. 81-6; 130-4—"Annotated List of British Antho-
myiidae," by R. H. Meade, E. M. M., vols, xviii., xix. and xx. ; Supplements to the same, vols.
xxiii. and xxv.—"British Tabanidae," by E. Brunetti, "Science Gossip," 1888, pp. 184-6.—
"British Gall-gnats," by E. A. Fitch, Entom, xiii., pp. r45-54 (a supplement will shortly appear)
—"Notes on some British Syrphi," by G. H. Verrall, E. M. M., v. 7-8 ; 190-194—"On British
Species of Platychirus" by G. H. Verrall, E. M. M., vii., 127-130—"On Species of Empis
allied to E. stercorea" by G. H. Verrall, E. M. M., viii., pp. 281-4—"On Musca hortorum,
Fallen, and allied Species," by R. H. Meade, E. M. M., xvii., pp. 22-28—"A Hundred New
British Species of Diptera," by G. H. Verrall, E. M. M., xxii., pp. 179-182 ; 199-202 ; 230-4—
Reference should also be made to Mr. Meade's notes on parasitic Diptera in the "Entomologist,"
vols, xiv., pp. 285-9 ; xv., P. 24 ; and in Entom. Monthly Mag. xvi., pp. 121-2. Mr. Brunetti
published three papers "On Collecting Diptera" in "Science Gossip" for 1887, pp. 11-12, 30,
and 56-57, which contain some very useful hints. There is a great want of a trustworthy
treatise on British Diptera, which the Ray Society would do well to satisfy.—Ed.]