40
pressure in the British countryside over the
last century and a -few of the notable species
have declined quite dramatically.
Records to:-
Dr. E. Benton,
13 Priory Street,
Colchester, Essex,
C02 2PY.
2. Derek Smith, the Field Club Diptera
recorder, reports a fly new to Britain -from
Grays Chalk Quarry (TQ 609789). The -fly from
the family Empididae is a small predatory
species called Platypalpus biblobatus Heber.
The specimen would not run through J. E.
Collin's Key and it was eventually submitted to
Dr. Milan Chuala, the Czechoslovakian
Dipterist, who confirmed it as being
P. bilobatus, see Ent. Mon. Mag., Vol. 126
(1990), p. 59 (April, 1990). Derek Smith in
the same note lists a further twenty species of
the genus Platypalpus new to Esse;;.
3. M. W. Hanson reports the finding of a rare
wasp in Epping Forest. The wasp, a small,
black, solitary species, Stigmus pendulus
Panzer, is only the second specimen taken in
Britain and the first female. It was recorded
from Wanstead Flats in July 1989 (TQ 402867).
4. A 'Community Forest' is to be created in
Essex in the Hornchurch area. It was
officially launched in June, 1990 and will
cover 36 square miles, mainly east of