character as those extending along the Lancashire coast from Liverpool to the mouth of the Ribble, and it is a generally accepted theory that the river Mersey, within geologically recent times, used to empty itself into the sea considerably to the west of its present mouth; so that at one time the Wallasey coast-line was north of the river. The spread of the suburban residential districts round Liverpool, the growth of seaside resorts such as Hoylake and West Kirby, and the formation of golf-links all along the coast have destroyed a large portion of these sand-hills; but there are considerable stretches in both counties where the Lizard may still exist. The Sand Lizard is not known in Cumberland or Westmoreland, and, although many miles of the North Wales coast, from the mouth of the Dee westward, are, or were, similar in character to the Cheshire shores, I know of no record of the Sand-Lizard from the Principality. The evidence therefore shows that L. agilis, generally considered to be only an inhabitant of some of the southern counties, occurs in the north, on a strip of sand-hills bordering the Irish Sea, from the mouth of the Ribble to the outskirts of Liverpool, and, unless Byerley's and Gregson's specimens were incorrectly localized, on the Cheshire shore from West Kirby to New Brighton. Possibly some of the readers of 'The Zoologist' may be able to give information about existing specimens, or of recently captured examples of the Sand-Lizard in Cheshire.—T.A. Coward (Bowdon, Cheshire).
INSECTA.
A Dipterous Parasite in the Plumage of Birds.—I enclose herewith some flies which I obtained from among the plumage of a Blackbird caught in a net protecting raspberries on Aug. 5th last at Balcombe, in Sussex. I should be interested to know the name of the fly, and also if its habit of infesting the plumage of Blackbirds and Song-Thrushes is known.—Alfred T. Comber (3, Worcester Terrace, Reigate, Surrey).
[This fly has been identified as Ornithomyia avicularia by Mr. E.E. Austen, who has added the following note.—Ed.]
Ornithomyia avicularia, Linn.—This fly, a near ally of the so-called "Forest Fly" (Hippobosca equina, Linn.), which is exceedingly troublesome to Horses and Cattle in the New Forest, and of the Deer-Fly (Lipoptena cervi, Linn.), a parasite of the Roe- and Red-Deer, appears to occur indiscriminately in the plumage of most wild birds. The series in the collection of the British Museum includes examples from the Thrush, Red-backed Shrike, Wheatear, Whitethroat, Starling, Pheasant, Partridge, Red Grouse, Ryper (in N.W. Norway), Blackcock,
