Observations 5 Part 1

25

OBSEKVATIONS.

OBSERVATIONS. ' T h e t i m e is comc,' t h c Huggist said, ' to talk of m a n y things : Of Butterflies, and Cossus-trees, a n d shining Beetles' wings.'

—Trcasurcr Elliott.

S Y L E H A M L A M P S . — T h o u g h usually r e g a r d e d f r o m a s u p e r stitious p o i n t of view, t h e r e can be n o t h i n g s u p e r n a t u r a l a b o u t ignis fatuus w h i c h , c o n s e q u e n t l y , falls w i t h i n a N a t u r a l i s t ' s purview. S o well is t h e w h o l e c o u n t r y d r a i n e d n o w that lack of any o b s e r v a t i o n s u p o n t h e subject in o u r T r a n s a c t i o n s is not surprising, n o r does t h e o c c u r r e n c e of W i l l - o ' - t h e - w i s p ever s e e m to have b e e n general in Suffolk : K i r b y r e m a r k s u p o n its rarity here a Century ago, and w a s inclined to t h e o p i n i o n that it was caused by s o m e Daddy-longlegs that had c h a n c e d to b e c o m e d a u b e d with a l u m i n o u s s u b s t a n c e , p e r h a p s p h o s p h o r e s c e n t w o o d , m a i n l y on data n o t e d by S h e p p a r d in N o r t h a n t s . B r a n d has an claborate, t e n - p a g e essay on t h e s u b j e c t in his ' P o p u l ä r A n t i q u i t i e s ' 1842, iii, 215, b u t arrives at n o derivation of t h e light ; nor does K n o w l s o n ' s 1916 c o n t i n u a t i o n ( O r i g i n s of P o p . S u p e r s t i t i o n s ) add to o u r knowledge : I d o not f i n d t h a t an a d e q u a t e one is yet established, b u t t h e c o m b u s t i o n of s u l p h u r e t t e d h y d r o g e n e m a nating f r o m decayed vegetable m a t t e r s e e m s t h a t m o s t usually accepted. Is t h e r e any local origin for G o u g h ' s assertion t h a t " in t h e low g r o u n d s [of t h e W a v e n e y Valley] at S y l e h a m , j u s t by Wingfield in Suffolk, are t h e Ignes fatui, c o m m o n l y called S y l e h a m L a m p s , t h e t e r r o r a n d d e s t r u c t i o n of travellers a n d even of t h e inhabitants, w h o are f r e q u e n t l y misled by t h e m " (ed. C a m d e n ii, 90), mis-spelled ' Sylens ' in Reginald S c o t ' s Discovery, p. 85.

C R A G ' S W E S T W A R D L I M I T . — T h o u g h t h e Red frag extends up river-valleys to C h a r s f i e l d a n d I ' a r h a m , it is rarely exposed west of the m a i n railway-line to Beccles ; and w h e n this does o c c u r , it is always so c o m m i n u t e d as to be hardly w o r t h working for fossils. S u c h I f o u n d to b e t h e case w h e n , last April, 1 Struck it a h u n d r e d y a r d s east of t h i s line in t h e Ore-valley, close to t h a t line'sjunction with the Framlingham-branch.

Here the Crag was i m m e d i a t e l y u n d e r Pleistocene Sand and b u t f o u r feet a b o v e alluvium t h a t gave m e t h e f i n e base of a Red D e e r ' s antler (Cervus elaphrus, L.), t h e b r o w - h o r n of which was eight inches long ; b u t only nine i n c h e s of t h e m a i n s h a f t r e m a i n e d , i n c l u d i n g t h e p e r f e c t

26

OBSERVATIONS.

pedicle. T h e b r o k e n Pliocene bivalves, s h o w n by a close s c r u t i n y , consisted of only a h a l f - d o z e n species :—Pecten maximus and opercularis L., Teilina obliqua, S o w . and Balthica, L., Mactra ovalis, S o w . a n d one o t h e r i n d e t e r m i n a b l e f r a g m e n t . O v e r t h e m , t h e Glacial-sand c o n t a i n e d p e b b l e s o { Q u a r t s that was veined w i t h iron, strigated Q u a r t z , s o m e Flints and an u n u s u a l q u a n t i t y of c r i m s o n , highly w e a t h e r e d corsite of Sandstone.

Red C r a g , s h o w i n g Cardita senilis, L a m . , Teilina crassa, G m . & Balanophyllia caliculus, W d . , o u t c r o p s at s o u t h edge of Bentley Woods.—CLAUDE MORLEY. VALLEY-GRAVEL.—Many test-holes, w h o s e Gravel a n d S a n d are b e i n g exploited for r o a d - m e n d i n g , have been o p e n e d d u r i n g the last few m o n t h s along the road on K n e t t i s h a l l H e a t h ; a n d later a very large pit of t h e kind has been excavated close to t h e s a m e road q u i t e in H o p t o n village. T h e s e s h o u l d be of considerable fascination to o u r G e o l o g i s t s . — C . C. T . GII.ES ; 24 M a y .

A NEW SUFFOLK LICHEN.—Years ago M r . D a w s o n T u r n e r in ' English Botany ' n o t e d a species of Lecidea f r o m old walls in G o r l e s t o n that was later d e s c r i b e d as Acarospora rufescens by M a g n u s s o n f r o m an example in M u s . Brit. h e r b a r i u m .

Enterographa crassa, F e e , recorded by M a y f i e l d f r o m M e n d l e s h a m ( J o u r n . I p s . F. C l u b v, 1816, p. 40) is placed in t h e g e n u s Chiodecton by Z a h l b r u c k n e r , a n d has been o b s e r v e d near G o r l e s t o n c e m e t e r y . — R . BURN in W i l d L i f e 1936.

IN N E . SUFFOLK.—Campanula rapuneuloides p u t u p a good s h o w t h i s year along a b a n k at F r i t t o n , by t h e main road a n d near t h e h o u s e w h e r e Sir Francis Palgrave u s e d to live.

Sisymbrium altissimum, L . [ i n t r o d u c e d : cf. T r a n s , ii, 173—Ed.], a s h a b b y looking plant that promises to increase, is f r e q u e n t a m o n g t h e S o u t h t o w n yards, g r o w i n g rapidly in t h e b r o k e n j o i n t s of concrete paving. T h e o u t s t a n d i n g i t e m of Insect life this season has been t h e e n o r m o u s n u m b e r s of Small W h i t e a n d Vanessa Urtica Butterflies : w h y t h e latter c a m e in s u c h c r o w d s is not a p p a r e n t .

Several V. C-album a c c o m p a n i e d t h e m . O n 7 A u g . I f o u n d t h e Beetle Silpha thoracica alive in F r i t t o n ; b u t I have been u n a b l e to lay h a n d s on a single Natterjack Toad : p e r h a p s because I told a visitor, c u r a t o r of B r a d f o r d M u s e u m , that they were c o m m o n h e r e ! T h e Y a r m o u t h N atural H i s t o r y Society is not d e a d , t h o u g h s o u n d l y s o m n o l e n t : M r . T r e a s u r e r B r u n n i n g is a m o n g o u r very live m e m b e r s a n d we possess a substantial nest-egg. T h e d e a t h of M r . H . E. H u r r e l l is severely feit a m o n g local m e m b e r s . — P. E. RUMBELOW, Y a r m o u t h ; 1 N o v .

T v v o UNUSUAL PLANTS.—Two or t h r e e [seven were p r e s e n t by 1 9 t h . — E d . ] f l o w e r i n g rods a c o u p l e of feet high of G r o m w e l l IJthospermum officinale L., t h a t is t e r m e d local at o u r T r a n s , iii, p. eiv, were f o u n d growing in t h e cartway of M o n k s S o h a m u n m e t a l l c d ' lanes ' on 3 J u n e last ; 1 never saw it d u i i n g t h i i t y year's

OBSERVATIONS.

27

residence there before. And in an abutting rough pasture, füll of Oxeye-daisies and Restharrow, was a strong patch of Quake-grass, Briza media, L., said to be distributed through all Britain but certainly now rare on our Boulder-clay, where children habitually call it ' Beetle-grass.'—GRACE W A T S O N ; Tissington, Derby, 8 June. [The former was growing profusely in the disgracefully neglected graveyard of Linstead Magna Church on 24 of that month.—Ed.] SUFFOLK F R U I T I N G OF OSAGE O R A N G E . — O u r M e m b e r , Mr. C. C. Nesling, wrote on 3 October last that he had obtained from west Higham a most curious Fruit, somewhat resembling but distinct from that of the Bread-fruit Tree. T h i s we advised him to send for identification to our Exotic Botany Recorder, who reports as follows.—HON. SECRETARY. [The interesting specimen is related on the one hand to the tropical Bread Fruit (Artocarpus incisus), which rarely ripens in England even when kept close, in very high temperature, with ample water, and on the other to the Common Orange (Citrus aurantium) ; it is known as the Osage Orange, from the central USA. city of that name. Scientifically it was termed Maclura aurantiaca after the nearctic geologist William Maclure, 1 7 6 3 - 1 8 4 0 . T h i s tree was introduced into England during 1818, belongs to the order Urticaceae and, though usually hardy here, I have never heard of a Suffolk instance of its fruiting before. Upon learning that the above specimen came from Higham, west of Burv, I asked my friend Mr. Smith of the Station there about it, and he was good enough to send me a small branch bearing fruit, which I have photographed for Members' benefit. T h e fruit is globular, broadly granulated all over, of a bright yellow-green colour, and about ten inches in circumference, covered with brown hairs that are shed as maturity approaches.

T h e leaves are typically those of Oranges. O u r two, male and female, trees in Higham-station garden fruit freely every year. I happen to recognise the species because some time ago fruit from the same trees was sent to both Kew Gardens and Cambridge, where it was thus named and asserted that no other specimen was then known to have fruited in England. Hence the fact of its annually doing so in Suffolk is well worthy of placing upon record.

—E.

W.

PLATTEN,

F.R.H.S.;

7 Oct.

1942.]

FOXGLOVE'S CURIOUS F A S C I A T I O N . — A n extraordinary Digitalis purpurca, L., in my Wickhambrook garden has grown a spike of normal flowers, crowned by one enormous open bell-shaped flower as though a dozen or more normal ones were split open and their freckled tongues joined to make one ; its numerous spots and piain purple back form a very handsome blossom. I suppose it a sort of fasciation, frequent in various plants here, though no trace of it shows in the stem. I think I have Seen similar Foxgloves ; it certainly strikes one as a curiosity. T h e production

28

OBSERVATIONS.

of our ' Transactions ' is a great achievement this year : I congratulate all concerned most heartily.—DULCIE L . S M I T H , Giffards Hall ; 20 June.

Iilackstonia perfoliata, H U D S . — I recently found a small group of Yellow Wort, Chlora perfoliata, growing in Dunwich Lane at Heveningham, by the roadside and just about to flower. I have never noticed it in the Haiesworth District before.—(Dr) M E L V I L L F H O C K E N , 5 July.

[It occurs in just half the Biitish stations, but is not well known. Hind locates it in N E . Sutfolk atonly Bungay.S. Elmham, Hoxne, Glemham, Rendham, Yoxford].

T H R E E INTERESTING PLANTS.—Lathyrus Nissolia, L . (Trans, iv, 243), I first found in 1928 on a bank at Beiton C o m m o n ; I have seen it upon several later occasions at the same place (J. L . M O O R E ) .

It is not really rare but what the late Revd. E. N . Bloomfield would term ' locally common.' It still grows about Felixstow on sandy meadovvs and the edges of banks and ditches, but only those liable to flooding. [This is especially interesting as it has not been noticed thence since its inclusion in M r . L . W. Notcutt's List of Plants (Phytologist, vol. i, old series, before 1860).—Ed.] In a marsh at Badley on 21 June I noted a very pale blush-pink colour-form of Lychnis flos-cuculi, L., a most beautiful Ragged Robin. And in Bentley Woods, among masses of the usual form on 25 May, discovered an Anemone that at first I expected to be new to me, to Sutfolk, and perhaps even to Science, so distinet was its appearance. It measures two inches across the flower which is a curiously dead-white, with just a purple eye ; each leaf is three times more ternate than is usual in Anemone nemorosa, L., conglomerated with very congested overlapping. However, one cannot doubt M r . Simpson right in regarding it as no more than a freak of the plants among which it grew.—E. W . P L A T T E N .

T R E E S ' AGES.—The Scots Pine sometimes attains 700 years ; Silier Fir usuallv about 425 ; Lorch averages 275 ; Beech 245 ; Aspen 210 ; Birch 200 ; Ash 170; Eider 145 ; Elm 130 ; a Holly near Aschaffenburg in Germany is credited with over 400 ; heart of Oak-trees begins to decay at about 300, but its extinetion is very gradual. T h e annual rings of a gigantic Reduood, felled in California, shovved that it began to grow in A.D. 550 (just when Saxon Suffolk history opens with the ascension of the East Anglian throne by King W u f f a ) ; its height was 350 feet, and basal circumference ninety.—Daily Paper.

L A R G E ASPENS.—Yes, M r . Allan, ccrtainly Sutfolk can exceed the Herts Populus tremula of under 9 feet in girth at five above ground (Trans, iv, 246). T h e soil of the Breck seems peculiarly suitable to this Tree, and I know a good many examplcs that seem larger here ; but one instance will sutfice :—in my own garden

OBSERVATION«.

20

a t F a k e n h a m P a r v a Olcl R e c t o r y , six m i l e s S S E . f r o m T h e t f o r d , is a s p e c i m e n d i s t i n c t l y o v e r f o u r t e e n fcet in c i r c u m f e r e n c c at the s a m c h e i g h t , a n d r i s e s "about s e v e n t y feet.— REDMOND 15.

CATON, 21

May.

SUFFOLK OAK-TREES ( T r a n s , iv, 2 4 4 ) : HUNTINGFIELD : — T h c D o m c s d a y - h o o k W a l t e r F i t z A u b r e y ' s d e s c e n d a n t s , thc h a r o n s d e H u n t i n g f i e l d , held this m a n o r tili t h e i r h e i r s m a l e failed in 1376.

U n t i l it w a s d e m o l i s h e d a b o u t 1770, " the a n c i e n t m a n s i o n b e s i d c the P a r k [ m e n t i o n e d b e f o r e 1316 ( P a t . R o l l s , 7 E d w . ii)] w a s a r o m a n t i c b a r o n i a l r e s i d e n t e , w i t h a gallery c o n t i n u e d the w h o l e length o f the b u i l d i n g a n d o p e n i n g lipon a b a l c o n y o v e r the p o r c h .

Its G r e a t H a l l w a s b u i l t r o u n d six s t r a i g h t a n d m a s s y oaks, w h i c h u p h e l d t h e r o o f as t h e y g r e w a n d u p o n w h i c h t h e f o r e s t e r s a n d y e o m a n of o l d e n t i m e s u s e d to h a n g their c r o s s - b o w s a n d h u n t i n g poles.

Q u e e n E l i z a b e t h w a s e n t e r t a i n e d here " a n d o n c e s h o t a buck f r o m behind the following Oak (White).

How necromantic s o e v e r t h e live o a k s w i t h i n thc H a l l m a y be, it is s t a t e d that " Q u e e n E l i z a b e t h ' s O a k is t h i r t y - f o u r feet in girth at f i v e , a n d n e a r l y t h i r t y - t h r e e at s e v e n , feet f r o m t h e g r o u n d " ( D a v v ' s L e t t e r s i, 2 4 6 ; S u f f . L i t . C h r o n . 1838, p. 21 ; N o t e s & Q . 6 s e r . xi, 386 & 4 9 8 ; xii, 5 6 ) , t h o u g h in 1025 m o r i b u n d . — R a n g i n g c a s u a l l y t h r o u g h the e r s t w h i l e P a r k , I c h a n c e d u p o n this v e n e r a b l e t r e e 2 3 r d o f last J u n e a n d t o o k the o p p o r t u n i t y to m a k e c a r e f u l measurements.

It is riven d o w n the c e n t r e ; the eastern m o i e t y , w h i c h is d e a d , lies p r o n e a n d its e x t e r n a l s e m i - c i r c u m f e r e n c e is 13 feet e x a c t l y ; t h e w e s t e r n half vet lives, p i n e - p r o p p e d and c h a i n e d , g i v i n g 14 feet e x t e r n a l l y .

T h u s t h e e n t i r e t r u n k at f i v e feet h i g h is 27 feet r o u n d , i.e. f o u r feet m o r e t h a n the N o r m a n ' H u r l e s t o n e ' O a k , a n d q u i t e the l a r g e s t O a k n o w r e c o r d e d to b e r e m a i n i n g in S u f f o l k .

I h a v e f o u n d o n e o n the h i g h e s t g r o u n d o f H e v e n i n g h a m P a r k , N E . of the H a l l , of 21 feet 2 i n c h e s .

There, near the L a k e , is an Alder tree of 8 feet 10 i n c h e s ; o n e o v e r h a n g i n g the R i v e r D e b e n at B r a n d e s t o n , is 7 feet 8 in. n e a r which are twin t r u n k s f r o m a s i n g l e r o o t , each m e a s u r i n g j u s t 6 feet, as I n o t e d last September.—-CLAUDE MORLEY. A LARVA; AND SICK E L M S . — C a n y o u teil m c (1) w h a t is the n a m e a n d n a t u r e of a b l a c k , b a r r e d with g o l d , s m a l l C a t e r p i l l a r , a b o u t an inch l o n g , n o w d i s p o r t i n g itself u n d e r the f r u i t t r e e s t h o u g h n o t , so f a r as m y g a r d e n e r a n d I can d i s c o v e r , on the t r e e s .

I s it a p e s t or a b l e s s i n g ? [ C e r t a i n l v that of Tyria Jacobaer, L. ( M e m o i r 1837, 14), j u s t n o w c o m m o n e v e r y w h e r e on R a g w o r t leaves, a m e r e w e e d in g a r d e n s w h i c h it is b e n e f i c i a l in r e d u c i n g . — E d . ] ( 2 ) S o m e of m y E l m s , a n d a l s o s o m e of m y n e i g h b o u r s ' , h a v e t h e i r t o p s m u c h d e f o l i a t e d . T h e d i s e a s e , if d i s c a s e it b e , is not at all s i m i l a r to t h e D u t c h E l m D i s e a s e ; it s e e m s t o a f f e c t only the t o p b r a n c h e s a n d m a y b e d u e to C a t e r p i l l a r s , b u t t h e r e

30

OBSERVATIONS.

is no sign of them below the trees and the affected branches sre too high up to be got at by an ordinary mortal such as— ULLSWATER Campsea Ashe, 1 3 July.

E L M - D I S E A S E IN N E . SUFFOLK.—Düring my journeys in this part of the County last spring, the sorry and semileafless condition of many Elm-trees was forced upon my Observation. At first I suspected their State due to caterpillars' attack ; but closer inspection negatived the supposition, for many ot the^ terminal branches had failed to produce any signs of leaves.

1 hat this State is spread over a wide area I ascertained by numerous examinations and the reeeption by our Society of many enquines respecting its cause. A severe attack of Elm-disease appeared the most obvious reply, though other contributary ones are quite possible One writer suggested that the unusua! amount of mast produced this year bore off vitalitv necessary to leaf-formation.

T w o peculiarly cold winters and a cold dry spring are likely to have set u p conditions of abnormal growth : and I have noticed Poplartrees at Kessingland D a m in a similar semileafless State throughout the present summer. While it is to be hoped that such suggestions account for at least a part of the deplorably moribund existence, one cannot blink the undoubted fact that Elm-disease expands in the district, though definite proof of it is obtainable only by inspection of individual trees. T h i s ' D u t c h ' disease is conveyed by the F u n g u s Ophiostoma [Graphium] ulmi (see the bociety s Report at Trans, i, 219 ; iii, 75, See. M u c h information is in the 1928 Leaflet no. 19 of the Forestry Commission), causing dieback and defoliation in infected branches, a cross-section of which shows brown spots, that frequently coalesce, in the wood s outer rings nearest the bark. These spots are evident in the spring wood of the annual rings ; their absence demonstrating some other cause for the die-back. If the tree does not succumb in a Single year, it is likely to survive, because the Fungus expenences great difficultv in traversing from one annual ring to the next : unless, of course, it suffers renewed attacks. T h e Fungus flounshes in the wood's discoloured vessels, and is apt to form minute fructifications, bearing microscopic spores, upon any exposed surface of dead wood, such as fractured tips of dead twigs or Beetle-bonngs in dead bark. T h e latter would seem an important fulcrum for the disease, as the Elm-bark Beetles Eccoptogaster scolytus, Fab. and F.. multistriatus, Msh., have now been proved the p n m e agents of the Fungus' dissemination by providing suitable sporebases. T h e i r larvae gnaw borings through the underside of the bark of sick Elms' stem or larger branches and, when mature attain through similar holes to the outer air. Such newly-emerged Beetles are apt to carrv fatal Fungus-spores from their own infected tree by flving with them, in- or ex-ternally, to healthy trees that are thus infected. These Beetles themselves never bore

OB3FRVATIONS.

31

into healthy trees, but attack those recently fallen or already weakened by tliis or some other disease ; nor do they ever attack aught but the bark, which consequently alone need be removed from any such fallen Elm, to avoid the Beetles' presence and their dissemination of the Fungus. N o eure is yet discovered ; but, as recovery quite frequently takes place by the F u n g u s ' failure to traverse the annual rings, it is well not to destroy slightly affected Elms, until actually dead.—P. J. BURTON, Lowestoft ; 13 Sept.

WORM IN GYR-FALCON.—The London taxidermist, to w h o m I sent a dead, healthy and liceless G y r Falcon (Falco rusticolus, L.) in M a y 1940 to be made into a cabinet skin, returned me the enclosed Red W o r m , about 3 inches long by J-inch thick. He stated that it was found in the Bird's crop, not gizzard which was quite empty ; the former was equally emptv, excepting this W o r m which was lying unattached. I have had m u c h to do with all sorts of Hawks and Falcons f r o m many lands ; and this is the first W o r m j have seen from their crops. Can it travel between crop and zzard or intestines ? Hawk's gizzards are not quite like those other birds, which require grit—C. C. T . GII.ES, Hopton near pfhelnetham ; 6 June. [ T h e enclosed spirit speeimen, evidently I ot a Suffolk one, has a very tough and apparently unsegmented nkin, with neither head nor tail. It looks like nothing so much as she parasitic Nematoda T h r e a d - w o r m (Trans, iv, p. 228) Ascaris rColumba- (See Latter, Nat. Hist. Com. Animal. 1904, 321) or possibly A. nigrivenosa, frequent in lungs of Frogs and Toads, into whose alimentary canal their eggs pass ; thence their voung are voided among m u d or water, which is swallowed by other of these Amphibians and the life-cycle repeated. Its sole relation to the Falcon was that of dinner to diner.—Ed.], A DOG -TICK.—The enclosed fine Ixodes hexagonus, Leach (I'rans. iv, 168), of 12 m m . in length, has just been found by a visitor crawling on a cottage doorstep here. —ARTHUR B. HURRELL, Mendlesham ; 25 Sept.

IRISH SPIDER IN S U F F O L K . — I n a r a m i f i c a t i o n o f d e n s e a n d

dirty

webs above the door of a neglected outhouse in the Shipmeadow marshes of the Waveney on 8 J u n e 1941, I found Spiders so large as to have come under even the occupants' Classification by the name of ' Henrys.' O n e of these was recently despatched to the Revd. D r . Hull for determination.—P. J. BURTON ; 7 Aug. 1942.

[A lens speedily upset mv first diagnosis that this was Tegenaria Urica, for the breastplate and dorsal markings would not fit, though the long spinners are orthodox. T h e n , under the microscope, the genitalia showed it to be T. larra, Sim., whose known distribution is restricted, according to my notes, to Dublin, Wick|ow and Galway, in houses and on rocks ; south Lancashirc, mdoors." Now also Suffolk, so add it at Trans, iv, p. 160.—J. E. HULL].

OBSF.RVATIONS.

32

A CURIOUS SPIDERS-NEST.—I was home at Glemham Magna last week and in Saxmundham was summoned to look at and diagnose a Spider sitting upon a nest. The latter was nearly spherical and about 1| inches in diameter, made of rather loosely woven web, upon which were attached lumps of plaster, pieces of card-board, &c. The whole was enclosed by a larger looserwoven mass of web, about seven inches in diameter, covering the inner nest like a tumulus. Upon the top of the inner one a large Spider was sitting, with legs rising vertically from body, thence spreading laterally and finally descending vertically to the web.

What was it ? — C R A N B R O O K , Corpus Christi College, Cambridge ; 9 July. [Lord Cranbrook's Spider is Tegenaria parietina, Frc. (Trans, iii, 76 & iv, 160) ; both plaster and cardboard, and its stance are characteristic. The first I ever possessed came from Hadleigh in Suffolk ! — R E V D . D R . J . E. H U L L , Beiford Vicarage, Northumberland ; 20 July], HARVEST M I T E (Trans, iii, 183).—It seems a very long time ago that lumps were raised behind my knees by a creature which burrows under the skin, apparently lives there for ten or fourteen days, and then works its way out again, both arrival and departure causing terrible irritation. This was the Harvest Mite [ M i c r o thrombidium autumnalis, auct. : NEW to Suffolk], and attacked me in barley-fields at Wickham Market. The matter was recalled to my mind by its repetition this year upon a newly-arrived lady, as well as myself, at Mariesford.—(Miss) N A N C Y CRACKNELL ; 2 3 Aug. M I T E S NEW TO S U F F O L K . — T o our Arachnida list (Trans, iv, 173) we may now add the two Phytoptids Heliacseus populi, Nal. and Phytoptus tremulce, for the former's characteristic small, red, wart-like galls were common on the upper discs of Aspen leaves, a few of whose twigs were short with crumpled and discoloured leaves caused by the latter, in Bentley Woods on 8 July last.— CLAUDE

MORLEY.

Staphylinus erythropterns, Linn., &c., I N S P H A G N U M - M O S S . — Stephens recorded this rare Beetle in 1830 from ' Suffolk,' doubtless taken by Revd. William Kirby who was working the family in 1805 and is the only Heros Entomologicus then known to collect in the Waveney Valley, probably in August 1806 when he walked up our coast from Walton to Lowestoft ' solus cum solo Rangero ' (Freeman's Life 230, 279). Another specimen occured that month to Dr. Garneys at Aldeburgh in 1871. But no more appeared tili one Was secured, while running in the sun among aquatic plants, by the Waveney at Oulton Broad on 6 May 1924, by Mr. Doughty ; at this time we were so elated that he and I worked the same spot, then wet enough to be approachable by only a boat, on the same

OBSERVATIONS.

33

date next year and captured five more.—On 15 July last, I brought home two bagsful of Sphagnum spp. from different parts of T h e l nctham Fen on the Waveney, twenty miles further west ; and was delighted to find in each bag S. erythropterus, which has been noted but once in Norfolk as ' rare, Horning, June 1888 ' (Trans. Norf.

Soc. v, 455) and recorded elsewhere in England from only Ilants in Sphagnum, Dorset, Devon, Warwick, Staffs, Derby, Yorks, Lancs, Cumberland and N h u m b e r l a n d . — W i t h it in the T h e l netham bags occurred curiously few other Beetles, for most of which July is too late in that pabulum :—Pterostichus strenuus and diligens, Chatarthria seminulum, several Coelostoma orbiculare, Quedius molochinus, Oxytelus rugosus, one minute Scvdmaenid who escaped, Ptenidium fuscicorne and a couple (teste Dr. Blair) of Trichopteryx thoracica, Will., which is NEW to Suffolk. T h e r e were one Grasshopper Tettix bipunctata and one larva of some Stratiomyid Flv, the only other Dipteron being a single puparium, which on 31st disclosed a typical male Sciara Thomae, L., whose abdomen in life is laterally flavous.* T h e commonest Insect present was the Heteropteron Hebrus ruficeps.

T h e enclosed Spiders were not collected ; but both the red Mites are T h r o m bidiidae NEW to Suffolk, Smaris expalpis, Herrn, and Enemothrombium pexatum, Koch (teste Hull ; add at Trans, iv, p. 170). All the half-dozen Woodlice belonged to Ligidium hypnorum, Cuv., a species hitherto supposed rare but now known to abound in E Anglian fens (cf. Norf. Nat. Soc. 1941, p. 282 ; N E W to Suffolk, Trans, iv, p. 29). W o r m s are Eiseniella tetradra, Sav. (teste Mayfield) and an indeterminable Nematoda Thread-worm— CLAUDE MORLEY.

LADYBIRD'S E G G S . — C a n you teil me which of the Coccinellid beetles lays batches of eggs, of which I enclose a sample ? W h e n 1 found them, I thought they were eggs of a large M o t h ; and was much surprised by the l a r v a that emerged and were not active like most Ladybird ones, but kept together in a clump for several days : I could find no imagines. Soon after being found a single black line becomes visible through the egg-shell, then this becomes enclosed by an outlined black delta, just above which next appear two bright red spots. When larva; emerge the spots disappear,

1 so-) P A ' E ' e . s t a c e o u s p u p a r i u m d i f f e r s f r o m t h a t f i g u r e d in T h e o b a l d ' s h u B n t i . s h Flies,' P- 97, in h a v i n g n o capital h o r n s b u t t h e a n t e n n a l Sheaths e n t i r e l y f r e e , s t r o n g l y setaceous t h r o u g h o u t a n d e x t e n d i n g b a c k - a r d s h a r d l y b c y o n d t h o r a c i c base, t h e eyes are vertically c o r n u t e , a p i c e s ot all six legs f o r m a c o m p a c t t r a n s v e r s e r o w slightly b e y o n d alar apices, with t h o s e of f r o n t legs a little s h o r t e r t h a n p o s t e r i o r o n e s ; e i g h t , n o t seven, a b d o m i n a l s e g m e n t s are visible, of w h i c h 2 n d - 5 t h are laterally i m p r e s s e d b e l o w t h e i r m a r g i n a n d 6 t h - 8 t h d e e p l y e m a r g i n a t e ; its l e n g t h IS barely 5 m m . T h e i m a g o e m e r g e d v e n t r a l l y ' f r o m b e t w e e n h e a d a n d

thorax.—C.M. D

34

OBSERVATIONS.

but the line and delta remain upon the empty shell, suggesting that ecdysis takes place inside the shell just before emergence.— O S W A L D H . LATTER, M.A., Godalming ; 15 July.

[The batch of 27 pure white eggs received are each J-mm. in diameter and two small larvse attached to it appear identical with larger ones in our collection, whence Father Perry bred by the Thames several Chilocoris similis, Ross. After the empty eggshells have shrivelled, all the above markings usually disappear, though all the black ones are still sometimes plainly visible.—Ed.].

T H E N E W LADYBIRD E S T A B L I S H E D . — F r o m stone steps below a Scots-pine at Haiesworth Hospital beside Stone Street, on 10 June last, I was fortunate enough to pick up a specimen of the new British Coccinella A-punctata, Pont. (cf. Trans, iv, 247). Another I found in Holton village on 10 Oct., sitting upon a white-painted cottage gate-post between the Nelson Inn and a clump of Scots-pines.

Visits of our Members to Blythburgh in early April, late June and late July, as well as a superficial search in the Hospital garden on 30 June, revealed no more (MELVILLE H O C K E N ) . In Haiesworth Hospital grounds a thorough beat of Pines and Yews on 12 Oct. dislodged no Ladybirds. On 11 Oct. 1942 the main Blythburgh Wood drew blank, as on 5 Oct. 1941 ; but, later that day, the very first branch attacked in Spruce Covert yielded a heavily-marked C. A-punctata and others continued to fall to the beating-stick tili over a dozen had been tubed, and the species thus at last thoroughly proved to be British. T h e day was sunny and very warm with stifT westerly breeze. T h e capture of yet another, on Austrianpine in Heveningham Park the previous day, gives its known indigenous triangular ränge from Blythbro on east 1 \ miles to Heveningham on west and 6J to Haiesworth on north-west, which two latter places are 3J miles apart ( H O N . SECRETARY).

ANTHRENUS BEETLE P E S T I L E N T . — T h e prettily spotted Anthrenus verbasci, L. (varius, F.), though apparently quite innocuous, was a plague in the town of Needham Market at the end of last June : thousands of them crowded upon every flower-head, darkened windows, flew on to doors and drowned themselves in water-butts.

•—E. W . PLATTEN. [Mixed with them, were received from him only two specimens of the much commoner A.fuscus, O l . (claviger, Er.), always to be found on flowers in July. Usually the former is so infrequent, in Scotland very rare, that Fowler instances only nine localities in Britain. But on 12 June 1894 Harry Eaton gave us a score that were working havoc upon a stuffed Bird in Ipswich Museum, and in Ipswich on 22 April 1898 several bred out of Insects that their larvse had masticated in our own collection.—Ed.]

OBSERVATIONS.

35

Malachius spp. IN 1 9 4 2 . — M . bipustulatus, L., abounded in Bentley Woods on 25 May, and was unusually numerous all round Needham during June last (E. W. PLATTEN). [At M o n k s Soham, where it has never occurred to us before during forty years, the lovely scarlet M. aneus, L., was noticed on flowers of Chserophyllum during 6-8 June in garden, on diningroom window 16 June, and on those of Heracleum in paddock on 14 July last.

M. marginellus, O l . , " has occurred on the coasts of Suffolk, Norfolk," &c,'before 1830 (Ste. III. M a n d . iii, 313), which is quoted in 1893

by Edwards who then adds nothing for Norfolk ; nor has it been rediscovered in Suffolk tili mid-July last, when a few were swept by us in a marsh at T h e l n e t h a m Fen ; but it is neither a fen nor cöast species, for we have taken it freely near Faversham in Kent in former years. One regrets that temporary restrictions preclude a search on the Norfolk coast for M . Barnevillii, Put. and vulneratus, Ab. ; or at Brandon for M. (A.) ruficollis, O l . , found only there in our County in July : by C m d r . Walker in 1885 and M r .

Brockton T o m l i n in 1904.—Ed.].

BEETLES, &C, IN SUMMER F U N G I . — I n a few broad discs of Boletus edulis, Bul., seven feet high on a small old tree at the north entrance to Bentley Woods on b o t h 30 M a y and 8 July last, I discovered the Coleoptera :—Gyrophcena laevipennis, Kr. and G. affinis, M a n . ; Boletobius lunulatus, L . ; Quedius cinctus, Pyk. ; Liodes humeralis, Kug. ; Dacne rufifrons, Fab. ; Cychramusfungicola, H r . ; Mycetophagus 4-pustidatus, L. ; M. piceus, Fab. (the first noted in Suffolk since 1895), & multipunctatus, Hellw. ; Triphyllus suturalis & punctatus, Fab. ; Cis bidentatus, O l . ; and one Magdalis armigera, Frc., never seen in fungi by me before. W i t h t h e m occurred some males of the Alysiid Bracon Prosapha speculum, Hai. (Entom.

1933, p. 183), obviously parasitic upon Dipterous larvae feeding in the fungus, possibly those of the numerous Drosophila vibrissina, Dud., NEW to Suffolk, few Piatypesa furcata, Fall., and Chloropisca obscurella, Zet., imagines of which were also present.

Association of their parasites with fungivorous Insects has rarely been observed, and direct breeding hardly e v e r . — C L A U D E MORLEY. —On 7 June last, I took a long series of Gyrophana strictula, Er. [NEW to Suffolk], in a Polyporus (probably Daedalea quercina, P.) at Huntingfield, along with Dacne rufifrons & bipustulata, T h n b . , and Epurea deleta, St. And on 24th the H o n . Secretary and I found in another kind of Polyporus on Black Poplar at the Linstead ponds, D. rufifrons in plenty, Anthobium minutum, F. and innumerable Scaphisoma boleti, Pz.—MELVILLE HOCKEN.—One male Tinea corticella, Ct., was sitting below a Polyporus on Beech in Blythburgh Wood on 28 July l a s t . — J A C K GODDARD.

36

OBSERVATIONS.

BEETLES, &C, IN AUTUMN FUNGUS.—On an u n u s u a l l y old C r a c k

Willow, Salix fragilis, L., I found a huge growth about a yard in diameter of the Sulphur Bracket Polyporus sulphureus, Fr., that on 2 Sept. seemed so ' füll of life ' that I conveyed home upon my hack as much as my hutterfly-net would contain. T h e ' life ' it later yielded, and that ran about the study table in every direction, consisted of the Beetles : many Dacne rufifrons, F., and its white larvse with two reflexed hooks on the tail and paired spines adown its back ; a few Triphyllus suturalis, F. and Mycetophaguspiceus, F., whose elongate nigrescent larvae or those of the numerous M. A-pustulatus, L., are great pace-makers ; and larvas only of the rare Trinod.es hirtus, F., which resemble Ctesias serra b u t are covered with long black hairs to ward off mildewing moisture : this species is unnoticed in Suffolk since M r . Fred. Fox took it at Coddenham about 1896 ; it is pretty surely a mere scavenger in other Beetles' burrows, and Dr. Blair had seen no larvse alive before these (cf. him in E M M . 1941, p. 16). T h e most numerous Insect was Eltdona agaricola, Hb., along with its sluggish flat shiny-white larva; which the British M u s e u m did not possess, a very local Beetle that seems confined to this kind of fungus on Willows (the Norfolk record ' on Oaks ' is doubtless incorrect, but I have taken it on Willows at Horning Ferry), from which over a h u n d r e d specimens emerged at Barton Mills in Oct.1941 (Trans, iv, p. cxxxvii). T h e r e was one Anthocorid Bug Lyctocoris campestris, Fall., with a couple of its larvas ; debris of a Dipterous puparium, probably of the genus Fannia ; and a single M o t h caterpillar, likely to be Tinea cloacella, Haw. T h e sole H y m e n o pteron is the hitherto undescribed 3 of Revd. T . A. Marshall's 5 Meteorns tenellus (Trans. Ent. Soc. 1887, 125 ; Entom. 1908, 127, ? ) ; it differs from the female in nothing but its longer antennse, which extend to 5 mm. compared with the body's \ \ m m . : NEW to Suffolk (Trans. S N S . iii, 230) ; no cocoon was found. Curiously few Woodlice, Centipeds and Spiders traversed the study table ; b u t many black-legged Phalangids were sitting o u t s i d e t h e fungus.—CLAUDE MORLEY.

SOME UNCOMMON SUFFOLK BEETLES.—So p o o r h a s t h e s e a s o n

been in Lepidoptera that I have devoted much time to collecting Coleoptera, with no small success as the following species from the vicinity of N e e d h a m Market show ; they are named by our H o n . Secretary and M e m b e r , Dr. Blair, and include two kinds hitherto unknown to exist in Suffolk. Stenolophus vespertinus ; Pterostichus (Feronia) anthracinus, III. (NEW to Suffolk) ; Coelambus parallelogrammus; Cercyon ustulatum, quisquilius, et pygmceus; Atheta trinotata et sordida ; Bolitochara lucida ; Oligota inflata ; Quedius centralis, Ar. (NEW to Suffolk); Oxytelus insecatus ; Mycetaa hirta ; Triplax russica ; Tenebrioides Mauritanica; Triphyllus suturalis; Mycetophagus piceus et multi-

OBSERVATION«.

37

punctatus ; Corymbites tessellatus et querem ; Campylus linearis ; Saperda populnea ; Cassida vibex ; Alphitophagns bifasciatus ; Mordellistena abdominalis ; Phytonomus plantaginis ; Dorytomus longimanus ; Tanysphyrus lemnee ; and a series of Rhytidosoma globulum, of which but a single Glemsford speeimen was previously known from this County.—GEOFFREY BURTON ; 1 5 Oct. T H E D E N I Z E N S OF POKERS.—Our County has hitherto boasted but single records of the Lygaeid bug Chilacis typhes, Perr. (at Fritton by Mr. Thouless of Norwich in 1889 : Hemiptera of Suffolk 1905, 5) and the Clavicorn beetle Telmatophilus typlice, Fall. (Coleopt. of Suff., Ist Suppl. 1915, 6 : in reed refuse near Ipswich in April 1904). Fluffy heads of seeding Typha latifolia have frequently been examined since then, but always vainly.

Yet, on 25 June last, when a whole pondful of such Reed-maces were found by our Hon. Secretary and me in the neglected garden of Chediston Hall near Haiesworth, about every third head sheltered numerous examples of both species, with a few nymphs of the former, which appeared to be of solitary habit among the seeds, while the latter was gregarious in small Clusters of a dozen on the yet green heads. Also, spun up among the fluff appeared numerous dark testaeeous Lepidopterous pupae, which were brought home and on 24 August-15 September excluded Limnaecia phragmitella, St. : whose triangular tuft of about five plumes of elongate hairs, rising from pleurae below base of the hind wings, is a beautiful object. Such Pokers are not to be mistaken for the Bul-rush, Scirpus lacustris, L . — D R . M E L V I L L E H O C K E N , Haiesworth. [The last bedraggled Poker-head, in a minute pond at the corner of a corn-field in Ashfield Parva on 20 August, showed 35 speeimens of this Lygaeid of which a few were still immature (as fig. E M M . 1927, 156), and one Beetle Corticarina fuscula Gyll.

On the m u d below were running several Beetles, Deinopsis erosa, Ste. (NEW to Suffolk)—Ed.]

A L O C A L F R O G - H O P P E R . — L e d r a aurita, Linn., is a delightfully sleepy animal, rather like a horny Cuckoo-spit with a pair of blinkers on its thorax, mottled olive-green with very poor powers of leaping ; he is about three-fourths of an inch in length (actually 13-18 mm. : my largest Suffolk 5 is 17 mm. in length dry, with a wing-expanse of 28 mm.). I find it recorded in Britain from only nine counties : Dorset, Hants, Surrey, London, south Essex border, Norfolk, Midlands, Gloucester and Notts. It always lives on the trunks and branches of well-grown oak-trees, in Suffolk at Bentley Woods (Burton), Battisford (W. Baker) and Tostock (Tuck). It is everywhere rare, but this year turned up more freely than I have ever met with it before. In fact, it has occurred to me only eight times in a half-century, and then usually in the larval State : I beat it from ash near oak in Bentley Woods in 1897 ; at the now-felled Assington Thicks in 1899 ; with

38

OBSERVATIONS.

D o u g h t y at Burley Old Inclosure in N e w Forest 1929 ; at Wiverley Inclosure there 1936 ; f r o m aspen near oak at Bentley Woods in 1937 ; with M r . P. J. Burton on oaks there 1939 & 1941 ; finally he and I f o u n d it fairly numerous on the same trees 1942.

T h e comparative conditions of these specimens enable one to sketch its life-circle with some clarity, thus : — j - g r o w n larva taken 21 Sept. ; -|-grown larva, 25 M a y ; nearly fully-grown larvae, 28 M a y to 7 June, and once even 24 July ; fully-grown, 28 June ; i m m a t u r e imago, 8 July ; imagines, 3-8 July only. In all little over a dozen examples have fallen to my lot, of which but four are perfect. Hence one may safely State the imaginal span to be short ; the egg to be laid about mid-July, whence the larva a quarter-grown by mid-Sept. and, as such, hibernates (cp. E M M .

1865, 54) ; that it emerges and sucks n u t r i m e n t in early May, attaining half-growth about 20th ; continues its growth rapidly tili nearly füll at end of M a y or 7th June, or even late July, according to the season; and normally matures about the first-second week of July. I am not aware that such a life-story has hitherto been suggested.—CLAUDE M O R L E Y .

W H A T F O O D ?—I found a curious little creature, just 2 m m . long, in the hot-tank airing-cupboard, containing only clean linen, of this house on 30 August 1941. It was so thickly coated with particles of black and grey dust and with a good many minute hairs that I thought it a spider at first. However, a lens revealed only six legs, and showed it to be a very young larva of the H e t e r o p teron Reduvius persotiatus, L., generally stated to devour Bed-bugs Cimex lectularius, L . Since we do not indulge in the latter here its presence was supposed accidental. But, in the same cupboard on 9 M a r c h 1942, was found a second larva, now 14 m m . in length and far less thickly coated with similar m i n u t e hairs and dust, t h o u g h here and there the latter was so dense as to appear flocculescent. U p o n what had they subsisted ? — T E R E S A CHEVALLIER, T h e Cottage, Rushmere, Ipswich.

A N U N S U S P E C T E D SURVIVAL.—Linstead Magna, on the northern limit of ' H i g h Sutfolk,' lies totally on Boulder-clay, boasts a population of u n d e r a h u n d r e d souls, and was probably virgin forest tili at least 1530 when the great bowyer Henry Everard, who made a fortune in arrows, bought the manor and erected the beautiful church-tower (the N E . angle of which feil m 1940, after the ' great solecism ' of the nave's demolition in 1924). Here IS a Danish view-pond, across whose central m o u n d the road to Cratfield has been thrown, bisecting an irregulär pond of some h u n d r e d yards length, fringed with lush subaquatic herbage and shaded by poplars and willows. T h e s e ponds are likely to be a thousand years old and lie on the highest point of the district, formerly ending a track r u n n i n g west f r o m Huntingfield. Here D r . Hocken and I essayed to collect on the evening of 24 June l a s t ;

OBSERVATIONS.

39

and hardly had we left the car when a fair-sized Dragonfly swooped along the road before us to alight seven feet high on overhanging ash-leaves. I guessed it to be Brachytron but, in the net, recognised its totally metallic copper body to show Cordylia cenea, L. This has not been taken in Suffolk since (1) Curtis recorded it from Martlesham, probably found by Kirby in 1797, and (2) Paget considered it rare at Fritton before 1834 (Trans, i, 2 1 ) : between which Linstead lies some 25 miles away. Needless to say, I returned to the spot at 8 a.m. on both the two next mornings, each of which showed three or four males flying somewhat sluggishly about adjacent hedges. But at noon on 30th I was delighted to find C. cenea profuse here (as also was the local Erythromma najas), for certainly well over a score were darting most actively to and fro close over the water in hot sunshine, a few of them paired. Hence doubtless the beautiful insect has always persisted at this spot, despite the surrounding land's total conversion to arable ; and one wonders how many similar isolations remain to be yet probed by our

Society.—CLAUDE

MORLEY.

M O T H S OF 1942.—With all lights prohibited and the price of sugar prohibitive, one is thrust back upon exclusive day-work : hence dearth of unbred Noctuae and Prominents. But Nature militates against us no less than war ; even by day, Moths have been notably scarce after so bleak a spring and during the patchy summer ; while, in autumn on 14 Sept. a hot, quite still and very dark night with minutest drizzle, not an Insect could be seen upon luxuriant Ivy-blossoms. Altogether little of interest was observed.—Sororcula I took in Bentley Woods on 25 May, just where I had taken it in 1899 (Platten).—Mesomela at Beccles on 29 June, with Miniata on 24th which laid thirty eggs that hatched (Gls) ; latter in Bentley Woods 11 July (Barcock).—Russula at Thetford 1 July (Chipperfield) ; one in Beccles marshes 6 July (Gls).—Villica : two flying, and two emerging from cocoons under old wood on ground, at Mildenhall on 2 June (Gd) ; $ at Ipswich (Butters).—Confusalis in Barking Wood 3-10 May (GBtn) and at Beccles (' a neat little piece,' Gls).—Chlorana : only one out by 18 June, for many pupae taken in tips of Osier-shoots by Mr. Goddard at Hoxne Marsh last year died of mildew in autumn (Btn) ; delighted to find a half-dozen on Willows at Badley, 21 June (Platten).—Bicolorana: half-dozen larvae, beaten at Mildenhall 2 June, spun up by 5th (Gd).—Prasinana in Bentley Woods 8 July (Mly).—Leporina : singly, at Beccles on trunks 17 June & 8 July, of rare annual occurrence (Gls) ; on alder at Horning in Norfolk 24 June (Chipperfield) and on ditto in Barsham marshes 27 June (Btn) ; oak trunk in Bentley Woods 28 June (Tickner) ; Drinkstone 20 Aug., with one Orion larva (Barcock).—One A. ligustri at Needham on 18 June 1941 (Platten) and one at Barking Wood in 1942 (GBtn).—Taraxaci, worn and flying in sunshine,

—

40

OBSERVATIONS.

on Hinderclay Heath 15 July (Mly).—First Beccles Scabriuscula occurred there in early June (Gls).—Ochroleuca : a couple at Drinkstone on 20 Aug. (Barcock).—Triangulum : in Beccles garden 21 July (Gls).—Citrago flew to Monks Soham House light 31 Aug. (first during forty years there, Mly).—Verbasci emerged from 1941 Stowmarket pupae (Chipperfield).—Ornithopus & Areola in Gorleston garden 15 April (Moore).—Nana : Thetford 1 July (Chipperfield) ; Beccles in early July.—Bentina : Barking 1 June (GBtn) ; a series on tree-trunks with Genistee, in early June (Gls).—Barbalis : small brown larvae, beaten Oak in Bentley Woods in Sept. 1941, hibernated happily at Walpole and, without further feeding, this spring spun up and in mid-May emerged (Btn) ; numerous in those Woods 25 May (Platten) and 30th.— Pastinum was by no means rarely kicked up among herbage in Thelnetham Fen on 15 July (Mly).—Iota & Moneta were plentiful, Chrysitis everywhere and Tripartita numerous on Buddleia during June, with three Festucae in Aug. (Barcock).—Coryli bred in May from last year's Bentley larvae (Chipperfield).—Monacha : first Beccles examples bred in Aug. from larvae on Oak-trunks in midJuly (Gls).—Emarginata beaten from Beccles hedges (id.); Blythbro Wood 28 July (Mly).—Pustulata at Thetford 1 July (Chipperfield).—Venosata : Beccles, one 8 July, after many years absence (Gls) ; several in the late Mr. Crisp's coli., presumably from Hemingstone (Mly).—Pygmaeata : of ' this the most prized, or highest priced, of Pugs ' two pairs occurred in a Beccles hedge during late July (Gls) ; Tenuata in Hoxne marsh 20 June : and one Innotata at Linstead Magna ponds 24 June.—Tersata & Vitalbata : beaten from Clematis in Codenham chalk-pit 14 June (Mly).—Rivata : two of ' this aristoerat of the Carpets ' in its limited Beccles area (Gls).—Silaceata in Newton Wood, Creeting, one 23 May (GBtn).—Unifasciata flying in Monks Soham lanes I June (Mly).—Luteata in Bentley Woods 25 May (Platten).— Candidata in Blythbro Wood 29 June (Mly).—Parthenias fully out by 29 March at Wickham Woods in Hants (Stanley) ; a fine series in very strong wind at Covehithe 7 April (Allerton) ; a few flying with Notha in Bentley Woods on 6 April, when latter was quite common at Barking (Chipperfield), where it appeared 5th (GBtn) ; plentiful at Bentley Woods 18 April (Webster).—Liturata in Blythboro Wood 28 July, where Punctularia persisted tili 29 June (Mly) from 21 May on Bosmere alders (GBtn).—Macularia in its usual profusion in Bentley Woods from 25 May (Platten) to 20 June (Tickner).—Leucophearia at Barking 15-29 March, where was one Hispidaria on 15 March (GBtn) ; fine series <? ? of latter on old Oak-trunks in Heveningham Park 15-24 March (Btn).—• Stratarius at Westleton on 20 April (Webster) ; larvae at Ben'ley

j.

II July (Barcock).—Lunaria : first at Beccles in my garden last May (Gl).—Or & Ridens bred from 1941 Barking larvae (Chipperfield) ; Flavicornis at Westleton in April (Webster), unseen eise-

OBSERVATIONS.

41

where 1942 (Gd ; Mly).—Fuciformis : one larva at Bentley Woods 11 July, but on 1 Aug. Mr. Faulkner and I counted forty on Lonicera in a very short time in Felsham Wood, where the Scabious examined showed no Bombyliformis ; one Stellatarum at Drinkstone 24 June, with quite a swarm of Porcellus and two Elpenor flying at Honeysuckle (Barcock). T h e last's larvae were common at Lowestoft on Bedstraw (Gd) and Reydon (Geo. Baker) and by 4 Aug. over at Needham (Platten) ; the Wickhambrook one emerged 8 June (Miss Dulcie Smith ; cf. Trans, iv, 257).— Two Ligustri on Drinkstone honeysuckle 20-22 June ; dozens of nearly full-fed larvae near Holywells in Ipswich on one Privethedge, which ' showed signs of wear ' (Butters) ; one in Sept. at Gorleston, first in 33 years here (Moore).—Last Autumn I collected at Reydon a score of Atropos larvae and pupae, only one of which did not then emerge and is still lively (Geo. Baker, 27 May 1942).—Populi larvae at Monks Soham ; Ocellatus larva full-grown on Lane's Prince Albert apple-tree at south Rushmere 31 July (Mr. J. D. Ray of Redecroft there) and one emerged in May at Beccles after two winters in pupa ; a 3 Tilice at Beccles in early June (Gls) and another at Thetford on 1 July (Chipperfield).—Curtula emerged at Walpole 20 May (Btn).—Ziczac : ovipositing at Saxham 1 July, eggs hatching 7th ; common at Barton Mills 1-16 July, many eaten by Bats (Platten) ; emerged from Beccles garden Willow on 23-4 July (Gils) ; larva on Aspen at Brandeston 2 Sept. (Mly).—A fine 3 Fagi emerged 12 June from the Blythbro' larva (Btn ; cf. Trans, iv, 259).—Plumigera : Barking Woods, four eggs found 9 March and one new-hatched larva 2 May (GBtn).— Tremula & Furcula emerged at Beccles, after two winters in pupae (Gls).—Eighteen Pavonia larvae on Elm-hedge just south of Potters-bridge in Reydon 1941 (Geo. Baker) ; one larva at Waldringfield on 15 Aug. (Waller) and one on wild Raspberry at Thelnetham Fen 15 July, spun 25th.—Acrobasis tumidana : common on Oaks in Bentley Woods 8 July ; Nymphula stagnata at Linstead ponds 26 June ; Perinephela lancealis at Thelnetham Fen 15 July ; Evergestis straminalis at Chediston Hall 30 July and several in Brandeston marshes 13 Aug.—Zygaena filipendulae : common at both Linstead Magna church and in Monks Soham lanes, accompanied at latter by one undoubted 3 of Lonicerae flying among them on 20 July (Mly).—Procris statices : several in Beccles marshes in early June (Gls).—A hundred larvae of both Diacrisia mendica and Eriogaster lanestris have this year been turned down in the Barking Woods ( J O H N B U R T O N ) .

S I 'RING C A P T U R E S . — I have found the 1941 ' Transactions ' to be most interesting, and feel that I must do a bit of exploring at Bentley Woods as soon as war is over. I have been extremely busy since early spring, but jotted down a few later notes that may

42

OBSERVATIONS.

be of use : A ? P. fuliginosa was taken in Drinkstone garden on 20 April ; two 3 3 A. villica turned up at Hadleigh in May and early June ; a couple of D. porcellus came to flowers in my garden here in mid-June, one was taken over Geranium Pyrenaicum ; a perfect 3 of S. convolvuli appeared at Hadleigh in September 1941 ; and I found two S. ligustri larvae that month on an Ash-stub in my garden here, in which was an empty pupa-case this spring.

Butterflies are not nearly so numerous as usual here, excepting T. rubi very common round the garden ; P. argiolus, usually abundant, has been quite absent, and I have observed only two V. c-album.—F. G. BARCOCK, Drinkstone ; 16 June.

POSSIBLE CAMBERWELL B E A U T Y . — T h e man in charge of Chediston Hall, reported to me on 11 September that he had just seen ' a large dark Butterfly with white wing-borders ' in the garden there ; and, in my collection without comment from me, he immedjately picked out Vanessa Antiopa, L., saying emphatically " That's the one." Consequently on 13th Mr. & Mrs. P. J. Burton came over to tea and we all went up to the Hall to search for the alleged specimen of this rarity. But we had no luck, as the day was cold and there was nothing flying in the garden.—(Dr.) M E L V I I . L E HOCKEN, 17 Sept. [The old Hall here of the 13th Century Hovells, succeeded by the Pettus and Fleetwood families circa 1640 and 1680, was rebuilt by one Walter Plumer esq. shortly before 1735, ' in a beautiful manner, who made it his seat ' (Kirby). It passed before 1764 to his brother William, from whose family it was acquired about 1834 by George Parkyns esq. who inhabited it in \ 844. This ' large and elegant mansion, in the Tudor (Elizabethan E-shaped) style, stands near the summit of a bold elevation in the Park and is ornamented with towers, turrets, pinnacles and an embattled pediment' (White) ; nearly all the timber of the Park was felled in 1840. Thomas Rant esq. lived in it during 1874-85.

T h e present owner E. J. L. Leguen de Lacroix esq, who is related to the above George Parkyns, does not reside here ; and since the fire this year which destroyed the upper part of the east wing the sumptuous house is little better than a ruin, its ample offices and well walled garden are a wild waste. T h e whole commands a pretty southerly Valley ; and the hill northwards is crowned by a weedy fish-pond, beyond which a semicircular belt of fine timber gives shelter from the north and east.—Ed.],

A D E P I G M E N T E D VANESSA U R T I C A E . — I have been watching a Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly here today : it was in good condition with a ground-colour of light fawn, of about the same ochreous shade as that of a Buff-tip's tips, in place of the usual redness — GEOFFREY M . F R E N C H , Felixstow; 2 6 Aug. [In his new book on Varieties, Frohawk says " occasionally the ground-colour is whitish, ab. pallida, and ranges through light and deep ochreous,"

OBSERVATIONS.

43

so this is a buff form of ab. pallida, I presume (P. J. B U R T O N ) . — T h e variety described is ab. pallida, which form is not common but has occurred in Britain fairly frequently. I have bred about a thousand V. urticae this year, and got absolutely no unusual colouration, except a few ab. polaris (W.R-S.)].

BUTTERFLIES OF 1942.—The curious climatic conditions, detailed in the Proceedings, gave rise to interesting eccentricities of date ; and war restrictions, such as exclusion from our coastal area and petrol shortage for transport, have limited Members' ränge of operation without minimising their activities. Certainly individuals have been fully up to the average for, though Atalanta, Pamphilus, Argiolus and hibernated Comma were unusually rare with both Cardui and Edusa quite absent, unusually common have been Megaera, Napi, hibernated Polychloros and Rhamni.

Seventeen species were noted at Bentley Woods on 8-10 July.

T h e most gratifying occurrence of the year is that of Aglaja : it is still to be found on the outskirts of Bentley Woods where I took some on 5 July, but it was very far from being as common then as Adippe ; I am delighted to know it is not extinct' (Platten : cp. Trans, iv, 259).—Paphia : Two or three flying in Felsham Wood on 1 Aug. (Faulkner) ; seven taken and released there on 15th, and a female at Drinkstone on 12 July (Barcock); a halfdozen flying round thistles at Saxham on 28 June, and several Adippe seen there on 1 July (Tickner). Latter plentiful in Bentley Woods on 27 June (Chipperfield), 5 July (Platten), and very common indeed in Felsham Wood on 1 Aug. (Faulkner).—Euphrosyne in fair numbers 25 May-8 June, and Selene nearly over by 5 July, in Bentley Woods (Platten).—C-album : I saw one in 1941 apparently just emerged from its chrysalis, with crumpled wings drying in sunshine, and two or three occurred in a south Rushmere garden on 12 April this year (Rachel M. King) ; first of 1942 at Barking Woods on 5 April, and at Monks Soham in garden on 16th (Mly), none at Waldringfield this spring (Waller, 6 May). Numerous in both Bentley, with form Hutchinsoni (Platten) and Raydon (Tickner), woods on 5 July ; Needham on 28th ( G B t n ) ; several about Ipswich this year (Butters, 7 Sept.), but it seemed to disappear soon after mid-July and none appeared in autumn.— Urticae first appeared on 25 March, its usual date, at Gorleston (Moore) and Fareham in Hants (Stanley), on 11 April at Monks Soham (Mly) ; imagines slightly less common this year than is usual.—Polychloros occurred at Barking during 12 April to 3 June and on 10 Aug. (GBtn), in Bentley Woods on 18 April (Webster) and several in April at Waldringfield (Waller) ; its distribution in local newspaper 12 April to 13 May shows it then at Scole, Gislingham, Yaxley, Mendlesham, ten near Stowmarket on 13-17 April, Needham, and seven at Brantham on 12th. ' I have little entomological news as I do not get much beyond my garden and,

44

0BSERVAT10NS.

even here, it is the worst Butterfly season I have known. Unlike July and August 1941 when hundreds of Icarus, Phlteas, &c were flying about the Lavender-beds, this summer I see only Whites, Megsera, Urticae and an occasional Icarus. But one exception on 13 April was a Polychloros on Aubretia, the first ever seen in this Rushmere by Ipswich garden ' (Clement Chevallicr, 21 Aug.).

Numerous on Buddleia in Drinkstone garden in August (Barcock) ; five at oak-sap on Beccles Common 15 Aug. (Gls) ; one in lanes at Monks Soham on 23 Aug. (Btn), in house there on 20th, and at Brandeston on 2 Sept. (Mly).—Io : appeared at Fareham in Hants on 29th March (Stanley), at Gorleston on 19 April which is much later than usual (Moore), and at Aberystwyth on 20th (Parker).— Atalanta : common at Aberystwyth in Sept. 1941 (Parker) ; appeared at Fareham in Hants on 19 April 1942 (Stanley) ; larvae numerous at Beccles in June (Goldsmith), and several round Ipswich (Butters) but only singly at Monks Soham, Brandeston, Framlingham, &c (Mly).—Cardui: common about Aberystwyth in Sept. 1941 (Parker)"; not observed in SufFolk during whole of 1942 (Butters, 7 Sept. ; Mly, 30 Oct.).—Sibylla : appeared in Bentley Woods on 27 June (Chipperfield) and 5 July (Platten) ; at Saxham on 28 June and over a dozen seen in Raydon Wood on 5 July (Tickner) ; everywhere in the first on l l t h , one in my Drinkstone garden on 15th, and several worn on 1 Aug. in Felsham Wood (Barcock). Now well established at both Hinderclay Heath, on 15 July (Mlv), and Blythbro Wood, on 28th (Gd) ; one observed at Chediston Hall on 30th (Hocken). Two nearly totally black specimens in Bentley Woods on 8-10 July (P. J. Burton).— Megara • one of the most interesting kinds of the year ; first brood appeared on 27 May and was not common ; second on 31 July and was in such peculiar profusion that a dozen would rise from sitting on warm-baked clay as one brushed through unmetalled lanes in mid-August; last seen on 5 Sept.—/Egeria : abundant at Godalming in Surrey (Moore), in the New Forest (Stanley) and south Cornwall (Hocken) in early Sept.—Semele : males flying round a large oak in heart of Bentley Woods on 11 July (Barcock); in a Walpole gravel-pit on 7 Sept. (Btn).—Tithonus : appeared at Monks Soham on 21 July ; of shorter span and fewer individuals than usual.—Janira : appeared at Creeting on 14 J u n e ; rather below average individuals.—Hyperanthus : appeared at Monks Soham on 1 July ; locally numerous.—Pamphilus : appeared 21 May ; peculiarly sparse, only about fifty seen whole year ; last on bramble-flower at Brandeston on 10 Sept (Mly).—Rubi: appeared at Saxham on 30 May (Tickner).—Ouercus & W-album : in Bentley Woods on 11 July (Barcock) ; a score of latter in a Chediston lane, 31 June (Hocken) ; not rare over NE. Suffolk (Btn).—Phloeas : appeared at Aberystwyth by 20 April (Parker) and at Lowestoft on 4 May (Btn). ' The summer has been a very abnormal one. Last week I was fortunate in taking near Leicester

OBSERVATIONS.

45

var. alba, T u t t , which one might wait a lifetime to see (Murray, 5 Sept.); another in Norfolk at Aldeby near Beccles in Aug. (Moore).

—Astrarche : appeared by 4 May at Walpole, distinctly early for so cold a spring (Btn), on 16th at Bury and common there by 19th ( T i c k n e r ) ; Bentley Woods 11 July (Barcock).—Argiolus : appeared 19 April at Barking (one 3 only GBtn), 4 May at Walpole (Btn), rare at Monks Soham 5th-24th (Mly), none at Waldringfield (Waller, 6 May) or Beccles, despite good numbers last summer (Goldsmith) ; second brood only one at Monks Soham, on 28 Aug.—Icarus: less profuse than is usual.— While in Glos, last July, I vainly cycled thirty miles to Bulls Cross for Arion (Stanley).—Edusa : plentiful at Aberystwyth in Sept. 1941 (Parker) ;" two in S. Cornwall in Aug. 1942 (Hocken). None in Suffolk this y e a r . — H y a l e : only one taken at Aberystwyth, in Sept. 1941 (Parker).—Rhamni: ' the year opened here with Rhamni, Io & three Urticae flying in my D e d h a m garden on 13 April ' (Vinter) ; the first was unusually frequent in early spring. S u m m e r brood unobserved.—Cardamines : abundant at Aberystwyth by 20 April (Parker); first at Monks Soham 27th (Mly), Waldringfield 30th (Waller) and Barking 3 M a y to 21 June (GBtn). ' Last year a lucky friend took two primrose-tipped specimens in Isle of M a n (Frohawk, 30 May 1 9 4 2 ) . — N a p i : appeared at Monks Soham 30 April (see Letter in Proceedings, post).—Rapae : 24 March at Fareham (Stanley), at Gorleston not tili 18 April (Moore), Aberystwyth 20th (Parker), Monks Soham 25th.—Brassicae: average numbers.—Malvae-, appeared at Barking 3 M a y (GBtn) Beccles marshes and W o r ü n g h a m 25th (Goldsmith) ; a belated one flying in Raydon Wood 5 July (Tickner.)—Tages ScSylvanus scarcer than usual, former first on 30 May ; Thaumas unusually profuse in August.—Mr. A. B. Mitton, now of 46 Garfield-street in Kettering, has done quite a lot of collecting round there despite adverse weather ; he could get no Paltemon or Lua'na, but sent me some Monima miniosa larvae (Burton, 18 June).

GREGARIOUS S I . E E P OF Pararge Megaera, L . — N o t tili they had been some weeks on the wing in unusual profusion (exactly and curiously parallelled in southern England by that of this summer's P. JEgeria, which is nearly sure to have been noticed in Suffolk if not extinct) did I observe that P. Megaera, L., had taken to noctilating on the bevelled lower surface of a couple of large geological specimens that cap three-feet wooden posts in the paddock-walk here. Both are roughly circular ; one is a simple flint some 10 by 6 inches, and the other an example of Boulderclay encrusted with a rieh deposit of Selenite of some 12 by 10 inches. All the Butterflies, whereof no other species was present though Hyperanthus is common at this very spot by day, patronised the latter stone, excepting on 26 August.

46

OBSF.RVATIONS.

24 Aug 25 „

1 Megaera on E. side of stone, with wind from S.W. 3 „ E. „>> „yy „ SSW. W. yy 12 yy SSE. E. 26 yy yy 1 flint N. yy 1 windless no ,, 27 stone W. yy 28 1 wind slight, SE. E. yy yy 29 1 „ „ SSE. E. yy 30 yy 1 rain ; „ slight, due S. 31 „ no No Butterflies appeared later, and all soon died out. This, though too brief to be conclusive, goes to show that they choose to sleep on the sheltered side of their fulcrum (cp. Trans, iv, 264).

—CLAUDE

MORLEY.

Machaon C O M E A S T R A Y . — M r . Hibbs of Walpole told me on 4 Sept. that he had just caught an unusual Butterfly in one of his barley-fields. So the next day I called upon him to investigate, and found the specimen to be none other than a veritable Swallowtail! But such a tattered and worn female was it that I could not even hazard a guess as to its origin : certainly it could not have been blown from the Broads, because the wind had for some time previously been southerly ; hence it may just possibly have travelled north from the Continent. One egg was laid before natural dissolution overtook her on 6 Sept.—P. J. B U R T O N .

[Data are accumulating to show this species sporadically wafted from abroad, e.g. those at Southwold in 1934-5 (Trans, iii, pp. 85 & lxii); in July 1938 our Member Stanley showed us one, of the deep Continental yellow coloration, just captured by him at Denny Wood in the New Forest.—Ed.] R E V D . J O S E P H G R E E N E AND BRANDESTON.—Whatever extent of veracity unsuccessful pupa-diggers may deny Mr. Greene in his two winters' wondrous successful work here, in considering which one has to remember that both Brandeston and Playford (Nat. 1857, 257) are especially favourable localities, still well timbered with unusual variability of soil and consequently Vegetation, his familiarity with Thecla w-album became pretty obvious on 25th of last July. Then I had collected along the banks of the River Deben's affluent from Cretingham ; experienced the joy of watching the lovely Chrysis viridula (Trans, iii, 138), as it tested burrowholes of an Halictus-bee in a gravel-bank ; of taking a male Fly Oxycera pulchella, Mg., as it sucked honey-dew on a broad Butterburr leaf ; before Coming upon a sunny and sheltered hedge of profuse Bramble-flowers under a wood near Brandeston bridge an hour after noon. Not since Dr. Vinter and I saw them in 1918 at Badley Walk, where they persist, have such a multitude of T. w-album met my gaze. One was on about every sixth blossom, all were gorged with the morning's repletion and, though fully

OBSERVATIONS.

47

half seemed freshly emerged, could he quite easily boxed where they sat : I lay down a score among the Wych-elms of my M o n k s Soham paddock. It well maintains its rather precarious footing in Bentley W o o d s (CLAUDE M O R L E Y ) . —A dozen were on the same kind of flowers in a Chediston lane on 28th ( D R . H O C K E N ) .

A CURIOUS COMB.—After ten days of nipping easterly winds u p to 30 March, our Hon. Secretary and I were collecting on 4 April through Blythbo ro Wood when a curious substance was discovered in a large live Beech-trunk, three feet f r o m the ground. Delicate handling extracted entire f r o m a hole a subcylindrical felt-like mass 3f inches long by U broad, soft and resilient, to which were externally adhering a few empty testaceous pupae a J-inch long, that appeared to be Lepidoterous. M r . Morley would not allow, however, that they had any association with the feit -mass then ; but later, when the latter had been bisected with scissors, it was f o u n d to consist of irregulär and usually tetragonal cells, each cell was 6 m m . in length and contained such a chrysalis. Some 70-80 cells were exposed in each face of the cut section : probably 500 in the whole mass. Dr. Blair kindly compared both comb and pupa-skins with another piece whence Aphomia sociella (cf. M o t h Memoir, 123) had been actually bred, and found the identity to be " absolute. Can there have been a Bee's nest in the upper part of the tree, in which they were found ? " he asks. None was noticed ; but five yards away had been that in which Honey Bees, Apis mellifica, L., were recorded as hiving wild at Trans, iii, p. 287^ deserted in 1941. T h e s e larvae are known to feed under decayed bark ; on wax in the subterranean nests of Humble-bees (Bombus spp.); and, Canon Crutwell has noted in M S . , " larvae on the dry comb of Wasps' nests (Vespa spp.), living and feeding on the outside covering of the comb ; sometimes very numerous in a single n e s t ; Croxton near T h e t f o r d 1868." Meyrick adds these cocoons are only ' sometimes ' spun together in masses, such as the present.—P. J. BURTON, 17 June.

TORTRICES OF 1 9 4 2 . — N o M e m b e r would condescend to own the least mterest in such altogether contemptible things as ' mere Micros ! ' A n d all the following kinds were collected by accident as it were, while working for large and blatantly vulgarer Insects :— Phalonia tesserana in M o n k s Soham lanes ; Batodes angustiorana in Bentley Woods (Btn) ; Tortrix Loeflingana, common on Blythbro Wood oak-trunks 28 July ; T. costana in Hoxne osier-carr 20 June ; T. musculana in Heveningham Park 23 June ; Eulia ministrana at Bentley W o o d s 30 M a y ; Cnephasia virgaureana common on beech-trunks in Blythbro Wood ; C. nubilana abundant among blackthorn in M o n k s Soham paddock ; Argyrotoxa Bergmannana at Linstead ponds 27 July ; A. Conwaiana at M o n k s Soham ; Peronea caudana on aspen in Brandeston marshes 2 S e p t ;

48

OBSF.RVATIONS.

P. literana, several on old oak-trunks in Heveningham Park 15 M a r c h (Btn) ; Spilonota ocellana, both there and in Blythbro W o o d ; Gvpsonoma oppressana, common on black-poplar trunks at both Southwold and Redisham 27-9 J u n e ; G. neglectana, Heveningham Park on willows 27 July ; Argyroploce salicella sitting on pales by Waveney at Shipmeadow and on willow-trunk at Barsham 27 J u n e ; A. variegana on pales with the last and at M o n k s S o h a m ; A. betuletana Blythbro Wood 28^ J u l y ; A. Branderana & A. profundana beaten oak in Bentley W o o d s 8 July (Btn) ; Eucosma cana in M o n k s Soham lanes during July-Aug. ; one fine E. faenella on pales in Lowestoft in early Aug. ( G d ) ; E. Pflugana in Bentley and Barking woods during June ; E. tripunctana at M o n k s S o h a m in June ; E. bilunana on oak-trunk in Bentley W o o d s 8 July ; E. Solandrana, common in Blythbro W o o d 28 July ; Patnmene regiana, m a n y under sycamores in Haiesworth churchyard 30 June (Btn) ; Laspeyresia aurana, profuse on Heracleum and carrot flowers at M o n k s Soham, 14 July-6 Aug. ; L. perlepidana on yellow vetch in lanes there 1 June ; L. orbana in those lanes, at Chediston Hall and R u m b u r g h ; L. nigricana in T h e l n e t s h a m Fen on 15 July.

LEPIDOPTERA NEW TO SUFFOLK.—In a small box of Microlepidoptera, taken in 1942 and recently received from our H o n .

Secretary, I am pleased to see three additional species to our County List. T h e s e are :—936a Eucosma latiorana, H . S . , swept in n o r t h Holton Park on 6 July 1941 ; 1085a Gelechia pinguinella, T r . and 1242a Scythris Fletcherella, Durr., both commonly swept on 30 M a y f r o m the gravel hillside immediately north of Bentley Woods, a truly inexhaustible treasure-house of which Suffolk should'be duly proud, now so carefully preserved by our M e m b e r , M r . Raydon Wilson. Other interesting species in the box are :— Phalonia tesserana (Memoir, no. 815), f r o m inland at Barking Wood on 14 J u n e ; Phalonia nana (826), on Ash-trunk on 24 June in Blythburgh W o o d , where (926) Eucosma rubiginosana was flying among Birch on 25 M a y 1941 ; many (1196) Enicostoma lobella were flying among Blackthorn in M o n k s Soham paddock on 16 M a y ; (1221 )Elachista albipunctella, taken on Lowestoft golf-course in M a y 1941 (Gd), turned u p on 29 J u n e in Southwold, where (1406) Tischeria dodonea was swept on 23 Sept. 1939 f r o m Aster tripolium in the salt-marshes. I do not see how the style of our Transactions could be improved.—W. RAIT-SMITH, Microrecorder ; 20 July.

TINEAE OF 1942.—The seven h u n d r e d British species of this section seem to appeal very little to our M e m b e r s , m a n y of w h o m might profitably exchange their interest in the over-worked Macrom o t h s for the study of these far less-known and just-as-beautiful scraps of often metallic colours. M a n y of M r . G o d d a r d ' s recent

OBSERVATIONS.

49

captures await identification ; those available at present show :â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Telphusa luculella on oak-trunks Blythbro Wood 28 July ; Anacampsis populella Linstead ponds and Brandeston m a r s h e s ; Chelaria conscriptella in M o n k s S o h a m paddock 17 M a y ; Mompha fulvescens there 31 M a y ; Batracliedra prceangusta profuse on white-poplars round Lowestoft in Aug. ( G d ) ; Dasycera sulphurella in a Bentley W o o d s shed 30 May ; Schifmuleria tripuncta singly on 24-7 June 1941 & 7 June 1942, and Borkausenia fuscescens in Aug., both on M o n k s Soham windows, former at Fritton 28 June ; Chimabache fagella Barking Wood 3 May (GBtn) ; Carcina quercana Blythbro Wood 28 July ; Semioscopis avellanella in Hants, at both Rowlands Castle 15 March 1941 and Wickham Woods 29 M a r c h 1942 (Stanley) ; JEgeria formiciformis just emerging in Hoxne osier-carr 20 June ; culiciformis : two at rest on poplar and thistle, boxed during the last hour of my visit to Mildenhall : I zvas sorry to leave on 2 J u n e ! ( G d ) ; JE. tipuliformis : three at N e e d h a m on 20 June (Platten) ; a few at Drinkstone (Barcock) ; Trochilium apiforme : several on black-poplar trunks at Redisham 27 June, when none were in Southwold (Mly) where it occurred later (Btn) ; T. crabroniforme was seen basking in sun on hazelleaf at Drinkstone 26 July (Barcock) ; Glyphipteryx fusciviridella in Framlingham and M o n k s Soham lanes ; Argyresthia nitidella

by Fritton Lake 28 June ; Cerostoma xylostella flving in Brandeston marshes 5 Sept. ; Monopis rusticella and T. misella on windows at M o n k s Soham, where Incurvaria muscalella occurred 13 M a y ; Nemotois DeGeerella at N e e d h a m (Platten) ; Adela viridella, and a pair of A. rufimitrella in cop. on Bellis perennis flower, were noted for first time in forty years at M o n k s Soham at noon 20 M a y ; A. crcesella, flying in profusion roujid lime-trees near privet at Mildenhall on 1 J u n e : ' a magnificent Insect ' (Gd) ; Nemophora Schwarzella in M o n k s Soham garden 29 May ; Eriocrania purpurella was swept profusely outside Bentley Woods late in May.

F R E Q U E N C Y OF Depressaria purpurea, H A W . â&#x20AC;&#x201D; T h i s handsome little M o t h is generally accounted of local distribution in England : hitherto known in SufFolk from only Copdock, Monks Soham (once, at light), Bungay, Fritton and near T h e t f o r d ( S N S . M e m . i, 180). All through the decade of the 1930's the late M r . Doughty and I assiduously collected Micros, yet he never met with it and I saw b u t one ; so we considered it quite rare in EAnglia. N o sooner was the Suffolk List published, however, than half-a-dozen turned u p on my M o n k s Soham windows in both October and, after hibernation, April. T h i s year I have completed my series from not only in- and out-side the same windows but both Blaxhall and Blythbro Woods during 25 March-17 April, when one was flying in M o n k s Soham garden, with the peculiar rolling motion of typical Tortricids, about four feet f r o m the ground close to Honeysuckle upon which I suspect it of also feeding, since

50

OBSERVATIONS.

arenaceous Anthriscus sylvestris does not grow, and wild Carrot is by no means common, on our boulder-clay. A final example turned u p there so late as 5 May.—CLAUDE M O R L E Y .

Depressaria chaerophylli: LARVA & PARASITES.—Mysterious larvae appeared about 10 July in my Waldringfield orchard on a patch of the Parsley, Chaerophyllum temulum, on which I had noticed a half-dozen worn Phaulernis dentella (Trans, iv, 268) on 2 2 - 2 4 June.

At first I suspected them of belonging to that species, as they were where I took it first in 1940 : all were in a slight web that stretched out straight under the flower-head, in which they seemed nearly full-fed before the seeds were developed.

Later I recognised them as D. chaerophylli, Zell., and append their description drawn u p by our Hon. Secretary. T h e y began to pupate among the flower-webs on 20 July and imagines emerged during 1 4 - 2 1 August.—(Canon) A. P. W A L L E R , 1 4 Sept.

T h e fully-fed, spinning LARVA is 1 0 m m . in length, cylindrical and tapering only slightly at each extremity, of 13 segments.

Pale green, with prolegs infuscate, apical half of legs, setae and the dot whence they rise, and markings black, but mouth paler with pale hairs. Head with deeply impressed V whose tip is on centre of occiput, having irregulär marks on each side of that tip and above the hind edges, a dot at each apex of V, and apical half of palpi, black. 2nd segment with two rows of three subcircular discal dots, and a triangular lateral mark, black ; its apical margin whitish, behind which is a central production of the skin forwards.

Segments 3-12 bearing a continuous dorso-lateral line on each side, and on each segment an oblong discal spot that collectively forms a broken dorsal line. 13th segment triangular, with only a slender continuous dorsal line. Head with three setae on each side ; 2nd segment with row of six setae behind the white margin, of six behind centre, and a bunch of four on each side ; remaining segments with a single row of two before their centre, and a divergent pair on each side ; apical segment with a half-dozen procumbent setae running backwards over the strongly extruded anal legs. Feeding on flowers, not seeds, of Chaerophyllum temulum, Linn., 1 5 July 1942.—The P U P A is of the normal Depressaria type, very sparsely punctate, strongly nitidulous, rufescent throughout and 7 mm. in length, with anus rounded and remaining attached to the cast larva skin.

O u t of hardly over a score of these pupae came three species of Ichneumonidae : (1) Exochus globulipes, Desv., of which one 3 emerged on 21 Aug. direct from capital extremity, having constructed no cocoon of its own. (2) Omorga borealis, Zett., a single pair emerged on 3 & 14 Aug. ; cocoons not found among fooddebris. (3) Omorga cursitans, Hlgr., two $ § both on 11 Aug. at Waldringfield and Monks Soham ; the larva of this Ophionid is a solitary parasite in the present case, issuing from that of the host

OBSERVATIONS.

51

when fully fed, and spinning its own independent cocoon alongside it ; the pupa is nigrescent or black and faintly visible through a very dense cocoon of dirty-white strands, 5 m m . in length by 2 in breadth, firmly affixed to some adjacent f u l c r u m . — N o Ichneumonid has been recorded anywhere as preying upon this Tineid hitherto. A white and papyraceous cocoon as large as the last (pretty surely that of the Braconid, Macrocentrus thoracicus, Ns. : Marshall ii, 234) failed to e m e r g e . — C M .

ASSEMBLING E X T R A O R D I N A R Y . — I witnessed a surprising case of unnatural assembling at Walpole on 18 July l a s t : T w o or three female T. apiforme, f r o m poplars at Southwold Gun-hill and Redisham, had just emerged from pupae in a breeding-cage, Over which I had thrown a handkerchief to give it greater obscurity, inside a glass greenhouse whose door was left open. T h e next morning I discovered a male /E. tipuliformis, a species previously unknown to occur in that locality though old Currant-bushes are present, sitting on the exterior of the cage, having penetrated both the greenhouse and handkerchief. Obviously nothing but the bred Clearwings can have attracted it.—P. J. BURTON.

Hyponomeuta rorella SPREADS.—Nothing has been reported f r o m our County respecting this species since Trans, iv, p. 82 ; M r .

G o d d a r d has met with none later along the Waveney ; and one was beginning to suppose it had succumbed to its numerous H y m e n o p t e r o u s parasites. But on 23 August I was collecting Macros in marshes close to the river Deben at Brandeston, twenty-two miles S S W . of Beccles and seven further, i.e. fourteen, f r o m the coast when I took a female H. rorella at 3 p.m. sitting on the trunk of an old Salix alba, L. N o n e were discoverable on a half-mile of willows there on 26th.

Hyponomeuta 20-punctata BRED.—What feeds on Orpine, which grows in a sandy garden at Wal pole ? [Sedum Telephium, L., the pink Livelong Stonecrop, is local in Suffolk : Elliott found it abundant at P a r h a m W o o d in 1916 and we noticed it under Frostenden hedges in 1926, both on sand : also under Haddiscoe churchyard-wall in Norfolk. W e could think of nothing on it but H. 20-punctata ( M e m . 1272), whereof] I found Micro, larvae on 18 J u n e and liberated nine imagines bred f r o m them on 22 July, and send you herewith three more with four pupae, all there are left except one that is still larval.—P. J. BURTON, 24 July. [ T h u s emergence extended 20-30 July, when the last of the above four pupae emerged.—Ed.] T I N E I D N E W TO S U F F O L K . — I send two live Micros, just bred from a large colony f o u n d last m o n t h on a Hawthorn-bush in Newton W o o d near N e e d h a m Market. I fear it is common, but was especially interested in the larvae, which are reddish-brown,

52

OBSERVATIONS.

harred and striped, cylindrical in shape and not flattened below, long slender and moving backward and forward with equal facility like a Shuttle.—E. W . PLATTEN, 7 July. [They are Suffolk's 1519th kind of Lepidopteron : Scythropia crataegella, L., anticipated to turn up with us at S N S . List of Lepidoptera 1937, p. 191 : it occurs through England up to Lancs. In the New Forest we have found, always on isolated May-bushes, at Busket Wood and Ramnor and Lady-cross, their conspicuous white larval ' nests ' which are easy to rear indoors and within which the pupae hang free on a Single thread with no individual cocoon. Imago is so retiring as to be rarely or never taken wild.]

RARE SAWFLIES.—In a smaU south-west breeze of the hot and showery 30 May last, Tenthredinidae were among the best Insects in evidence at Bentley Woods. T h e first thing taken, in a sandy lane at 10.40 a.m., was a S of the large Tenthredo maculata, Geoff., not seen here since 1895 ; it flew on to the herbage below blossoming Hawthorn. In a water-logged meadow were many Dolerus triplicatus, Klg., which has turned up here for the last score of years, though I have never seen it elsewhere in England ; Chitty gave it me from Colchester (Norfolk & Essex : E M M .

1915). In the woods, besides many common kinds on bushes, single 5 £ of both Lyda silvamm, Ste. and Allantus flavipes, Fourc., were boxed on Chserophyllum sylvestre flowers. T h e latter species is NEW to Suffolk (enter after A. omissus at Trans, iii, 28). W h y it should occur in woods is not apparent if, as Curtis asserts (Brit. Ent. 764), its larvae feed on the Mustards Brassica nigra & alba, Bois. Its presence here renders the Umbell Bupleurum (Kalt. Pfl. 274) its more likely pabulum, though not the very rare B. falcatum, L. (Kalt. Pfl. 274), unknown in Suffolk. I find A. flavipes recorded from only London a Century ago, near Oxford, and Harwood took at least one 5 round Colchester.—Some years ago M r . A. K. Lawson sent me a very poor photograph of a larva, " pale bluish-white with small black spots when young, but when more mature all yellowish-brown in colour, feeding on Figwort " : from which foodplant I then termed it A. scrophulariae, though now it looks to me much more like the present kind on a new plant.—Dr. Hocken captured at Mells in Wenhaston on 2 June last, and Geoffrey Burton by the Gipping in Creeting on 14th, a single male Macrophya rustica, L., which sex I have seen from only Guestling in Sussex taken by Bloomfield in 1890 ; but single females (beyond those of Trans, iii, 27) had occurred to me at Bentley Woods on 28 May 1933 and at Catfield marsh in Norfolk Broads on 2 June 1932, tili 23 of last June when a füll series of $ 2 was found to be attracted to Chaerophyllum temulum flowers in a very ordinary lane between arable fields at Gilberts-farm in Badingham : it is certainly local, for others persisted in the Mells lane and at Walpole tili at least 25 June.

Emphytus cinctus, L., turned up that month at both Monks Soham

OBSERVATIONS.

53

and Linstead Magna ; Dr. Hocken found several Strombocerus delicatulus, Fall., on 28th in Fritton Woods. And on 15 July larvae ( E M M . 1917) of Rhadinoceraea micans, Klg., were so numerous in a dyke at Thelnetham Fen as to totally defoliate several large Iris pseudocoris plants, leaving only the ribs as three filiform ribbons on each leaf. Imagines of both sexes were equally common on the same plants on 4 June 1941.

Caraphractus cinctus, W A L K . ( T R A N S , i, 51).—A family containing some of the World's smallest Insects is the Mymaridae that consists of Hymenopterous flies, several of which are able to subsist throughout their larval life upon the contents of a single Dragonfly's or Water-scorpion's egg. One of the best known of the group was described by Francis Walker in 1846 (Ann. Nat. Hist. xviii, 52) as above from Ireland, and as Polynema natans by Sir John Lubbock in 1863 (Tr. Linn. Soc. xxiv, 138) from a score of both sexes found in Aug.-Sept. to be swimming by means of their wings in a London pond ; another turned up at Stepney.

Nobody eise noticed it tili in 1917 it was fished at Oxford (Proc.

Ent. Soc., p. lxxxiv) ; and in Oct. 1918 a $ , now in Manchester Museum, occurred at Levenshulme (Lancs-Chesh. Nat. xii, 1919, no 47). It was unknown on the Continent and elsewhere in Britain tili John Wood discovered at Keighley in Yorks on 29 August 1939 a 3 , which our Member Mr. Hicks has had the great generosity to give m e . — C L A U D E M O R L E Y .

FOSSOR W I T H PARALYSED S P I D E R . — I was reminded of Mr. Frohawk's note (Trans, iv, 275) on 25 July last, for, while searching the sandy bank of a gravel-pit wherein the uncommon Fly Oncomyia atra occurred on 19 August 1941 at Brandeston, I saw Pompilus unguicularis, T h m . , running up it with a limp Spider borne along in her jaws. Though no attempt was made at flight, the Fossor persisted so agile, dodging in and out among the scanty herbage, that capture long hung in tne balance tili, on a coverless patch of bare sand, a box descended squarely over her. But not tili apprehension of imprisonment was forced upon her senses did she think of relinquishing her prey. Will some chemical Member kindly diagnose the most efficient cause of paralysis inflicted by these long-legged little Wasps ? I am not aware that the poison of Pompiii has ever been analysed in Britain ; but Fossors are so nearly allied to Ants that we cannot doubt it closely related to formic acid, the formula of which is C H , 0 2 • All poisons of Aculeates are doubtless multiples of this (cf. Carlet, Ann. Sei. Nat. Zool. vii, ser. 9, 1890 ; Bordas, loc. cit. xviii, 1894 et Descript. anatom. et etude histolog. des Glandes de venin des Insect. Hym., Paris 1897. Dr. Hull has met with no such account

by Arachnidists ; he names the captured Spider Pardosa pullata, Clk. and another, sitting adjacently with an egg-sac at the top of her vertical burrow in sand under a stone, Trochosa ruricola, DeG. (both Trans, iv, 159).

54

0BSERVAT10NS.

Stenomalus muscarum, L I N N . , N E W TO S U F F O L K . — A small Chalcid-fly has been profuse on windows at Monks Soham every early spring for the past forty years ; and, as I could never find a name for it, some were sent last April to Dr. Blair who says " I have them named, and I think correctly, as S. muscarum."

The female is elongate and metallic green including the coxae, with black antennae and onychii, otherwise stramineous legs, hyaline wings and abdominal apex acuminate. Their persistent appearance nowhere but indoors suggests parasitism upon Death-watch Beetles or Clothes Moths ; but Fabricius in 1804 gives this species as habitat in larvis Muscarum aphidivorarum (? Syrphidae) ; Thomson in 1878 simply Temligen allmän ; and only Walker in 1835 found it ' common on windows &c in most parts of Britain throughout the year.'—CLAUDE M O R L E Y .

Protichneumon laminatorius, FAB.—Mr. Platten gave me a batch of Deilephila elpenor larvae from Needham last year, but nearly all were killed by the enclosed Ichneumon. I was interested in the way it makes its escape by cleanly biting off exactly the pupal head. Sir ex gigas was searching for a spot to oviposit among the Forestry pines at Thetford Warren on 1 July ( C H I P P E R F I E L D , 23 July). Mr. Platten has annually raised this Ichneumon from Elpenor at Needham since 1937 ; and late last May several emerged thence at Reydon ( G E O . BAKER, V. V.). [Forty years ago we were wont to suppose it common over all Britain and recorded it (lehn. Brit. 1903, 21) from Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Oxford, London, Essex, Suffolk. But in the long interim, we have reeeived it from only the Zoological Gardens, bred out of this host at Wicken Fen in Cambs 1916, and Mr. E. Buckell, from Romsey in Hanls 1911. In the same period, only two have occurred ' wild ' to us : a 3 flying in Lyndhurst village 4 July 1934, and a 2 on (Enanthe crocata flowers in Rhine peat-moor at Shapwick in Somerset 10 July 1933. The earliest record is by Albin, from the same host, in his English Insects 1720, pl. ix.—Ed.] Melanichneumon leucomelas, G M E L . , IN SURREY.—The enclosed Ichneumon was running up the inside of a house-window at Sutton in Surrey on 26 Sept. 1935. Piease teil me its name.— F . W. F R O H A W K , 15 April.

[It is a typical ? of M. leucomelas which is not rare in southern England. Its known British distribution is :—Jersey, Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, I. Wight, Hants, Gloucester, Oxford, Surrey 1878 & 1905, Kent, London (in Elliott's Hampstead garden, Sept. 1907), Essex (W. H. Harwood, 1898), Suffolk, Norfolk, Bucks, Warwick and Cumberland.—Ed.] Bassus multicolor, GR., BRED.—The accompanying puparium I take to be that of some species of Syrphid Fly. I found it on a Cabbage-leaf a few days ago, and brought it indoors to see what species would emerge/ Yesterdav, to mv astonishment, the other

OBSERVATIONS.

55

occupant came forth ! So, in case the two together are of interest, I send t h e m for names.—OSWALD H . L A T T E R ; T h e Elms, Charterhouse-road, G o d a l m i n g ; 12 July. [The Dipterous puparium, which has been vacated through a large hole in the cephalo-dorsal region, agrees ad amussim with those of Syrphus balteatus, D e G . , everywhere an a b u n d a n t Hovering Fly ; it is distinctly paler and rather smaller than puparia of S. ribesii, L . T h e occupant that actually emerged is a female of the parasitic Ichneumon Bassus multicolor, Grav., which has hitherto been nowhere bred in the world and is regarded as a rare marsh species. It is of broad distribution, extending f r o m Bengal and Bombay (Morley, Fauna India 1913, 280) to Britain, whence it has been recorded from only Suffolk, Norfolk, Surrey, Sussex and Devon ; though our late M e m b e r Walsh later sent it us f r o m Raincliff Wood at Scarborough, in May, 1925 ; M r . Lance Carr f r o m Lichfield in 1920; and M r . T . A. Coward f r o m Arley in Cheshire during Sept. 1917.—Ed.] In hopes of securing evidence for the identification of the species of Syrphid patronised by B. multicolor, I have h u n t e d through my Cabbage-patch but succeeded in finding only the three puparia I am now sending.

F r o m one the I c h n e u m o n emerged on 25th, but has since died.

T h e other two have yet to reveal their contents ; one of t h e m is green at present.—Id. ; 26 July. [The green puparium produced Spheerophoria scripta, L . 3 and the third showed S. balteatus 3 from a m u c h more convex and laterally more rounded puparium, which exactly resembles those whence B. multicolor emerged on both 11 & 25 July, thus confirming the latter to be host of the Bassus u p o n each occasion.—Ed.]. All later puparia produced S. balteatus—Id. ; 26 Aug. Last year I bred Homocidus ornatus, Grav., f r o m a larva of Catabomba pyrastri, which I got on oats in south Cheshire. I am very glad to hear that you are keeping the Naturalists' flag well flying in Suffolk.—GEOFFREY J. K E R R I C H , 4 Nov. S O M E S U F F O L K H Y M E N O P T E R A OF 1942.—Lasius fuliginosus, Ltr., hitherto unknown in M o n k s Soham, was nesting at base of farm gate-post in April and appeared, 100 yards away, inside my garage in June. Sapyga ^-punctata, F., bred on 20 June from old gate-post at Shrubland (Trans, iv, p. cxxx) ; and several S. clavicornis, L., flew to holes in old rails at W . Creeting marshes on 14 June. Ceropales maculata, F., at Ashfield, M o n k s Soham and Chediston ; Agenia hircana, F., at Fritton (Hocken) and Heveningham Park. Passalecus corniger, Shk., in Hoxne osier-carr 20 June ; Gorytes campestris, L., on Heracleum flower at W . Creeting (above) and Mells in Wenaston 25 June. Hoplisus A-fasciatus, F., in M o n k s Soham lanes, Aug. ; Nysson spinosus, F., Shipmeadow marshes 27 June. Crabro vagus, L., Ashfield, Brandeston and

56

OBSERVATIONS.

Thelnetham; C. chrysostomus, Lp., at Rumburgh.

Odynerus spp. unusually numerous ; O. spinipes, L., tubes in sand in Mells lane, also at Linstead ponds, 24-5 June. Chelostoma florisomne, L., Badingham 23 June ; Ccelioxys 4-dentata, L., Mells sandy lane ; Osmia coerulescens, L., Chediston Hall 30 July.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Ccelichneumon comitator, L., Monks Soham window 2 August; C. bilineatus, Gm. (Trans, iv, 277), there 5 June ; Cratichneumon annulator, F., Rumburgh 28 July ; C. dtssimilis, Gr., Chediston Hall 30 July. Barichneumon bilunulatus, Gr., Monks Soham lanes in June; Chasmias motatorius, F., Brandeston 23 Aug. Ctenichneumon melanocastanus, Gr. (NEW to Suffolk), Monks Soham windows early June ; C. castigator, F. & Amblyteles oratorius, F., on Angelica flowers at Brandeston in Sept. A. subsericans, Gr. and Eurylabus rufipes, Ste. (NEW to Suffolk), flying at Monks Soham in Aug. Phceogenes stimulaior, Gr., Chediston Hall woods ; Callidiotes Iuridator, Gr., Fritton woods 28 June (Hocken) ; Habrocryptus porrectorius, F., Bentley Woods 8 July (Btn). Xylonomus pilicornis, Gr., singly sitting still on alder-bar of Stile at Shipmeadow 24 Aug. 1941, on blackthorn flower in Monks Soham paddock in May, and at flower of Chaeroph. temulum at Badingham 23 June 1942. Xorides brachylabris, Kriech., 3 (NEW to Britain) was given me by the late Mr. Lance Carr who took it at Lichfield in Starts, in Sept. 1920, but could recollect no details of capture. Ephialtes carbonarius, Chr., flying at Linstead Magna 24 June, and (Btn) at aspen in Brandeston marshes 23 Aug. Pimpla mandibularis, Gr. (NEW to Britain*), one J taken by me flying in woods by Fritton Lake 28 June, compared with specimens from Deut. Ent. Museum 1913, taken at Carlsbad in Austria : neither Desvignes (Ent. Wk. Intell. 1956, 167) nor Bridgman (Tr. Ent. Soc. 1881, 167) determined it.

Polysphincta multicolora, Gr., Monks Soham window 28 Aug. ; Lissonota variipes, Desv., ovipositing in holes of Ptilinus in dead willow at Brandeston 25 Aug. Meniscus catentator, Pz., Blythbro Wood 23 June ; M. agnatus, Gr. (NEW to Suffolk), flying at Linstead Magna on 26 June. Microplitis spletididulus, Gr. (NEW to Suffolk) Thelnetham Fen on 15 July ; Exochus globulipes, Desv., Brandesion. Labrossyta scotoptera, Gr., on field-edge Heracleum flower at Barking 25 June 1941, and on Monks Soham paddock Chaeroph. flower 2 June 1942. Tryphon trochanteratus, Hlg., Shipmeadow ; Acrotomus mesoleptoides, Ste., Blythbro Wood 23 June. Campoplex angustatus, Th., bred from its own cocoon in 1936 ex.

Notodonta dictaea, Esp., at Benacre (Geo. Baker) and on 22 Sept. ex some Lepid. at Gorleston (Doughty). Pristomerus vulnerator, Pz., flying in Monks Soham lanes 6 Aug. ; Anomalon cerinops, Gr., Brandeston on Angelica 2 Sept.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;CLAUDE M O R L E Y .

*Not in Syn. (Tr. R. Ent. Soc. 1941, p. 637) by Mr. Perkins, who seems ignorant of my Revis. lehn, iii, 1914.

OBSERVATIONS.

57

PARASITES OF TORTOISESHELL.—At present it seems probable that when its British distribution becomes better known, the Campoplegid Phobocampa unicincta, Gr., will be f o u n d a distinctly northern species with us. No Continental records seem to be south of Brunswick, and Bignell's f r o m Devon are likely to refer to another kind (lehn. Brit. v, 137). All I have seen are five females bred on 10 May 1899 at Dunphail in Scotland by Charles Rothschild esq., and one male bred on 16 M a y 1942 from its own cocoon, just as is described by Brischke, taken in July 1941 at Bargrennon in Galloway by M r . F. W . Frohawk : both f r o m V. urticae, L . T h e latter also sent on 19 M a y last, bred at Sutton in Surrey, three male Hemiteles scabriculus, T h o m s . , though there were more as the Single V. urticae pupa shows six emergence-holes.

1t was one of a score of such pupae from all others of which the parasitic Dipteron Epicampocera succincta, M g . (t. Wainwright), had been bred ; hence the Hemiteles was pretty surely hyperparasitic through the Dipteron, rather than directly upon the Butterfly (CLAUDE MORLEY).—Captain Purefoy teils me that, in his fifty years Observation of V. urticae, he never saw its larvae in such thousands as they were in July 1942 all round Maidstone ; he suggests that something must have gone amiss with their parasites since larvae, swarming upon Nettles, were evervwhere healthy. I think he is right, as I have just bred about five hundred imagines of which not one was parasitised. . . . Can you teil me what the Sussex cocoon enclosed is ? (F. W. FROHAWK, Sutton ; 31 Aug.) [ T h e open lace-work golden cocoon, enclosing a pupa, is that of the very common Weevil Phytonomus rumicis, L., whose larva had wandered f r o m Dock and spun u p o n a blade ot Pou annua, L . — E d . ]

D A D D I E S N E W TO SUFFOLK.—While collecting in hol sun on the afternoon of 25 June last, I netted a 5 of the verv distinetive Limnobiid dipteron Epiphraqma picta, Fab., flying on the south edge of the timber belt protecting Chediston Hall near Haiesworth from north winds. O u r Hon. Secretarv at once recognised it as novei to oui Countv ; and teils me has taken only a 3 flying at Boletus fungi on old dead beech-stump in D e n n y Wood on 12 June 1934 ; a 2 , that was the sole insect attracted by sugar after dark at Park-ground on 12 June 1936 ; and a 5 , beaten from Rhododendron at Minstead-manor at 5 p.m. on 30 June, 1936 : all in the N e w Forest, where one was taken at L y n d h u r s t on 21 Julv 1896 ( E M M . p. 233). It was first bred in Britain f r o m many Somerset puparia, found in rotten sap-wood on 22 May, protruding § of their length (l.c, 1927, p. 2 3 5 ) ; and is well figured in 1824 by Curtis (Limnobia ocellaris : B. E. fol. 50), who knew only two unlocalised females.—MELVILLF. H O C K E N . [Dicranomyia ornata. Mg., was swept in T h e l n e t h a m Fen on 15 July.—Ed.]

58

OBSERVATIONS.

A N O V E L PARASITE.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Last May M r . Frohawk was so good as to send in for identification twenty-five specimens of the Ortalid Fly Chrysomyza demandata, Fab.,which hadbeen bred at T h u n d e r sley in south Essex during July 1920, pretty surely f r o m Arctia caja' L. T h e host-larva must have been well nigh full-fed to sustain these 16 S 3 & 9 5 2 , fifteen of whose evacuated puparia accompanied t h e m along with five more that appear unemerged.

T h e puparia are chestnut-brown, cylindrical, obtusely rounded at both ends but distinctly tapering at the capital ; the whole is bare, very distinctly transstriate throughout, with no projections whatever ; 5 i m m . in length by H centrally broad. In every case emergence had been effected where the head began to narrow, though the extent of fracture varied f r o m only half round to removal of the entire capital extremity of the puparium. T h a t any species of Ortalidae, which family I have always supposed as phytophagous as the next one (Trypetidae) is known to be, should be parasitic is quite a new fact to me, showing our scant knowledge of Flies' immature habits. For C. demandata, though local, is by no means a rare Insect ; in Suffolk we have records f r o m Ipswich (Bennett), Felixstow, Brandeston, Monks Soham, Bedfield, T h o r n d o n , Gorleston ; Tostock (Tuck) & T i m w o r t h (Nurse).

S O M E S U F F O L K D I P T E R A OF 1942.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Macrocera phalerata, Mg., M. lutea, M g . & M. stigma, Ct., on Monks Soham windows, with Ceroplatus semirufa, Mg. & several C. lineatus, F., in July.

Tipala nigra, L., T h e l n e t h a m Fen 15 July. Limnophila lineola, Mg., with last & L . dispar, Mg., at Monks Soham light 8 Sept.

Oxyceia 2-lineata, F., Beccles 24 June, Nemotelus Pantherinus, L., Shipmeadow June and Stratiomys potamida, Mg., Brandeston marshes 13 Aug. Therioplectes tropicus, Mg., Barking Wood, Monks Soham lanes & Hoxne bridge ; Tabanus autumnalis, L., H u n t i n g field on gate 31 July ; Chrysops quadrata, Mg. (NEW to Suffolk), T h e l n e t h a m Fen 15 July. L. tringaria, L. with the l a s t ; Leptis nigriventris, Lw., Monks Soham paddock 12 Aug. ; Laphria marginata, L., Bentley Woods in July. Hilara pilosa, Zt., F r a m lingham lanes and, with H. maura, F., pinetorum, Zt. & thoracica, Mcq., at Monks Soham. Pipiza luteitarsis, Zt. in garden there & bimaculata, Mg., at Brandeston ; Syrphus venustus, Mg. & torvus, O-S., Monks Soham paddock, and grossulariae, Mg. (NEW to Suffolk), bred on 5 Sept. f r o m puparium found attached to u n d e r side of sack lying on ground by coppice at Ashfield Parva 20 Aug. Helophilus versicolor, F., bramble flowers Brandeston July ; Merodon equestris, Fab., Framlingham ; Tropidia scita, Harris, Blythbro Wood and common at Hoxne bridge ; Myopa polystigma, Rnd., in Monks Soham lanes 3 June. Phryno vetula, Mg., Phorocera assimilis, Fln., Monks Soham paddock, & Voria ruralis, Fln., in lanes there. Minella chalybeata, Mg., bred 14 July from its puparium which emerged 26 June f r o m larva of Orthosia

OBSERVATIONS.

59

fissipuncta, Hw., found 24 June under willow bark by Waveney at Beccles. Mydtea nigricolor, Fln. & Hyetodesia incana, W., on reeds Blythbro Wood 23 June ; H. pallida, F. & Spilogaster fratercula, Zt. (NEW to Suffolk), at Monks Soham, where Mycophaga fungorum, DeG., is always common in Sept. Norellia spinunana, Fln., Ashfield Parva ; N. liturata, Mg., Beccles; Cochliarium albipila, Zt., on Monks Soham w i n d o w s ; & Trigonometopus frontalis, Mg., in Brandeston marshes 19 Sept. Chyliza leptogaster Pz. & atriseta., Mg., Monks Soham ; Calobata ephippium, F., Hoxne bridge & petronella, L., in Heveningham Park.

Urophora 4-fasciata, Mg., at Linstead ponds 24 June ; Tephritis bardanae, Sch., on Woundwort in Monks Soham paddock ; Spilographa Zoe, Mg., in lanes there. Lonchaa chorea, F., in Dr. Hocken's Haiesworth garden ; Meromyza nigriventris, Mg., in Thelnetham Fen ; Elachyptera cornuta, Fln., at Barking Wood on 14 June.

Agromyza lutea, Mg., beaten f r o m oak in Bentley Woods 8 July (Btn) ; Spheerocera subsaltans, F., on Monks Soham windows in September ; and Phora melanocephala, Ros., always common there in autumn, came to light at 9 p.m. on 17 May. With respect to the County's Diptera, alone, the year was certainly up to the average and, in June, distinctly above it.

Trypeta acuticornis, Lw., NEW TO SUFFOLK.—In a disused quarry at Cowley near Oxford on 16 August 1916 the first British, that I know, of these Flies were boxed from woolly heads of the Plume Thistle Cnicus eriophorus ( E M M . 1918, 89),'Roth., whereupon their larvae live in galls. And on 29 June 1933 our Diptera Recorder and I discovered it abundantly in just the same way on the Poldan Hills of Somerset. Now I find that I captured a single 2 , blown on to Sea Lavender in the Walberswick salt-marshes so late in t h e year as 8 Sept. 1928, though Hind does not record this Thistle on our coast between Lowestoft and Felixstow.

COMMUNITY FLYING.—Involuntary inter-association of diiferent sorts of Animals always appeals strongly to my interest, as exhibiting at least similarity of habits, if only in time and locality ; though usually closer investigation shows a certain degree of inter-dependence, sometimes parasitism. Insects' occurrence together has been very rarely noted and, seeing manv flying slowly in bright sunshine about an ordinary Hawthorn-hedge in my Monks Soham garden at 10.30 a.m. on 25 May last, I thought it interesting to ascertain their various species. Air currents must play no inconsiderable part in congregating such a concourse at any given sheltered spot ; and, in the present case, a stiff southwest breeze was blowing across the end of the hedge only a few feet away. I made a couple of passes through the flyers with my net, whose nose was at once placed in a cyanide-bottle and later showed the following twenty-three Insects:—1 Rhagonycha

60

OBSERVATION.

limbata, Thom. (Beetle); 1 Pontania bipartita, Lep. 3 , 1 Proctotrypes aculeator, Hai. $ ,1 Cleonymusdepressus,Fab.,1 AngitiaElishce, Belg. 3 , 2 Sigalphus obscurellus, Ns. 3 3,1 Microgaster calceatus, Hai. 2 (Hymenoptera), all obviously casual passengers. But the great majority were Flies, many of whose flight I believe restricted to very definite hours of the day, e.g. Hilara maura, always abundant in May on leaves at that particular spot, was then entirely absent. These Diptera were :—1 large 3 Cecidomyiid; a dozen Saara carbonaria, Mg. 75% 3 ; 1 Bibio Anglicus, Verr.

3 , a half-dozen Chironomus Apnlinus, Mg. 3 2 ,2 C. viridis, Mcq. $ $ , 1 C. dispar, Mg., 3 , 1 Cricotopus tricinctus, L. ? , 1 Empis tessellatus, F. 3 , a dozen Hilara quadrivittata, Mg. 3 5 , 1 Drapetis nervosa, Lw. ? , 3 Tachydromia agilis, Mg. 3 ? , 2 T. pallidiventris, Mg. 3 3, a grey Tachinid, 1 Hydrotcea dentipes, F. 3 , 1 Ccenosia elegantula, Rnd. 3 , and 1 Lonchcea chorea, F. ? . — C L A U D E MORLEY.

A CARNIVOROUS SNAIL ; AND Helix.—The rare sight of a White Butterfly, Pieris napi, 5 , lying on its back and stuck to the panned short herbage of a swamp by the moisture adhering to its wings, attracted my attention in Bentley Woods on 30 May last. I found on stooping to ascertain its species, it to be still alive and three half-grown (5-6 mm.) Snails Physa fontinalis, L., to be actually sitting in a row upon, and apparently devouring, its abdomen. I had believed them to be invariably phytophagous. CLAUDE MORLEY.—So few localities are indicated for Arianta (Helix) arbustorum, L. (Trans, iv, 12), that it may be well to record I have reeeived for identification from our Hon. Secretarv two rather immature speeimens from a marshy wood in Cretingham, taken on 2 Sept. l a s t . — A R T H U R MAYFIELD. Teilina Balthica, L . , I N L A N D . — I found many broken fragments and one nearly entire valve of this Mollusc as I was picking my way through mud and water, brown with hydrogen sulphide, in the midst of Blythburgh Wood on 4 April "last. This is a spot nearly two miles from the coast and fully one from its brackish ditches. Evidently the Shells had been carried when alive, on some Wading-bird's leg, or the latter would not have taken the pains to break them in order to come at their Contents.—P. J. BURTON.

Tropidonotus natrix, L I N N . ? — A week or two ago I found a beautiful creature among my herbaeeous plants here, and wondered if it were a young Grass Snake. The colour was that of a sweet sold as ' sachets,' a smooth shiny satin-like surface, of a rieh golden yellow, without markings, six or eight inches in length, and its black forked tongue darted in and out as it sought fresh cover.

OBKERVATIONS.

61

Larger Grass Snakes used we to find in the fields round Harrow, but I never saw so young a one before.—(The Revd.) C. U S H E R WOOD, Belstead Rectory, 19 May. LIZARD O N CLAY.—Last July I was delighted to observe the sole Lacerta vivipara, Wagl., that has occurred to rat within a mile of Haiesworth during the last thirty years. It was at the base of a very warm hedge in Old Station Road on the north confines of the town ; and, although actually upon Boulder-clay, the spot is very Iittle above the Glacial Gravel of the Blyth tributary's valley.—MELVILLE

HOCKEN.

LAKELAND B I R D S . — T h e winter here was a bad time for the Birds : we had seven weeks of unbroken frost, with the hill-tarns and some Lakes entirely frozen. I fed all comers to my cottage window and inside it came three kinds of T i t s (Parus major, ater et caeruleus), Pied Wagtails (Motacilla alba) and of course Robins (Erithacus rubecula), very pugnacious with each other. T h e Wagtails allowed me to hold t h e m to the fire, indeed they seemed to enjoy the w a r m t h of it. One small Tit, after being thus heated, actually flew through a crack of the sitting-room door that I could not get my finger into : how he managed it I can not think, but I found him outside. T h e Dipper Ousels (Cinclus aquaticus, Bech.) here intrigue m e : he stands upon a stone on the Lake shore surrounded by water, and curtsies to you before taking a dive.

Till I watched him, I had thought ' dipper ' referred to diving ; but apparently the curtsy is indicated. Natives here call him ' dooker ' i.e. ducker, sometimes Bessie dooker. T h e y seem very tarne and, when the Lake is frozen, go to running streams. I have been closely watching a family of M u t e Swans (Cygnus olor).

T h e hen hatched out one cygnet in 1940, and carried it round the lake on her back ; in 1941 a flood destroyed her nest and there were no cygnets. Contrary to experience, the above cygnet refused to leave his parents or shift for himself, though the old cob tried to drive him off. W h e n frost came in 1942, the parents flew away to the river's open water, leaving behind t h e m the cygnet who spent a wretched six weeks round the village inn's bar, where people fed him, but grew draggled and succumbed to the frost.

T h e parents returned to the lake by J u n e but did not nest, and the cob continues to drive away all visiting Swans : one night he drove off six, amid a terrible noise all night. T h i s June we had a great plague of the Beetles locally termed ' Bracken Clocks ' [Phyllopertha horticola, L. : common there in 1937.—Ed.], which crawl into the roses. T h e Rooks get to work in the autumn, digging their grubs ; and you see the felis rooted u p as though they had been deeply harrowed. I think the way our Society goes on, u n d e r present conditions, wonderful ; and the Proceedings are of intense interest to me.—W. ROVVLEY ELLISTON, G r a n d y Close, Grasmere, Westmorland ; 8 August.

62

OBSERVATIONS.

O N THE ESSEX COAST.—Düring the winter of 1 9 4 1 - 2 I frequently spent whole days on the saltings and mudflats around Horsey Island deriving great pleasure from the observations of many unusual Birds, which included h u n d r e d s of Brent Geese, Branta bernicla, L . ; Whooper, Cygnus musicus, Bch. or Bewick Swans, C Bewicki, Yarr. ; Sheld-duck, Tadorna cornuta, G m . ; Scaup, Nyroca marila, L . ; Teal, Anas crecca, L . ; W i g e o n . 4 . Penelope, L • Golden-eve, Clangula glaucion, L . ; Scoter, Oidemia nigra, L ' Ringed Plover, Charadrius hiaticula, L . ; Grey Plover, Squatarola Helvetica, L . ; Oyster Catcher, Hamatopus ostralegus, L • Dunlin, Erolia alpina, L . ; Knot, Caltdris canutus, L ; Sanderling, Crocethia alba, Pall. ; and many other species, as well probably as Green Sandpiper, Tringa ochropus, L . ; Arctic bkua Stercorarius parasitier, L. ; and finding one dead Red-throated Diver Colymbus stellatus, Pont. Today, following a letter trom one of our M e m b e r s , I visited the actual Island itself, and watched the colony of nesting Black-headed Gulls, Larus ridibundus, L., as well as L. fuscus, L. and C o m m o n T e r n s , St er na fluviatihs, Nm I find the new ' Transactions ' a most useful and mteresting account of events in the World of N a t u r e during 1 9 4 1 . (Miss) R. M . ROPER, T h e Street, Little Clacton : 24 M a y .

S O U T H S H O R E B I R D S . — M y special Stretch of Bird-watcning coast at W a r r e n Fiat is left untouched by war, just west ot Beaulieu-mouth (Trans, iv, 289), where I have been every week since spring, though elsewhere the Solent shore has been closed tliis year and one is liable to be shot along the Beauheu River.

N o M a m m a l s have appeared, not excepting the Porpoise this whole year ; b u t I have seen rare birds. W h e n ensconced there one day I saw a large niveous-white Bird approaching that opened and shut its beak when broadside on to me, and I recogmsed as a Spoon-bill (Platalea leueorodia, L.). H e stayed here the whole s u m m e r , and twice I have noted him feeding within easy ränge of binoculars : in thigh-deep water he wades slowly forward holding the bill submerged and moving it steadily f r o m side to side in a quarter-circle, the spoon searchmg ooze, and very frequently stopping to appreciate the catch. Being satisf.ed he devotes m u c h time to preening, every few seconds pausmg to shake his bill f r o m side to side, like a Horse w o r r . e d b y F h e s the reason for which motion I could not observe. Spoonbi s are rare stragglers to this coast, though commoner on that of Suffolk Several Greenshanks (Totanus nebulanus, G u n . ) have appeared^ a n d I was mystified once by a Duck in a flock of Mallard (Anas boseas L.), for it was dark-brown to black excepting the white necT- the British M u s e u m believe it hybrid between Mallard and Domestic Duck. In late Sept. I saw a flock of about a dozen big Velvet Scoters ((Edemiafusca, L.), u n c o m m o n on south coast But a solitary Brent Goose (Branta bernicla, L.) is qmte an old

OBSERVATIONS.

63

friend of mine, for he has frequented this Fiat, opposite my hide, ever since last winter and never goes Over a few hundred yards from his personal terrain, paddling about the ooze or swimming.

Whether he be a pricked (by shot) Bird or a mere non-breeder I shall see, if he merges with some flock next winter. On 2nd I took my tea to the shingle-point in bright sunshine at füll tide with no breath of wind. So fine was the day that I e'en shed my vestments and sought the sea in puris naturalibus ; then flapped myself dry with a handkerchief. Never bathed in October before! Salaams to all Members.—HENRY A N D R E W S , New Forest; 10 Oct. Anas strepera, L I N N . , AT WALDRINGFIELD.—While out after Snipe on 26 January, I shot a wild duck which Struck me as not quite like the ordinary Mallard ; and, on further examination, I found it to be a Gadwall. This is a rather rare winter visitor in the eastern part of the County though, according to Ticehurst (Birds Suff. 1932, 278), it became in 1897 and still continues well established and breeds in the north-west Breck marshes.—(Canon) A R T H U R P. W A L L E R , 1 2 Feb. [Pochard was reported in Ipswich on 24 March by Local Paper], Dryobates major et minor.—On 19 Feb. last I watched a Lesserspotted Woodpecker feeding among a dead young Elm-tree's upper branches, at Newton near Sudbury, quite near enough to see its dorsal bars without binoculars. While doing so I soon heard a Greater-spotted Woodpecker ; then saw it fly into an adjacent tree ; so I watched both at the same time. I was not so lucky as to complete the trio with a Green Woodpecker !—B. M .

WARNER. SEVERE L A T E WINTER.—Great and unusual numbers of Tufted Duck, presumably driven from the war-riven Continent, were noticed along much of the Suffolk coast-marshes, especially about Iken, during the long snow of last February ; and a pair of the less unusual Swans was seen flying over Farls Soham. About Brandeston, Foxes have become a good deal more frequent of late, doubtless owing to depletion of keepers.—HARRY M U R R E L L , v.v.

17 March 1942.

S P R I N G M I G R A N T S . — H o u s e Martins : an exceptionally early bird was flying at Reydon on 14 March, and I could hardly believe my eyes until it circled thrice within a few yards of me, enabling me to identify it with certainty (Geo. Baker, 27 May) ; rather late at Waldringfield ; twenty-five nests on Fakenham house last year.

—Chiffchaff: 4 April at Martlesham ; 7th in Bury Abbey gardens, and 18th at Colchester.—Swallozv : 8 April at West Stow, 9th Horningsheath, lOth Herringswell, 1 Ith Hengrave, 12th Fornham Martin, 14th by the river at Aberystwyth, 18th Martlesham ; late

64

OBSERVATION.

at Waldringfield ; scarce at Fakenham.—Willow Wren : 11 April at Martlesham.—Nightingale : 14th April at Haughley ; early on 15th at Martlesham and nightly tili at least 22 May ; 16th morning at Waldringfield and in füll song at least 6 May-, 18th at both Gippeswick in Ipswich and Colchester.—Cuckoo : 19 April at Nacton and Martlesham, at latter changed tune 20 May ; 30 April Monks S o h a m ; 6 May, very late, Waldringfield ; numerous this year at Fakenham.—A male Hawfinch (Coccothraustes vulgaris, Ste.) was observed close to Ashfield-Thorp church in a garden on 26 April (Morley).—Turtle Dove appeared on 27 April, quite up to its usual time at Martlesham, judged by earlier observations there (Blaxhill, Mr. P. Brooks, M r . Frank Burrell, Caton, Lingwood, Parker, Mr. P. W. Thompson, Waller and Revd. W. G. White).

B I R D IN THE H A N D . — A n extraordinary thing occurred to me on 30 May last. Whilst collecting at Saxham, I netted a Dingy Skipper on the ground, just as a Bird came fluttering into my net !

I found I had imprisoned a Wood-Wren [-Warbier, Phylloscopus sibilatrix, Bch., a woodland bird, only sparsely scattered through Suffolk.—Ed].], over its well made little nest that contained young.

Of course, the involuntary captive was released at once : almost with apologies ! — B E R N A R D T I C K N E R , 1 June.

S P O T T E D FLYCATCHERS seem to be more plentiful this year than usual. I do not know if it be just a local abundance, or whether I have been unobservant in previous years. Certainly in the Coltishall area of Norfolk they appear to be particularly numerous.

Perhaps an Ornithological Member will enlighten me.—H. E. C H I P P E R F I E L D ; 23 July.

[Yes ; these Muscicapa striata, Pall., are plentiful this year but, I should say, not unusually so.—F.C.C ]

BIRDS

IN

1941-2

ROUND

LOWESTOFT.—Towards

the

end

of

November, birds in more than usual numbers had arrived in Oulton marshes : Besides the usual hosts oiLapwings and Starlings came great numbers of Wigeon, Redshanks, Dunlin, and Golden Plover ; three White-fronted Geese and a Ihn Harrier were noted ; and Snipe were especially numerous, several flocks of twenty or thirty on the wing at once. On 4 December two Mealy Redpolls appeared on the cliff-edge at Pakefield, a true winter migrant but one whose appearance is often overlooked. Several Waxwings arrived early this month ; a füll score were seen in the main-road hedgerows near Kessingland ; and on 3 January one turned up for several days in a tall hawthorn hedge in Lowestoft. About twenty-four had frequented this same hedge in December 1931, and several in 1935. Early in February three more were seen in a central garden of the town ; another was picked up injured and died a few days later.

OBSERVATIONS.

65

DĂźring the severe and prolonged frost, which began early in January, things went badly for many Birds. By 15th Oulton Broad was all but frozen over ; thousands of Gulls congregated there, and managed by sheer numbers to keep open one or two fairly large wakes in the ice : one Glaucous Gull was seen amongst them. Near the locks Coots gathered in a solid black mass : on ice such are pitiful objects, for some had lumps of ice frozen to their broadlobed feet and one, which slid accidentally into a hole in the ice, panicked and jumped out again as quickly as it could.

By 28 January the Broad was completely frozen over and, except for a few gull-corpses dotted about the ice, only a crowd of dejected looking Coots remained in the Broad-side gardens' shelter.

Hungry Common and Black-headed Gulls came fearlessly into even the smallest back gardens for food, and several were found dead or dying in the streets : with access to the foreshore barred, much ill effect of these severe weather conditions will remain unrecorded.

Three Red-breasted Mergansers frequented the inner harbour for several weeks ; an adult male Smew was shot in Oulton Dyke, where Goldeneye and Tuftcd Duck were also reported ; and on 5 March a fine drake Scaup feil injured into the back garden of a bird-watcher, having Struck adjacent telegraph wires. Just before the thaw, the engine of the Oulton marsh-drainage mill broke down, and by 13 March the whole area was under water.

T w o days later I found these floods swarming with Mallard; Shovellers and Pintail were dotted about in flocks ; Wigeon were in hundreds and Gulls rose in huge white drifts ; Curlews, Lapwings, Redshanks, Golden Plovers and Dunlin called continuously: occasionally, the whole of this vast gathering rose into the air together, darkening the sky. I picked out five Whooper Szoans, from amongst a very large herd of Mutes, and managed to approach within about fifty yards :, they were restless and suspicious, trumpeting loudly all the time. Presently six others came Aying in from the Haddiscoe marshes, and those I had been watching got up and joined them ; after circling overhead several times, they headed for the north-east and were soon lost to view. Other interesting birds seen were a White Wagtail (a very early date for this species) and two Stock Doves : a Bittern was booming on Whitecast Marsh. T o round off a thoroughly good afternoon, a Chiffchaff was seen in a tree near the churchyard gate ; here then (March 15) is my earliest record, a fĂźll day before that given in Dr. Ticehurst's " Birds of SufFolk " : and this while ice still covered a large part of the Broad.

On 22 March both Mr. E. C. Jenner and the marshman Sturman had the good fortune to see a herd of over ninety Bewicks Swans arrive from south-west and settle on the floods ; and the following morning I counted fifty of them from the train window, as I came from Norwich. Other fresh arrivals about

66

OBSERVATIONS.

the floods were a dozen or so White-fronted Geese, two Garganey Teal, a large number of Pochards and T u f t e d Duck, with a flock of Snow Buntings.

Throughout their stay, we had many opportunities of studying both the Bewicks and Whooper Swans, often in very bad weather : even in dense fog we had no difficulty, for they trumpeted almost continuously. Bouts of posturing and display were f r e q u e n t ; and even when gathered close under the railway embankment they were not unduly alarmed by passing trains, merely paddling away calling loudly with long necks u p stretched. It was most amusing to watch them nodding their heads to each other before taking wing, upon being flushed. I was on the marsh soon after dawn on 20 March ; the pump, which for several days had been re-working, had considerably reduced the floods and green patches were beginning to show over the marshes again. It was evident from their behaviour that the Swans were eager to move on : they were restive and clangourous ; several parties of a dozen or so at different times rose and flew away to the north-east, only to return a few minutes later. Just before I left I counted ninety-one, excluding Mutes, only three of which were Whoopers. T h e " field " covered by my 8 + 3 0 binocular, rested on a post, encircled at one time forty-seven Bewicks Swans, three Whoopers, six White-fronted Geese, beside a great number of Wigeon, Shovellers and T u f t e d Duck.

T h e next morning only six*een of the Bewicks Swans were l e f t ; six of these were a family party, consisting of two adults with their four youngsters, which kept together at some distance from the others. All of them were very restless, and, as I watched from the cover of a lone willow in the midst of the floods, they suddenly rose with a great clatter. After circling overhead once or twice to gain height, they headed north-east in a perfect chevron; and through the glasses I watched the final departure of this,the last, party of the Bewicks until they died to a mere flicker in the early morning mist.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;In view of the fact that the main body of our swans arrived on 22 March, it is interesting to note that a letter from M r . Eric Hardy, published in ' T h e Field ' on 9 May records a herd of thirty-seven Bewicks Swans Seen at Leigh in Lancs. on 22 March ; and in ' Country Life ' on 10 April Lady Hastings writes of forty or fifty Whoopers being seen on the lake in Melton Constable Park on the same date. My latest note on Whoopers is of two seen on 6 April.

On 1 April, while on Oulton Marsh, I came upon a solitary White-fronted Goose whose stränge behaviour attracted my attention : it was Walking round and round in circles on top of a dyke-bank, occasionally sitting down to rest and, even when I stood beside it, it took no notice. There were no outward signs of injury, but it was clear that the dazed creature was suffering from a severe blow on the head, possibly through striking the adjacent telegraph wires while in flight. I tucked it under my arm and

OBSERVATIONS.

67

cycled to Norfnariston Park, though it strongly objected to the cycle-ride and several times got its great wings loose, flapping t h e m about my head, to the great amusement of beholders. W e turned it adrift in Leathes H a m , but although it swam strongly away, it did not long survive.

For the first time on record two, possibly three, male Black Redstarts stayed in Lowestoft throughout the summer. T h e first was discovered on 16 May, singing among the chimney's of borhbed buildings in centre of the town ; thence he moved to damaged fish-curing premises in Raglan Street where we had him u n d e r daily Observation u p tili 19 June, when he passed elsewhere : throughout this time he sang almost continuously, but no hen was seen nor any sign of nesting. It is n o t possible to say if one, which I heard on 21 M ay singing from the very top of the destructor c h i m n e y but did not see there again, was another passing visitor, or the Raglan Street bird strayed f r o m his pitch a good quarter-mile. Another took u p his quarters among derelict buildings near Ness Point on 26 May and remained there about tili 23 July ; his favourite singing-perch was the tip of Christ Church spire. Both these birds were young unmated males in their first year. A Black Redstart, frequenting the neighbourhood of St. J o h n ' s C h u r c h f r o m 19 July to 5 August, was probably the Raglan Street bird of 19 June. T w o others, seen at Ness Point on 8 October, were passing migrants usually occurring at this season.

O u r M e m b e r , M r . A. G . Stansfeld wrote on 26 M a y that he had flushed a Pochard-duck f r o m her nest containing ten eggs in Blythburgh Fen. I t was three weeks before I was able to visit that Fen ; but, w i t h the sketch m a p he kindly sent, I had no difficulty in finding the nest, then empty : I was unable to find any trace of the duck and her brood, but a flock of seven Pocharddrakes was flushed f r o m an open Stretch of flood water. A sample of down f r o m the nest was identified as certainly Pochard.

T h e war-time flooding of this fen has caused a salutary reversion to pre-drainage days, and I was amazed at the n u m b e r of birds to be f o u n d nesting there. Sheld-duck, Mallard, Shovellers, Teal, Coots, Moorhens, Redshanks and Lapwings were particularly numerous. Several Dabchicks, and at least one pair of Great Crested Grebes, h a d broods ; and a female Marsh Harrier, quartering the Fen, w a s undoubtedly one of a pair alleged to have nested somewhere in that neighbourhood. A Green Sandpiper, flushed with a party of Redshanks, flew round with agitated cries : it is not fantastic t o suppose that a pair had bred there, for two were seen a day or s o later at the same spot, and Fen Covert provides perfect conditions for the nesting of this species. T h e colony ot Black-headed Gulls which formerly nested in Corporation M a r s h has now moved u p into the middle of the Fen ; it was first established in 1927, and it has now increased to about fifty pairs.

A pair of Wood Larks was seen on the heath near this Covert.

68

OBSERVATIONS.

A magnificent Ösprey was brought to me on 23 October, which on 19th had unfortunately been shot on Blundeston Lake. It was a female in immature plumage with a wing span of 5 ft. 4 inches thought to have been the cause of the disappearance of some goslings, but an examination of the stomach showed only the rernai'ns of fish. On the whole 1942 has been really a verv good year, ornithologically, in N E Suffolk.—F. C . COOK ; 3 Nov. F R O M N O R T H ESSEX.—Is it not a mercy that Birds, Insects, Plants, &c, which we regard as ' lower forms of life,' are so little influenced by this disgusting war. In a füll E N E gale on 28 April in bright sun, I saw seven kinds of Butterflies in Bentley Woods : Polychloros, C-album, Io, Rubi, Phloeas, Cardamines and Brassicae.

On 10 May I had the honour to meet a full-plumaged Dotterel [Eudromias norinellus, L.], amidst an 18-acre field ; he seemed tame and I approached to seven yards from him ; my admiration made him self-conscious, and off he flew with a low whistle : my first ! Also at Walton-on-Naze, on 12 June, a chevron of Geese [Branta leucopsis, Bech.] was flying south, high against storm-clouds in blue sky ; I thought they should be nesting, for three days later children in Ardleigh were snow-balling from drifts over a foot deep. A fine large skin was shown me in Bergholt of a Badger that had been slain by traffic, and a shooting party put up a F o x there, both last week.—J. N O E L B L Y T H ; 25 Oct. T H E U N K N O W N B I R D . — W e have a mysterious Bird here, whose colouring is very like that of a Sparrow, with the grey breast apparently unspotted, but its size is rather larger ; the legs seem to be extruded very far back, and the head is held haughtily high It is unlike any Bunting pictured in my bird-books but must be one of them, I suppose. A pair frequented the garden last spring, who must have mustered and bred for now there are three or four.

[Description suggests Wheatear, but difficult to teil without fuller details.—F.C.C.]. I never saw so many Red Admiral Butterflies as this autumn.—Mrs. E. B. GRAVES, Dovercourt, Essex ; 25 Sept.

O T H E R B I R D N O T E S . — A lot of rubbish has recently appeared in the populär Daily Press respecting pests. Rooks have long ago been proved, by close examination of the crop-contents, to do infinitely more good than harm on arable land. As to Pigeons, it is not our native ones that do the damage for St. John in his Highland Sports found the crops of the whole eight he shot to be füll of the worst kind of weeds : Wild Mustard and Ragwort seeds ; it is the foreigners, that come in winter, which should be destroyed.

I am ' in my eighty-four ' and eyesight has become very poor now, but I am sure Fakenham Parva has fewer Birds than formerly.

In this game country Magpies, beautiful Birds but bad for eggs and fledglings, are extinct; as are Kestrels, keepers have done for them and it is useless to teil them that Kestrels would rid us of

OBSERVATIONS.

69

most of the Rats wherewith we are plagued. We have Jays, but not many (REDMOND B. CATON, 29 May).—While at Westleton last April, we saw a pair of Birds that appeared to be Buzzards on two or three occasions but, owing to various causes, were never able to obtain a clear view at any time. Is Buteo vulgaris, Lch., known to frequent that district ? [Certainly.--Ed.] T h e y can hardly have been Harriers, as the flight was slow and wheeling ( J O H N A . WEBSTER, 2 8 April).—I have seen a pair of Buzzards in south Cornwall during August, as well as a pair of Ravens, Corvus corax,L.,which are fairly common about St. Austeil (Dr.MELVILLE HOCKEN, 2

Sept.)

WOLF-RELICS IN SUFFOLK.—These animals' presence here has been eternally enshrined in our place-name Woolpit, where they may be supposed numerous at the time of that title's origin. This is shown to be unusually early in the Saxon regime because the normal form in those days would be zoulfpyt meaning the wolf-pit or trap ; but all its earliest known spellings, those of 1086, 1274, I P M . and 1340, have the suffix -pet, showing it derived from the Old Frisian pet and not normal AS. pyt, which throws the origin back to about A.D. 650 : in Domesday Book we still find it spelled Wilpeta. (This Frisian' p e t ' survives to the present day in High Suffolk, where mothers still induce children to swallow physic by means of the assured alternative of a decline to the ' pett-hole,' i.e. grave.)

Little doubt can exist that such Wolves' pits were actually common in Suffolk before the C o n q u e s t ; but the name of their sites naturally died out with the cause, and this village alone remains of the effects. One other instance is found at Thurleston in Whitton, where the Ancient Deeds in PRO. record a ' Wlpet ' Wood (in no. 3743) early in the thirteenth Century ; this was probably felled shortly afterwards, for we next find both Wlpetcroft (no. 3862) and the genitival Wlpetescroft (3723) in Henry iii's reign, and this had become Wolpetcroft by 1307 (3833).

Wolves were nominally exstirpated in England during King Eadgar's time, about 950 ; but were actually vivant here to a very much later period : indeed, it is suggested at Notes and Queries 1862, p. 232, that they lingered to the time of good Queen Bess, say 1600 ; but Harting thinks circa 1500. T h e latest contribution to the subject is a somewhat superficial article in the Ipswich daily paper on 30 Dec. 1919 ; and it may be noticed that ' Mr. Scott exhibited a wolf-jaw from the river Orwell, seven feet below the present surface,' presumably of the m u d (Suff. Inst. Proc. 1859, 278) ; and both tibia and humerus of wolves are recorded, at loc. cit. 41y Journ. 1869, 32-3, as having been dug during respectively 1834 & 1868 in Great Barton mere. I have seen it locally stated that the Monkshood plant, Aconitum Napellus, gets its alternative name of Wolfbane " from the fact that its poisonous roots were boiled with meat used for baiting wolf traps in the old

OSAGF.

ORANGES

FROM

WEST

HIOHAM,

SI'FFOI.K.

70

OBSERVATIONS.

days, when Canis lupus, L., overran the country " : to be of any practical use this Wolfbane must have been a good deal commoner then than now ; or perhaps, its present rarity is owing to partial extinction by this very usage.—CLAUDE M O R L E Y .

BROCK'S ALLEGED D E L I N Q U E N C I E S . — T h e newspaper report of a twenty-six pound Badger, Meies taxus, Bod., having quite recently been shot just over the Norfolk border at Aldeby, considered it the first noted for many years in that district; and averred lt had slain thirty hens ! It was suggested that the ' sportsman slew a Fox and thought it a badger. This produced a final letter f r o m Mr. P. D. C. Walker of Bures in Suffolk, who all too definitely states that one night in the summer of 1941 he shot a " dog Badger inside a poultry-house, surrounded by twelve dead hens. Altogether we have lost eighty head of poultry in eight months, all the work of Badgers, not Foxes. Poultry are valuable, Badgers are not " (Local Paper, 2-7 March 1942) : nor is M r Walker's ipse dixit!—Commenting upon the Capel Badger of Trans, iv, 288, " What a shame to kill so harmless a little beast!

If Meadows had been my keeper, he should have taken his dismissal that day m o n t h , " writes the R E V D . R. B. C A T O N from eighty years' experience.

T h e Society's ' private ' Badgers' earth in south Suffolk continues to flourish, though Members have been unable to visit it in these cramped, cabined and confined war-days. Our Keeper there wrote on 15 November : " W e heard the Badgers' voices several times during the latter part of the summer, and they are always very actively digging in their burrows."