Observations 5 Part 3

OBSERVATIONS.

153

OBSERVATIONS. " Be not like the slimy snail Who, by Iiis filth, reveals his trail: Let it be said, zvhere Y o u have been, You leave the face of Nature C L E A N . " A Notice in D e v o n .

\IOCK SUNS.—This Parhelion was the first we had ever seen and a most delightful picture it made in the deep blue sky, plentifully fiecked with [cirro-stratus] high filmy clouds, among which flew a few aeroplanes that left Serpentine trails of white vapour behind them and thus added a grotesque touch to the whole scene. It was just 4.55 p.m. on 29 February last, an hour before sunset, when my husband and I first noticed at Chediston that the sun appeared to be too much to the north. T h e n we realised that there seemed to be two suns, with the trace of a third to the south ; all were in a straight line and parallel with the horizon, each of the Mock Suns being about 18 degrees north and south of the true sun. T h e main Mock one was a glorious whorl of brilliant white light glowing in the cloud film ; and, to the inner side of each, a beautiful and short, almost vertical piece of rainbow hung. These vivid colours enhanced the whiteness of the light and completed a lovely though fleeting picture, for in ten minutes the whole had faded.

1 his phenomenon seems caused by an excess of ice crystals at certain points in a solar halo. [The occurrence is of great interest, comparable with good displays I have witnessed. Parhelia appear where the horizontal circle, which passes through the sun and is parallel with the horizon, intersects the halo. T h e brightest Parhelia are produced where the halo in question is the 22° (this the above " about 18 degrees " probably indicates, but may be exact since very rarely various halos of less than 22° have been seen.

Much depends upon the accuracy of angular measurement). Parhelia also occur with the 46° halo, but are less distinct. T h e vertical piece of rainbow " is a section of the halo's coloured arc, appearing vertical because the arc was short. T h e last sentence conveys that a large proportion of the ice crystals were suspended in such a position as would produce Parhelia, not necessarily an excess. Mock Suns have been detected in condensation trails from air-craft; but the natural ones occur in cirro-stratus cloud. Halo study is complex ; and a comprehensive manual on Atmospheric Uptics much needed.—R. RAYDON WILSON, 18 Aug.] A second

154

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apparition was seen in Haiesworth at 9.30 a.m. on 7 March. T h i s time the encircled sun was in the south-east, and the Single Mock S u n a n A n t h e l i o n in t h e north.—WINIFRED HOCKEN, 3 A u g . 1944.

[Newspapers record the phenomenon at 5.45 a.m. on 1 M a y 1944 at Somersham in H u n t s . — E d . ] HORSE CHESTNUTS' DEFOLIATION.—A w h i t e Aesculus

hippocas-

tanum tree in Southtown-road lost all its leaves during August, probably due to drought. In mid-October it put forth some fresh leaves, and even several spikes of bloom. I have often seen Laburnum blossoming a second time, in the a u t u m n , but never a C h e s t n u t before.—JOHN L . MOORE. PLANTS ON FELIXSTOW FRONT.—Four y e a r s of

unavoidable

neglect have produced holes and cracks in the concreted Promenade here. Growing in them, I noticed many kinds of Plants, notablv Valerian of all shades, Yellow Horned-poppy that has doubtless thus returned to the local shore after a half-century's extermination, and at least two well-grown shrubs of purple Budleia that are now in flower. Autres temps, autres mceurs : for the first time here I have heard an Owl hooting f r o m a house in the middle of the town at night, and a Cuckoo calling in early morning. Last year I saw a Magpie Aying over the town ; and a Weasel entering the gate of a house, then used as an officers' mess. Rats have been so n u m e r o u s that no less than three were caught at one feil swoop of a break-back trap, I had set in a garden shed.—GEOFFREY M .

FRENCH ; 6 A u g u s t .

AN EXOTIC INTRODUCTION.—A Plant had come u p as a weed in a Valley-road garden in Ipswich that was shown me on 10 Nov. 1943. It had a hefty stalk about 3 J feet high with many leaves and comparatively insignificant flower, whose lower part was forming small black fruits ; the root was Swede-like. O u r former M e m b e r , M r . S. J. Batchelder, identified it as Indian Pocan, Phytolacca acinosa ; and produced a smaller specimen, named for him b y the Kew authorities, f r o m a Beaconsfield-road garden in Ipswich ; there it had spread f r o m his own next door, where it first appeared in 1927. It is apparently a native of the Himalavas, and its means of introduction here are unknown.—HAROLD R. LINGWOOD. Mentha rotundifolia, HUDS.—So conspicuous is this tall plant that a great c l u m p of it, about six feet in diameter, arrested attention on 1 September last, even while that attention was concentrated u p o n motoring at füll speed along a country lane at Hulvertree in Badingham. U p o n repassing it on 15th, the c l u m p was f o u n d to be growing f r o m a very ordinary and shallow road-side ditch on Boulder-clay, and the numerous flowers to rise well over three feet. T h e plant is distinctly u n c o m m o n , occurring in less than half the districts of Britain ; in Suffolk it was first discovered so late as 1860 and H i n d knew of it f r o m no more than a half-dozen localities : Oulton, M e n d h a m , Withersdale, Metfield, Palgrave and C h e d i s t o n . — A R T H U R MAYFIELD.

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155

T H E S M A L L T E A S E L . — O f Dipsacus pilosus, L., I found a fine specimen, some five feet in height, growing in a ditch alongside the Old Packway by Peasenhall road in Walpole on 15 August last.

No other plants of the kind were in its vicinity. T h e late M r .

E. H. Kirkby reported it (Trans, supra ii, p. 171 ; cf. v, p. 100) from near Hepworth and in the River Deben at Thorpe near Debenham.—M. H O C K E N .

DATURA S T R A M O N I U M . — D r . Atkinson, County Medical Officer, found this growing in the grounds of Wangford School in the late summer of 1943 and it is presumably still there. He teils me that it is also to be seen at Oulton Workhouse. There was a bush in the garden of Brook Cottage when I came to live in Newbourne in July 1936, but it died shortly afterwards. I knew the plant well in Ceylon, where it is common, with white trumpet-shaped flowers hanging downwards. It is populär with the Singhalese who put its extract in the curry of people whom they want to do away with, for every part of the plant is poisonous. It is evidently long established in Suffolk, as I see that Henslow & Skepper give it in their little " F l o r a " 1860. (This note results from browsing through past ' Transactions,' my usual bed-side book !)—LESLIE D o w ; 12 July.

SWORDFISH'S N E W SUFFOLK P A R A S I T E . — W i t h regard to the list of Suffolk Copepoda (page 80, supra), we can add Philichthys xyphiae, since " the Cambridge Museum possesses two specimens that were extracted from the frontal bones of a Swordfish, Xiphias gladius, Linn., taken off Lowestoft in 1892 " (Camb. Nat. Hist., vol. iv). Incidentally, this host must be an additional specimen, for the three recorded at our Trans, ii, p. 110, were captured in 1882, 1896 and 1897.—CRANBROOK, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge ; 27 November.

SPIDER N E W TO S U F F O L K . — T h e enclosed Spiders have just beeil found here inside a Honey-bees' (Apis mellifica, L.) nest, and the owner is very anxious to know whether they are likelv to do harm to the rightful occupants. Will you kindly teil me this, and what their name is ?—A. B. HURRELL, Mei^dlesham ; 20 April. [We have never yet heard of any Arachnid that was not innocuous in Bees' nests, and suspect that these, which are a generally common kind usually found lurking in dark corners, were there solely for love of the murky Situation. Dr. Hull kindly names them Stearodea bipunctata, L. (cf. Trans, iv, 163); and adds that they like sheltered places, such as the underside of ledges in woodwork, fences and masonry.—Ed.] SUFFOLK SPIDER NEW to Britain.—Our Arachnida Recorder, Dr. Hull, sent word that a species new to the British Fauna had hcen found in our County by two British Museum officials, who write :—" Meta Bourneti, Simon 1922, was discovered by Lieut.

R. Gibson Jarvie in a culvert at his home at Gedding Hall in 1941.

156

OBSERVATIONS.

M r . T a m s and I went to G e d d i n g in June 1943 and collected a great n u m b e r of specimens for the M u s e u m collection. I t is a western Mediterranean cavernicolous species. A paper u p o n it has been prepared and will appear in the Journal of the L i n n e a n Society.—E. BROWNING, D e p t . Z o o l . ; 12 M a y 1944." T h i s addition to our Spider List (Trans, iv, 162) appeared at Proc.

L i n n . Soc. 1944, part ii, p. 94.—CRANBROOK, G l e m h a m Magna House ; 7 Jan. 1945.

M O R E ELECTRIC C E N T I P E D S . — M r s . Morley's account of Geophilus electricus, L . (supra, p. 101) reminds m e that I first became acquainted with the species about seventy years ago, vvhen the first I had seen was partly damaged on a garden path in Ipswich, while I was mothing after dusk. Later, w h e n living at Norwood in Surrev during the early 1880s, I found three or four on paths a n d t h e d o o r - s t e p . All were about an inch in length and of a light yellow colour.—F. W . FROHAWK ; 3 July 1944.

SUFFOLK'S N E W BRITISH LADYBIRD S P R E A D S . — I had a pleasant shock recently : our exclusively Suffolcian Ladybird, Coccinella A-punctata, Pont. (Trans, iv, 247 ; v, 34), t u r n e d u p in a box sent for determination. A single specimen had been taken, hibernating u n d e r bark of Larch, at T u b n e y [Berks] near Oxford. W o u l d not dear old J. J. Walker (Trans, iv, p. xciii) have danced a war-dance if he had seen it ! T u b n e y was one of his favourite collecting grounds, you know : so, had it escaped him there all these years, 1904-39, or has it only recently arrived there ?—DR. K . G . BLAIR, British M u s e u m ; 17 December 1943. [ T h e advent of this Beetle in b o t h mid-east Suffolk and near Oxford, within four years, is a r r e s t i n g ; and most especially so because, in both cases, its apparition occurred at spots that have been almost exhaustively worked for Insects t h r o u g h o u t the preceding forty years. Dr. H o b b y of Oxford University M u s e u m teils us that Conifers have quite recently been planted by the Imperial Forestry Institute (not Govt. Commission, as at Blythburgh) in this particular plantation at T u b n e y : verb. sap. !—Ed.] IPSWICII B E E T L E S . — O n e day, when living in Ipswich during 1872, I found the large Longicorn, Prionus coriarius, L., in the area of m y house ; it was kept alive for a considerable period, until I was able to identify it. About the same time I dug many examples of Dörens f r o m the rotten s t u m p of an old Ash-tree beside the Belstead-road.—F. W . FROHAWK ; 3 July.

Platycis minutus, FAB.—About noon on 3 September I saw a male of this scarlet-elytred Beetle on the heathery path in Blythburgh Wood, only a mile or so f r o m the Suffolk c o a s t ; and two days later M r . Morley swept another some h u n d r e d yards away ; b u t the closest search would not reveal in which of the innumerable rotten Birch stumps, with which this wood is now strewn in consequence of the 1929 fire (Trans, i, 67), they were breeding, as is their

OBSERVATIONS.

157

invariable wont.—MELVILLE HOCKEN. [This conspicuous Insect is very local in Britain ; we know of it from only Devon, Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Glos., Bucks, Norfolk and Cambs, whence and from Stonor Park in Oxford all our specimens came in Aug. 1904-5.

One ancient record exists from Scarborough. It has not been discovered in Suffolk since (Coleop. Suff.) Frank Norgate sent an example from near Brandon, fifty miles away, to Mr. W. Gardner before 1899.—Ed.] T w o LOCAL PHYTOPHAGA.—So scarce had Beetles hitherto been during a long spell of north-east wind that I was delighted to take a cJ Phyllobrotica A-maculata, L., while working Yellow Loosestrife by the Little Ouse at Km uishall on 25 June for Tapinotus sellatus, Fab., which was not found, though the food-plant grew profusely. High on the Heath a mile away, the Diastictus chalk pit (Trans, iv, 122) was badly scored by military tank-practice that had pancaked many discarded army tins. Under these were various Coleoptera and such Heteroptera as Podops inuncta et Aphanus lynceus, Fab. ; at one small spot occurred a half-dozen $ ? Gal~ eruca tanaceti, L., several so immature that the elytra were soft and dull yellow, but neither Tansy nor Scabious grew near it.— P. J. BURTON, Lowestoft. [Of the former Beetle, Suffolk has no record since Mr. W. H. Tuck sent two or three from the vicinity of Bury for name in 1898, though it often abounds in the Norfolk Broads and New Forest on Skullcap. T h e latter we have never taken in a half-century's collecting, despite its very general British distribution ; Suffolk could boast but single examples at Battisford (in coli. Wm. Baker, 1896) and on tall grasses in both Barnby Broad 1898 and Oulton Broad (Elliott) tili it was discovered in Sept. 1920, fallen " in great abundance " into sand-pits at Freckenham (Donisthorpe) which is, like the present chalk-pit, on the Breck.—Ed.] T w o WEEVILS NEW TO S U F F O L K . — A l o n g with the Berytus in Sedum acre on Knettishall Heath on 22 June 1943 (Trans, v, p. 104), occurred a Beetle of the difficult genus Trachyphlceus, which Dr. Blair has later determined to be T. digitalis, Gyll., a species not hitherto noticed in Suffolk and unknown as British tili after 1913.

A similarly overlooked Weevil, belonging to the very next genus, is CathormioccrusBritannicus, Blair; this was not found to be indigenous tili described as new to Science in 1934 ( E M M . lxx, p. 26), though first taken in Cornwall during 1908 ; I happened to pick up a single metatype that had fallen into the celebrated sand-pit at Gisleham near Lowestoft on 22 September 1922.

A N APHID N E W TO S Ü F F O L K . — I n a very boggy part of Thelnetham Fen at noon on 30 July 1943, 1 swept from Reeds an ambiguous Arthropod (I could get no nearer its determination !) of less than 2 mm. in length, that looked Crustacean though its skin was soft. It baffled two or three other examiners, tili finally Mr. Laing of Mus. Brit. recognised it as that obscure Aphid, Äther-

158

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oides serrulatus, Hai., upon which he has an article ( E M M . 1920, 39), synonymous with Sipha paradoxa, Theob. (Entom. 1918, 26), thought to be then new to Science: so little is it known !

Though he possessed one correctly named specimen, Buckton entirely omits the species from his British Monograph. Add it in Lachninae at our Trans, ii, p. 1 4 5 . — C L A U D E MORLEY. T w o RURAL HOUSE C R I C K E T S . — G r y l l u s domesticus, L . , is stated to occur ' only in towns ' (Trans, i, p. 95); but, in late August 1943, persistent evening chirping greeted us in the dining-room here. Eventually a maid produced his pinkish corpse on a dustpan, into which he had been swept from the coal-scuttle, though we had no fires in August. This house is near no town, and but twenty years old. T h e same week a yet younger Council-cottage, on the main Woodbridge-road in Martlesham, produced another specimen.— HAROLD R . LINGWOOD, Martlesham ; 1 3 Nov. 1 9 4 3 .

HABITS OF O D O N A T A — I have been watching the Dragonflies on Grassmere where are at least two kinds, one light and shining blue and the other larger with waspish markings ; they are probably the common Agrion puella, L. and TEschna cyanea, Müll., but I have no knowledge of the species or anything relating to them. What I did see one day recently was a two-three inch yellow-striped Dragonfly, Cordylegaster Boltoni, Don., I expect, that was weighted down in front by some object; on closer inspection the latter looked very like a Bumble-bee [possibly the Tachinid fly Echinomyia grossa, L.—Ed.] clasped in the front legs and munched by the jaws tili dry ; and that was all I was able to see before the former dashedaway. Itisamusingto watchthe Dragonflies rising from the shallows of the lake and preening themselves to get rid of their nymphal cases, either on stones or bits of weed.

It seemed to me as if the emerging pseudo-imagines were actually helping each other to throw off their now useless coverings, but I could not be sure : would this be so ? — W . ROWLEY ELLISTON, Grandy Close, Grassmere, Westmorland ; 26 July.

ANOTHER SUFFOLK Anax imperator, L C H . — T h e outstanding Dragonfly of the year in Suffolk was /Eschna mixta, Latr. (Trans, i, 21), which was by no means rare in September at both Blythburgh Wood, where a fine series was secured, and in Heveningham Park, though everywhere most elusive. The poor weather of late spring afforded me no opportunity of working the latter Lake for Anax (Trans, v, p. 105) during the present season. P. J. BURTON, v.v.—You may be interested to know, with reference to the presence of Anax in Suffolk, that on 1 June I found an empty nymphal case among grass stems between the Westerfeld and Tuddenham roads, just north of Valley-road, on the Boulder-clay uplands north of Ipswich. It was beside a small pond of some fifteen by four yards, which has recently been converted into the end of an antitank ditch with no detriment to its always plentiful Insect lite.

SAMUEL BEAUFOY ; 29 July.

[This exuvia is that of a very large

159'

OBSERVATIONS.

$ Anax : the wing-venation can easily be read, in even minute details. T h e species was on the wing in late April here this year, and is always out in May. It invariably breeds in still waters, preferably in reedy ponds with /Eschna cyanea and grandis ; but sometimes in such brackish water as no respectable E s c h n a would look a t ! — L T . - C O L .

F . C . FRÄSER, M . D . ,

I.M.S.,

F.R.E.S.,

55

Glenferness-avenue, Winton, Bournemouth ; 17 Aug. 1944], See back of Frontispiece facing p. 133.

COLONY OF Abraxas sylvata, SCOP.—In view of its local rarity (supra, p. 108), I was interested to count fifty specimens of this species in fifteen minutes on 16 July, all sitting about on undergrowth beneath Ulmus campestris, in Westleton ; where also occurred during that month :—Miniata, S. pinastri and A. leporina, singly, with a couple of T. pastinum on 20-5 ; Argynnis Paphia and Adippe were Aying plentifully ; and, among a bred batch of E. prosapiaria, emerged one of the var. prasinaria.—MICHAEL WEBSTER, 9 . A u g .

FACILIS EST DESCENSUS !—I witnessed a really spectacular fall of a Poplar-hawk larva in my garden at Giffards Hall in Wickhambrook during September. It hit the earth with such a resounding smack that I expected it must have killed itself; but, after lying quite still in my hand for a few minutes, it moved on to its feet and then proceeded to lick its side, presumably the part whereon it had fallen. Where it had licked was moistened by a green liquid [from the colour, this was pretty surely its own ' blood ' exuding from an abrasion.—Ed.], that seemed to be licked off again and of which some came upon my hand. I have no recollection of seeing an Insect lick itself in this entirely Mammal manner.

Presumably these ponderous Siherinthus populi larvae must often take heavy tosses, but one does not chance to see the occurrence : this one came from a tree whose lowest branch was fully twenty-five feet from the ground. It continued to eat poplar leaves for a while, and duly pupated, emerging in normal time the next spring as a female with aborted wings, due to the accidental fall I suppose.

It was liberated, but I doubt its pursuit of any successful career.— ( M I S S ) DULCIE L . S M I T H ; 15 A p r i l .

ONE BEDSTRAW HAWK-MOTH.—This has been a very poor season generally ; and I have been able to add only four species that are new to my1 colle.ction. They include single (538) Palimpsestis octogesima, Hüb. and (551) Dcilephila galii, Rott., which I caught in my Drinkstone garden just after dusk on 11 August as it was Aying at flowers of Verbena ; I thought it to be D. euphorbiae tili it came out of the killing-bottle. It has two small alar chips, but is otherwise a good specimen. Needless to say I was quite excited and have kept a careful, but useless, watch for later ones.

Four (114) Hcliothis peltiger, Schf., have been bred from local larvae, and a rather worn fifth netted.—F. G. BARCOCK ; 30 September.

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OBSERVATIONS.

INFLUX OF CONVOLVULUS H A W K - M O T H S . — ( 1 ) A dead specimen was picked u p in Y a r m o u t h on 4 September ; (2) a dead specimen was f o u n d at Somerleyton on 24th ; (3) soon after, a beautiful specimen was found in Y a r m o u t h and brought to me, w h e n it looked as if it were just emerged, and suggests that it was bred locally and is not an immigrant ; (4) one was seen near Lowestoft on 30th ; (5) a damaged female was found at Somerleyton on 27th Sept. ; and an unconfirmed report is of another at Y a r m o u t h on 3 October. T h e first and f o u r t h were m u c h advertised in Local Press, the rest were modest and kept out of print (JOHN L .

MOORE, Gorleston ; 2 Nov.).—I waited all the year to see a H a w k m o t h of any kind here, and then on September 20 I was shown Sphinx conyolvuli, L., captured in a local garage a day or two before.

Next evening a second was brought alive in a bottle ; and at dusk the next day I took one at white Tobacco plants in m y own garden (DR. D. G . GARNETT, Fairfield House, Leiston ; 1 Oct.).—MASTER BLOWERS took one the same m o n t h in the garden of Hansells House in Leiston ; besides those noted below f r o m Westleton and inland at Drinkstone this a u t u m n .

LARVAL VAR. OF DEATHS-HEAD H A W K - M O T H . — T h e peculiar larva of Acherontia Atropos, figured by H e r r Spuler (Trans, supra, p. 107) reported by Ipswich M u s e u m , was discovered by two of my school-boys in Sept. 1943 on some Potato plants in Cotton parish near F i n n i n g h a m Station. It was fully grown, and we gave it every facility for pupation. But it escaped, for a careful examination of its soil last July revealed no trace of larva or pupa.—MRS. E L S I E S. L A S T , Cotton School, S u f f o l k ; 15 Oct. 1 9 4 4 .

LEPIDOPTERA NEAR GORLESTON.—Several Vanessa c-album were first seen on 22 April at Fritton, where they were numerous on 20 July, with many Thecla quercus, several Limenitis Sibylla and a Single Argynnis Adippe.

D ü r i n g August and September c o m m o n Vanessae remained unusually scarce, perhaps owing to the severe frosts in M a y causing destruction to their larvae ; but they and especially V. Atalanta increased at the end of September, C o m m a s were again at Fritton on ISth, but not a single V. cardui was noted this whole year. I n m y Gorleston garden C o m m a s seem to be fairly established now, like Arctia villica which I saw on 10 J u n e for several successive years. H e r e were several Macroglossa stellatarum and Plusia moneta on annual Blue L a r k s p u r during July, with Eucymatoge tersata whose reappearance is welcome after some

years' absence.—JOHN L . MOORE, 2 N o v .

SUFFOLK LEPIDOPTERA in 1 9 4 4 . — C e r t a i n l y never in a half-century's collecting has there been so poor a year as the present.

Stringent war-restrictions upon both light and sugar have been but secondary causes, for no doubt exists that both M o t h s and Butterflies were very seriously decimated in their imago and immature stages by the phenomenally severe frosts of late May, that killed all the young shoots of old Oaks and blackened every leaf

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161

of young Ashes, more especially in Valleys than upon high ground.

There followed a drought as beggars living memory throughout July and most of August. Such strictures produced most curious results among our Lepidoptera, that are well illustrated in the following reports, all received excepting among the most ubiquitous species, from our numerous Members who work the group. (No. 16, of our 1937 Memoir) Fuliginosa : more in evidence than u s u a l ; larva swept Thorndon Pen 22 June, spun 28 June, emerged male 14 July (Mly) ; imago Aying among low herbage in Cretingham Watery-wood 27 July and second in Brandeston marshes (Hocken); among reeds in Thelnethan Fen 6 Aug. (Btn). 21. Russula : about heather at Westleton (Michael Webster). 102. Ochroleuca : fairly plentiful at Budleia flowers in Drinkstone garden ; also on them there was (619) Satyrus semele on evening of 12 Aug., ' surely far from its usual habits and haunts, as here is all heavy ground and the nearest locality for it is a dozen miles away ! ' (Barcock). 238.

Genistae : on Elm-trunk at Westleton 6 June (MWeb.). 240.

Venosata : one at Stowmarket 6 June (John Burton). 475.

Liturata : common about Pinus insignis at Westleton (MWeb.).

485. Maciilaria : a few bred at Westleton out of 1942 ova from Bentley Woods (id.). 543. Fuciformis : Waldringfield garden for first time ever on 29 May (Canon Waller). 544. Stellatarum : at Valerian flowers in Needham Market garden on 29 June, 5 & 16 July (JBtn). 552. Five Pinastri on Westleton Fir-trunks on one morning in 1943 ( M W e b . ) ; several larvae of varying growth found feeding on Corsican Pine at Dunwich in 1944 ; cf. Trans, i, 231 (J. A. Webster, in lit. 18 Sept.). 554. Convolvuli : one on 26 June and six, seen at once, at Nicotiana flowers in Drinkstone garden at dusk on 15 Sept. (Barcock) ; one at Aldringham early Sept. (Mr. C. H. LAY); two taken and others seen at Westleton mid-Sept.

(J. A. Webster). 555. Atropos : one larva, found by the Spexhall policeman, pupated at once, end of Aug. (Hocken). 572. Odonosia cuculla, Esp., one sitting on an Elm-branch at Westleton 16 June (MWebster). 572a. Plumigera : six eggs found in Barking Wood during Feb. (JBtn). 590. Lanestris : 23 larval nests, 11 on Hawthorn, 7 on Elm & 5 on Sloe, on roadside between Badingham and Heveningham on 26 June ; and one at Chediston on lOth (P. J. Burton) ; a half-dozen nests in Yorks (GBtn).—A. P. WALLER.

598. Paphia : four taken in a wood at Framlingham, 3-5 July 1943 (Aston); several were present early in both July and Aug. in Hintlesham Great Wood this year, but also I have been several times to Bentley Woods without seeing any (S. Beaufoy, 7 Aug.).

600. Aglaja: Westleton in 1943 (MWebster). 607. C-album: always seen singly this year, m u c h rarer than last four years : Blythburgh Wood 24 March and 3-14 Sept. (Mly) ; Waldringfield at end March (Waller) ; Monks Soham 16 July only ( M l y ) ; first seen at Leckford in Hants 13th (Miss C h a w n e r ) ; several in St.

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OBSERVATIONS.

Olaves garden late July (Ross-Lewin); Brandeston by Deben 27th (Hocken) and 5 Aug.; Thelnetham Fen, with 629 Quercus 6 Aug. (Btn.) ; Blythbro & Spexhall, Sept. 609. Polychloros : frequent singly : Walpole 11 April (Btn.) ; Waldringfield end of March (Waller) ; Thorndon Fen 20 July (Hocken), Brandeston 27th (Mly) ; Needham Mkt three 9-20 Aug. ( G B t n ) ; St. Olaves 16 Aug. (Ross-Lewin). 613. Cardui and 641. Edusa : no specimen observed throughout 1944, but of latter a dozen were taken in Lucerne fields at Stovvmarket, with two Var. Heiice, in Aug.-Sept 1943 (Aston). 642. Hyale : one at Ellingham Hall near Bungay «n 10 Aug. (EDaily Press, 14th). 614. Sibylla : Each year I go to the Bentley Woods to ' shake hands ' with White Admirals there.

One day in July last I met with an unmistakable black one, that flew very close to me. I have never been able to find either eggs or larvae (Revd. E. C. Usherwood, Belstead ; 12 Feb. 1944) ; three in wood near Stowmarket July 1943 (Aston); Westleton in 1943 (MWebster) ; one in St. Olaves garden 28 July 1944 (Ross-Lewin).

619. Semele : exceptionally numerous on heaths at Herringfleet in July (Ross-Lewin) and Blythburgh in Sept. (Mly). 639. Mgon : by no means uncommon on the heaths round Wenhaston (Hocken).

648. Rapae : first emerged on 9 April at Chediston Hall (P. T. V Burton).—C. H. S. V I N T E R .

T H E J A W S OF DEATH.—A Small White, Pieris rapae, L., was hovering four feet from the ground, at yellow Hollvhocks at 3 p m on 31 July in Monks Soham garden, when a Flycatcher flew across the lawn, snapped the Butterfly in its beak and, with no pause, passed on with a white wing protruding upon each side of its head.

An entire front wing of P. brassicae was picked up there three days

l a t e r . — M R S . MORLEY.

Machaon L A R V A E L A I D DOWN.—Evidently, in view of the odd specimens of Swallow-tails occasionally noted, it should be published that my brother, our Member Hugh Buxton began bringing small plants of Peucedanum palustre, Moen., from Catfield and installing them round his small pond at Snapc a decade ago. They increased well, and he used to scatter the seed on to the adjacent marshes. Düring 1937-8 he brought Machaon caterpillars from the same Norfolk marsh, which fed on the Snape pabulum. The resulting pupae he kept in a box for greater safety ; as soon as these hatched he loosed them, when they soared away, usually in the direction of Blackheath. I am delighted to report that, in the hot weather at the end of last May, Dr. Garnett of Leiston came over here to teil me that a specimen had just been seen at Thorpe Ness by a lady, who is well up in Butterflies ; and during the summer of 1943 my daughter, Mrs. Robert Bickersteth who is a quite reliable Naturalist and good observer, noticed another Aying near the River Alde's shore at Blackheath. Hence one may suppose that the importation is prospering. We can not have too many of these beautiful insects. M R S . W A T E R F I E L D , Wadd Lane, Snape; 10

OBSERVATIONS.

163

June.—I caught a Machaon in my garden here on 19 May ; when first observed it was on a Solanum crispum. I would be interested to know of any recent records from this area [in 1936 we laid down a few larvae on indigenous Milk Parsley in Fritton Marsh : Proc. iii, p. cix ; but have heard nothing further of them.—Ed.]. Six days later a letter in EDaily Press stated one to have been taken at Mundford in Norfolk. Mr. R. F. Kerrison writes in the same paper on 29 Aug., that on 25th he saw one perfect Vanessa Antiopa, L., which ' for some time took honey from my finger ' at Burgh Hall near Aylsham in mid-Norfolk.—MAJOR F. H. W. RossLEWIN, St. Olaves ; 29 Aug. T H E ANNUAL CAMBERWELL BEAUTY.—Miss Laura Long, who is a keen Naturalist but too great a victim of cardiac trouble to wield a net for long, most kindly brought me a Vanessa Antiopa, Linn., on 24 September 1944, which had just been taken by her at Somerleyton, while it was feeding among a crowd of V. Atalanta upon over-ripe Plums. He, she, or it is a lovely specimen and quite perfect, but for a slight jag in the anal corner of the left hind wing.

I do not think it can have immigrated ; but, if bred here, there should be records of others.—JOHN L. MOORE, Gorleston ; 6 Nov.

Pamphila lineola, OCHS., EXPANDS.—Small Skippers were so profuse in the rough ' lanes ' of Monks Soham on 30 July last that I netted many to see if the Essex Skipper might not also be occurring there, mixed with them. A careful examination at home subsequently showed this to actually have been the case. The discovery is interesting, because this locality is very little further south than Wicken Fen (P. J. BURTON).—On looking over the collection of Butterflies made by Dr. Aiken about 1830 (cf. supra, p. 71), I find it contains three Essex Skippers that were caught by him in Norfolk about 1830. These, I suppose, must be the oldest British specimens, 2 $ & 1 $ , of this species in existence ( F . W. FROHAWK ; 3 July). [We consider the Norfolk provenance non proven.—Ed.] LEPIDOPTERA IN W I L T S H I R E . — I see De Worms fairly regularly, and he was with me one day when Plantaginis was Aying in fair numbers ; it was interesting to compare these with those I took in Scotland, which are so much darker. Dominula seems still fairly plentiful. But Butterflies have been scarce this year, as have the Bee-hawks and most day-flying species. I expect the same applies to nocturnal ones too, but one can not use light or obtain sugar.

We have plenty of Porcellus at dusk but hardly anything eise, not even Gamma or Tripartita. Two years running I have taken Single Lucina in Oddstock Wood, but failed to find its exact habitat, no doubt in some little corner near the wood. I must congratulate you on the compilation of the SNS. Transactions ; and expect you have heard of the hybrid Corydon-Bellargus which were taken near Salisbury last year. Sorry I have failed to

164

OBSERVATIONS.

secure Musculosa for you : you shall have one as soon as I can get any.—BROUGHTON HAWLEY ; 2 J u l y .

[We are greatly

indebted

to Colonel Hawley for more than one beautiful Musculosa, later received.—Ed.] Argyroploce salicella, L., COMMONER.—This Tortricid was shown in 1'937 ( S N S . M e m . i, 157) to be sparsely scattered over Suffolk f r o m Felixstow to the fens of Mildenhall. Since then it has turned up, always singly, at Heveningham, Barsham, Shipmeadow and M i l d e n h a l l ; elsewhere I have met with it only in the Shapwick peat-moor in Somerset during July 1933. But never does it seem to have been so comparatively numerous as this year : on 26 June it was Aying jerkily four feet over marsh-herbage near Willows at 2 p . m . on a dull afternoon in T h o r n d o n Fen, where it was sitting on a Reed u n d e r Willows on 14 July ; sitting on W a t e r Betony plant u n d e r Willows in the River Deben on 30 J u n e at Brandeston and swept f r o m water-plants near the same spot on 8 July ; sitting still on the outside of M o n k s Soham, where it has never been noticed before in forty years, m u s e u m at 10 a.m. on 2 July ; and finally kicked u p f r o m herbage in Cretingham watery wood on 25 July.—Claude Morley.

Eucosma crenana, H ü b — T h i s is a northern species, although two specimens have been taken in Suffolk : at Ipswich and Lakenheath.—W. RAIT-SMITH, 30 Aug. [Hence the asterisk may now be removed f r o m our sole early record of 1861 ( M e m . S N S . 1937, p. 153).—Ed.] Depressaria arenella, SCHF., ON BUTTER-BURR.—The great leaves of this Composite plant are constantly f o u n d to have been mined in long pale galleries, the larger of which are the work of the Anthomyid Fly Pegomyia geminipunctata, Stein (cf. E n t o m . 1916, p. 246) and the smaller presumably those of some Agromysa.

H o p i n g to ascertain what the latter might be, I brought a mined leaf in f r o m M o n k s Soham garden on 27 Sept. 1943 ; b u t it had yielded no Insect by 2 July following, w h e n I threw it out and b r o u g h t in a fresh mined leaf. F r o m this, two u n d o u b t e d Agromyzid puparia appeared on 17 July 1944, b u t they subsequently died f r o m being too dry, like the first leaf's occupants. Finally f r o m the same leaf I f o u n d a single $ Depressaria arenella was Aying about u n d e r the glass lid on 12 A u g u s t ; its larva more usually feeds in rolled edges of Centaurea nigra leaves, and I have not raised it f r o m Arctium lappa before, t h o u g h a well-known (Stainton, N a t . Hist. T i n e i n a 1861, p. 68) p a b u l u m of this M o t h .

SAWFLIES NEW TO S U F F O L K . — W h e n I w a s s t a y i n g a t F r a m l i n g -

h a m in 1927, nearly a dozen species of H y m e n o p t e r a Symphyta occurred to m e that are not in the Suffolk List (Trans, iii, pp- 1829). T h e y are -.—Arge nigripes, Retz. ; Platycamptus luridiventris, Fall. ; Euura atra, L i n n . ; Ardis sulcata, C a m . ; Empna baltica, C o n d e and E. parvula, K o n . ; Athalia scutellarice, C a m . (which was taken also at Holbrook by M r . J. C. Robbins that year), A.

OBSERVATIONS.

165

liberta, Klg. and A. cordata, Lep. ; Dolerus puncticollis, Thoms. and Tenthredo colon, Klg. Also were noted Xiphydria prolongata, Rhadinocera micans and Macrophya rufipes, which species seem uncommon in Suffolk.—ROBERT B. BENSON, M.A., F.R.E.S.; British Museum, Tring, Herts ; 25 Oct. [The first species (A. enodis, Morice) was taken with us at Newton Wood in Needham Market 1933, in Bigots Lane at Framlingham 1941 and freely in Monks Soham lanes 1943. For T. colon, hitherto overlooked, see " Sawflies of 1944," page 146.—Ed.] WASPS' PREVALENCY.—In curious distinction from last year's dearth, Vespa vulgaris, L., has been in pestilent profusion throughout this autumn. One was attacking Epinephele Tithonus, L., and one biting off the wings of Caradrina alsines, Brah., at Walpole on 4 August. A peculiarly strong subterranean nest, in a grassy field-edge there on 4 September, consisted of six layers and the cells were roughly computed at rather over than under seven thousand. Among those cells that contained pupae and had been already, consequently, sealed over, a quite careful search revealed six that contained pretty mature imagines of the rare Beetle, Metcecus paradoxus, L., in equal sexes. In Suffolk all or most such nests contain a few specimens, though they are rarely sought in so obnoxious a habitat. One male Metcecus was taken, Aying in sun seven feet from ground, in Brandeston Wood at 2 p.m. o n 5 A u g u s t . — P . J . BURTON.

THE WAY OF A WASP WITH ITS FOOD.—A s e t t i n g - c a s e w a s left

open upon my study table in Haiesworth for the one short hour immediately preceding noon on 15 August, during which period a Wasp either devoured or tore to pieces four recently set specimens : the abdomen and head of Tabanus bromius, L. (Dipt.), the thoraces of both Aletia cotiigera, Fab. (Noctuid) and Chrysophanus phlceas, L. and the thoracic disc of Satyrus Semele, L. The too busy marauder was caught in flagrante delicto and suffered the capital penalty his depredations so richly merited. I am satisfied all was the work of only a Single Vespa vulgaris, as no other Wasps were to be found in the room.—M. HOCKEN. [All over the County the Common Wasp has abounded in 1944. Flies, Mydcea pagana, Fab. and a couple of Eustalomyia hilaris, Fall., set on 20 August, seemed to have broken out into füll and second life at 11 a.m. on 22nd, at Monks Soham ; but a glance showed them being rapidly assimilated by no less than three V. vulgaris, which in a half-hour had left only the pinned thoraces of the first and one of the second, while the other's abdomen had disappeared.—Ed.] AN 8TH Myrmecomorphus rufescens, WESTW.—In April last M r .

G. H . Ashe of Gribblemead at Colyton in South Devon sent me a curious Insect, much resembling a small larva of the Coreid bug Alydus calcaratus ; this he terms " a creature which I tubed from an Ants' nest yesterday on the shore at Seaton as a Bug, but later think it possibly a Hymenopteron." It is now in the collection of

166

OBSERVATIONS.

Mr. Claude Morley, who confirms the later opinion ; he determines it as a male of the Proctotrypid M. rufescens, and the eighth known British specimen. Previous Q O , he teils me, are from near London (G. R. Waterhouse ; type : Loud. Mag. Nat. Hist.

1833, 496), Dorset in Oct. 1869 (Dale), Leicester in June 1871 (Marshall), Surrey about 1885 (Capron), Suffolk on 6 Oct. 1898 (Morley), Berks on 14 Nov. 1908 (coli. Harwood) and the sole found at Felden in Herts about 1898 (Piffard, in coli. Morley).

Revd. T. A. Marshall considered ' Innocent people mistake it for a n A n t . ' — E R N E S T C . BEDWELL.

T w o UNRECORDED TRIGONALIDAE.—Your visit here gave me great pleasure [in July 1937], as I so rarely meet anyone interested in Insects. I was sorry we failed to meet with Pseudogonalis Hahm, Spin. (Entom. 1923, 146) ; but I managed to secure two more specimens of it later in July. One I swept from a bed of Epilobium that was not yet in flower, and the other I took while it was hovering over a bed of Galium, &c. ; I spent much time searching for more in their vicinity, but fruitlessly as it is certainly quite rare, even around Carlisle, where Dr. T . C. Heysham took the earliest British examples, now in Mus. Brit., before 1857. While hunting for this, I obtained many other specimens, among them one of, I think, Streblocera fulviceps, Ww. ; it agrees with Revd. T. A. Marshall's figure in Trans. Ent. Soc. and the description by Lyle in Entomologist.—JAMES M U R R A Y , in lit. 17 Oct. 1937 ; none were seen by him the next year, sec. lit. 7 Aug. 1938.

ICHNEUMONS IN SUFFOLK, 1944.—Hymenoptera seem to have suffered less than Moths or Beetles from the adverse spring of this year. They were hardly in their average numbers tili midsummer, when they increased with the year's march tili, in early Oct., they abounded on delayed flowers of Angelica in marshes that had been mown in July. Among those secured by me are :—Sienichneumon culpator at Hoxne osier-carr in late June ; Melanichneumon saturatorius and Cratichneumon pallidifrons in Blythburgh Wood, early Sept. ; Amblyteles oratorius at Heveningham Park, 26 Aug. ; Platylabus dolorosus there on 17 July, with Phaogenes homochlorus on 14 May ; and Diadromits collaris in Blythburgh Wood during autumn.

Exolytus laevigatus I took at Monks Soham on 1 May ; Hemiteles aestivalis at Southwold in June ; a male Aritranis carnifex and female Habrocryptus porrectorius in Blythburgh Wood ; Idiolispa analis and Goniocryptus titillator at Heveningham. Pimplinae were represented by Pimpla alternans in Blythburgh Wood ; Glypta pedata and haesitator on Heveningham flowers; Lampronota melancholia and Collyria calcitrator at Chediston Park in May. Tryphoninae were numerous ; Homocidus ornatus at Blythburgh in Sept., H. tarsatorius at Walpole in July with Mesoleius variegatus and, at Benacre in May, M. aulicus.

The rare Exenterus Curtisi, Hai., turned up in Heveningham Park on 7 May withPrionopoda stictica ; Mesoleptus typhae at Hoxne in June and M. ruficornis

167

OBSERVATIONS.

during July at Walpole. Ophioninae showed Campoplexfoveolatus, sobolicida et zonellus at respectively Heveningham, Chediston and Blythburgh ; Angitia virginalis was swept in M o n k s Soham lanes on 30 July, Öphion parvulus at Walpole a week earlier, O. calcaratus at Blythburgh Wood in Sept., Paniscus latungula at Chediston, with Astiphrommus mandibularis and Mesochorus pictilis ; and on 8 Sept. I was glad to sweep the pretty little M. sylvarum in Blythburgh Wood. Other things, casually picked up, are a couple of the uncommon Ruby-tails Chrysis Ruddi, Shuck., on 28 J u n e alighting on posts in the Haiesworth district, probably at Chediston; and on 9 M a y a male of the Braconid Earinus ochreipes, Lyle, at W a l p o l e . — P . J . BURTON, L o w e s t o f t ; A N UNRECORDED H O S T . — M r .

10 Oct.

F. W .

J e f f e r y of 2 4

Woodland

Terrace, Greenbank, Plymouth, has bred Protichneumon laminatorius, Fab. [see supra, p. 54], ex a pupa of Deilephila lineata, Fab., that was taken as a larva which pupated on 1 Sept. ; and this Ichneumon emerged on 31 M a r c h 1944, leaving the pupa case empty. T h e specimen is to be exhibited before the next R. Ent. Soc. Meeting. D o you know any other parasites of Lineata, or allied H a w k - m o t h s attacked b y this one ?—(CAPTAIN) T . DANNREUTHER, R.N., F.R.E.S., H o n . Ed. SE. U n . Sei. Socs., W i n d y croft, Hastings ; 10 April. [P. laminatorius has been hitherto raised from onlv Elpenor, Galii, Pinastri et Populi, as given by M r .

Rait-Smith and"us at T r a n s . R. Ent. Soc. 1933, pt. ii, p. 137. N o Ichneumonid or Braconid was known before to attack D. lineata.

—Ed.] P. laminatorius was taken in Blythboro marshes 8 Aug. 1 9 4 4 . — P . J . BURTON. A HOST FOR Ichneumon

languidus

AT LAST ! — I e n c l o s e a n

ich-

neumon fly [a fine $ Ichneumon languidus, Wesm.], which emerged in early July f r o m the cocoon of Plusia interrogationis, L., much to m y disgust! I t was one of three cocoons, of which the other two produced M o t h s , that I reeeived f r o m a friend who collected t h e m this year in Weardale, D u r h a m . Also a b u n c h of woolly cocoons [of the Braconid Apanteles fulvipes, Hai. ; see Trans, iii, 240], which emerged this week f r o m a Vanessa Atalanta, L.—J. NEWTON, T h e Retreat, T e t b u r y , G l o s . ; 19 August.

ANOTHER STINGING ICHNEUMON ( c f . p . 1 2 1 , s u p r a ) . — J u s t b e f o r e

dark, at 7.35 on 23 August last, the Ophionine Henicospilus combustus, Grav., flew in to light on the dinner table at M o n k s Soham. I picked it off the white cloth with right t h u m b and first finger, into the back of the apical joint of which it thrust its ovipositor, inflicting a distinctly sharp sting whose pain continued to tingle with diminishing intensity for just four minutes. T h e species is less rare than was supposed in 1914 (Morl. l e h n . Brit. v, 283) : it occurred in exactly the same Situation in August 1918, 1936, 1938 and Aying in a hedge at Saxstead Bottom in August

163

OBSERVATIONS.

M A L E Alloplastaplantaria, GRAV., IN B R I T A I N . — T h e sole known indigenous male of this rare Ichneumon is the unlocalised specimen still in Mus. Brit., that was misnamed by Thomas Desvignes (Catal. 1856, 68) Phytodietus corvinus, Gr. Three males, that emerged 10th-22nd March last, and one female, out on 25th, were dug up a month or two earlier at the base of a— ? willow—tree in Sutfolk within ten miles of Haiesworth by Mr. P. J. Burton. As the only male description (Dr. Brauns, Zeits. Hym-Dip. 1901, 160-77) is quite inadequate, I here note its distinctions from the female (of my lehn. Brit. iii, 238) :—Head paler in front. Antennse setaeeous and just as long as body, apically acute, with flagellum entirely ferrugineous below. Thoracic white pilosity distinctly longer and denser ; mesonotal white spots at base of notauli larger. Abdomen parallel-sided and longer than head with thorax ; first segment longer and narrower, rimosely punetate to apex ; both sexes have segments 4-7 linearly white apically.

Hind femora, except basally, black ; their tarsal joints 2-4, and mid tarsal joints 3-4, pure white ; front tarsal fulvous throughout.

The four cocoons whence they emerged are a good deal darker and more nitidulous, i.e. piceous-nigrescent, than those recorded from Cardiff, and of A. murina, Grav., from the New Forest; and those of the male are narrower than female and subcylindrical.

CLAUDE M O R L E Y .

T H E HEATH D A D D Y - L O N G L E G S . — T h i s dark and medium-sized Tipula marmorata, Mg., with pretty barred and mottled wings, abounds in hundreds on heathy places during October and late September : this year 1944, the first speeimens appeared at Blythburgh Heath on 14 September. My observations were made on Wenhaston Heath which, suddenly on 25th, became alive with males crawling restlessly over Moss and Heather or taking short flights through Bracken, then Coming to rest with wings superimposed, only in a short time to resume their tireless roaming.

My every footstep through the heath raised a small cloud of them.

All were males, and repeated search revealed none of the other sex.

This State of affairs continued for the next three days ; but on the fourth, the 29th, the first females appeared. Each was instantly pounced upon by the males, one of whom was soon successful in mating with her, while the disappointed suitors trampled over the pair until all that could be seen was a struggling group of Insects on the Moss. Later, when excitement had died down, the superfluous males resumed their search and later the pair would crawl up a Grass stem or fly to one, and there rest. Females seemed to be much the scarcer sex ; and, even before she could fully emerge from the puparium, a ring of impatient admirers was gathered around her, waiting her complete emergence that did not occur until the wings were fully dried. Only then was the tail drawn from the pupa-case, which I found to be embedded upright in the sott Moss. The imago dried herseif in this vertical position, clinging

OBSERVATIONS.

169

by the forelegs to a higher frond of Moss or Grass. N o t even a cold northerly wind, showers or absence of sunshine, deterred these Tipulids f r o m enlivening the heath, at a time when hardly any other Insects would venture out.—MELVILLE HOCKEN ; 5 Oct. CRANE F L Y FAR AT SEA.—While I was at sea last August, ten miles off the Isle of Skye, a male of the genus Tipula flew on to the ship at 10.30 p.m. Double British S u m m e r T i m e [8.30 truly], I considered this was rather a long flight for a Daddy-long-legs.

[Doubtless carried on an eastern air-current.—Ed.] I am just off again, this time to be temporarily stationed in Ceylon and later probably China. I believe southern India is the home of that fine yellow-&-black Stag Beetle Odontolabis (Hope) Delesserti, so I hope to collect a few of them. T h i s trip may mean a stay out there of any length of time u p to three years ; and no doubt it will be very enjoyable f r o m an entomological point of view. Will you kindly send my Transactions to the Leicester address.—FRANK C. STANLEY, H . M . S . Collingwood, Fareham, H a n t s ; 4 Dec. 1944.

Limnophila punctata, S C H R . , P R O F U S E . — T o ascertain the comparative frequency and f u r t h e r habits of this interesting D a d d y longlegs the site of last year's captures was visited first, as the season was late, on 26 April, 1944, at noon in stiff N E . breeze, when over a dozen males were Aying low among plants growing in mid-stream and sitting u p o n its banks' herbage ; b u t only two females were noted, of which one was ovipositing just as at T r a n s , v, p. 114. M r . Jim Burton and I f o u n d it in profusion for some three h u n d r e d yards along the same Stretch of the D e b e n on waterplants in afternoon of 28th and by brushing herbage on the dull 29th. Visits on 11 and 20 M a y showed undiminished numbers, but on 27th it was distinctly less common, and by 10 June it had become entirely replaced b y L . discicollis, M g . : a prolonged search revealed no single specimen. Similarly, near the Stour, at Strattord, Dr. Hocken f o u n d it superceded by the same species in early June.

Nephrocerusflavicornis, Z E T T . , IN S U F F O L K . — A most unexpected capture, curiously parallel with that of Myiolepta the previous year ( I r a n s , v, p. 116), was m a d e on 12 J u n e last. I had seen what 1 supposed to be some c o m m o n little Syrphid fly on a M o n k s Soliam window, that opened direct upon the garden, several times when I searched it to see what had flown in during the day and, at dusk, noticed it sitting on the ceiling-plaster just above the Window as t h o u g h retired to the underside of a leaf for the night.

So, just to ascertain what he was, I boxed him. W h e n setting him, the black cylindrical abdomen and stramineous legs reminded me strongly of Xylophagus ater, Fab. ; b u t the spherical head was very different, and the contorted hind tibiae like nothing known to nie. But the venation soon proved him a male of N. flavicornts, one of the specialities almost confined in Britain to the N e w f o r e s t , where Verrall conjectured it might parasitise our only

170

OBSERVATIONS.

indigenous Cicada, Cicadetta montana, Scp. There I am aware of the records of but six specimens, all in or near Lyndhurst between 16 June 1894 when it was first discovered by F. C. Adams esq. in his garden at Fern Cottage on Clay Hill, to 13 August 1908 when the latest one turned up on that house's window ; elsewhere a male was swept near Brockenhurst in 1903. Like Myiolepta, in Cambridge, Newnham produced one specimen (EMM. 1907, p. 14) at 6.30 p.m. on 26 July 1905. These two EAnglian localities rule out the possibility of the above parasitism.

THREE N E W SUFFOLK TACHINIDS.—Again, as at Trans, iv, p. 79, Mr. Wainwright has examined a local boxful of these parasitic flies, of which the present meagre additions bring the Suffolk total species to 171, out of 326 in all Britain. T h e sole rarity this time is a female of Stenoparia monstrosicomis, Stein, taken in May on the windows at Monks Soham, along with several Actia antennalis, Rond., found to be not infrequent there from 21 June to 27 August. The other novelty is Pales pavida, Mg., of which Mr. P. J. Burton bred a pair, that copulated, from pupae of Vanessa urticae at Walpole in August 1942 ; it had already been bred, but not recorded, from Bombyx neustria at Sudbury a decade ago by Bernard Harwood. I cannot imagine how the generic name Pales can represent both a Tipulid (Mg.) and a Tachinid (Desv. 1830) genus! As the former has precedence, I propose to supplant the latter by the new name PALOIDES.—CLAUDE MORI.EY. Scatophaga oceana, MCQ., NEW TO SUFFOLK.—I netted a couple of dark Flies, sitting in cop. close to the salt-water Strand at Wherstead by the Orwell on 7 September 1896, for the reeeption of which Dr. Meade erected (I think he told me at the time) his new genus Ceratinostoma at EMM. 1899, p. 218. This Hydromyzine genus is by no means ' anomalous', as he considered : the broad head with transverse frons at once distinguishes it from both the Scatophaginas and Cordylurinse, as do the aristal and femoral struetures from Clidogastrinae and Norelliinas. The deplanate grey abdomen has its three basal segments densely and minutely setiferous, with an apical pair of larger, procumbent setae in centre of all but the basal segment. On 30 March 1896 I had swept a male beside the fresh-water Gipping at Claydon, which the Revd. E. N. Bloomfield queried as being co-specific; and no more occurred tili I met with both sexes in profusion upon the sea-salterns south of Aldeburgh on 20 May 1929 and 15 May 1934. Now I find the Gipping male and mixed among these Ceratinostoma ostiorum, Hai., from Aldeburgh to be the very similar superfkially but entirely distinet (though erroneously synonymised by Meade, I.e.) Scatophaga oceana, Mcq., which I can distinguish at sight by its smaller size, paler wings and curiously conspicuous black junetion of the second and third wing-veins, both of which are elsewhere rather pale brown. It is altogether darker and stouter than the common S. litorea, Fall.

OBSERVATIONS.

171

SUFFOLK F L Y N E W TO B R I T A I N . — O n e $ of the Anthomyid Polietella Steini, Rngdl., was swept from herbage at Barton Mills on 19 Sept. 1938 and search a few days later revealed no more.

Thitherto it was known only near Hälsingborg in Sweden, where the types were taken in June and Aug. on Horse droppings and described in Ent. Tidskr. 1913, p. 56 ; 1922, p. 2. It is the sole species of its genus and closely allied to the British Polietes hirticrura, Meade, as is stated at EMM. 1944, p. 135.

Two CURIOUS FLIES, N E W TO S U F F O L K . — O u r late Member, Dr. Richards, treats of the British Flies of the family Borboridas (which title he alters to Sphaeroceridse : Proc. Zool. Soc. 1930, p. 318) in so absurdly finical a manner that, if every hair and cutaneous contortion, due to induration of the insect's skin upon emergence from puparium, be thus diagnosed, varieties would become species and the latter inconceivably multiplied beyond all computation. Later he brings forward (Proc. R. Ent. Soc. 1838, p. 127) a ' species ' of Sphaerocera as being new to Britain. Our interest in these small, flat and lice-like, though fully winged, Flies is that they are Suffolcian and have recently been discovered to live in Birds' and small Mammals' nests, always in very marshy situations. Hence their economy distinctly relates to that of the Swallow, Martin, Sheep and Horse flies, from which group they were in danger of being divorced (EMM. 1910), through a fancied affinity with the Ccelopidae that live in Seaweed. The new British species, Sphcerocera paracrenata, Dud., was first found to be indigenous by a female, captured at Barton Mills on 17 April 1920 (erroneously called S. coronata by Richards, 1930) ; later in both Berks and Bucks in nests of Water Vole, Moorhen, Reed Bunting, Coot and Crested Grebe. S. crenata, Mg., was captured at Ampton on 13 April 1912 by Col. C. G. Nurse and for long remained unnamed ; not tili 1933 were others found in Bucks in a boggy nest of the Field Mouse, Microtus hirtus, Bell, whose droppings the larvae of these Flies doubtless scavenge.—CLAUDE MORLEY ; 2 9 i i 4 4 .

LOCAL SALMON DURING W A R . — I am always interested in the intermittent reports of Suffolk Salmon in our rivers : in the local Daily Paper of 30 May last, a boy of fourteen years is stated to have pulled one of ten pounds out of mud at the Ferry Quay at Woodbridge ; a remarkable feat! I wonder if sluice-gates and cleansing of streams, during the war, have affected the run of Fish up our rivers.—C. C. T. GILES ; 2 July.

SPRING M I G R A N T S . — T h e Wood Lark has been singing beautifully here ever since February. We heard the Chiff-chaff on 5th April; the Willow-zvarbler on 6th ; and this morning the first Nightingale, much its earliest date in recent years :—15 April 1942, 14 April 1943, 8 April 1944. All best wishes to the Society. ( M R S . HAROLD L I N G W O O D , Martlesham ; 8 April.)—Swallows were seen in Fornham Martin on 8 April [and only one day earlier

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at Newton Abbot in Devon.—Ed.] ; Nightingales both seen and heard there on 7th ; and Cuckoo heard at Livermere on 9th : all which dates are earlier than usual ( M R . F R A N K BURRELL, 13 April), in fact the last date is earlier for the Cuckoo than at Ardleigh in Essex on lOth, at Torquay in Devon on 1 Ith, and Upton-onSevern in Worcs. on 13th (Daily Press).—Turtle-doves at Waldr i n g f i e l d o n 6 M a y (WALLER).

N I G H T I N G A L E S UNUSUALLY P L E N T I F U L . — T h i s populär Bird was of such general distribution over all Suffolk in spring that we wrote on 24 May to the Local Paper reporting, for the first time in forty vears' residence, in our Monks Soham garden on 20 April, 'that marvellous crescendo on a single note, which no other Birds attempt [and here it persisted and nested tili 4 June], Other of our Members teil of its presence in coppices and a few of our fastdwindling woods, hitherto unknown to it. Hence the interesting question arises : Is such assumption of new nesting-sites general over Suffolk, or are these Birds that have been driven twenty miles inland from their usual habitats nearer the coast by that area's war disturbances ? ' Replies came in from many places :—Unusually numerous at both Waldringfield from 11 April (WALLER) and Nayland-Stoke (ENGLEHEART). Hitcham from 16 April, when four were singing above the noise of search-lightgenerator round which men shouted, of a military convoy, and overhead roaring of aeroplanes : only one pair recognised there previously (BULL).

Ipswich in 124 Valley-road garden from 25 April, first for eight years (Mrs. F. M. SLADE) and 30 Dales-road garden (where MR. H. D R A K E considers its broader present ränge to result equally from military Operations [cp. Hitcham, supra] and bush-trimming).

Stowmarket garden of Corner House, from 24 April, just twenty vears since last heard there (DR. H. S. GASKELL). Debenham on 24 April, first for twenty-five years (W. G. GOODING). Haughley Green, 23 May (A. MURTON) and Haughley Castle in May (Revd.

W. G. WHITE). West Hopton, nests in plenty (LAST). In Earls Soham it has not been heard during several previous years, and is called the colloquially-clipt ' Daygle ' ( M U R R E L L ) .

A couple of Gold-crests were noted in a Constitution-hill garden in Ipswich during mid-November 1943. And we watched Woodlarks as we ate our picnic tea beside the Deben River on 18 of June, just as we did at this season last year. Our Nightingales have become mute on 1 5 June, about lastyear's date.—H. R. L I N G W O O D , Martlesham.

G R E Y W A G T A I L ' S O C C U R R E N C E . — D r . Ticehurst's reference to the comparative scarcitv of this species seems to make the following Observation of Motacilla cinerea, Tunst., noteworthy. To-day, on the Whatfield road about a quarter-mile from Semer, I was able to study through binoculars at fifteen yards a Bird with black head and bib, wing-feathers and a streak down centre of tail ; remainder

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of wings and the back were grey. Upon my return to the spot an hour later, I found it still Aying to and fro there, as though its nest might be adjacent. For some occult reason, it was being constantly plagued by Yellow Buntings.—ALWYN L . BULL, Hitcham ; 30 July.

TREE-CREEPER'S WINTER FOOD.—This Bird's sustenance is generali}' stated to be entirely Insects and Spiders, excepting only ' a few seeds also recorded.' I was so fortunate as to observe a Certhia familiar is, L., which bred no contempt when he flew on to a Plumbush well within a yard of me at noon on 23 January last in this garden. I did not move and he seemed unaware of my presence, as he skipped in six-inch flightc. from twig to twig, often alighting sideways or upside-down with perfect precision, constantly pecking at their surface. Now, all these twigs of Bullace and Eider were thickly coated with green mould, resulting from recent mists and general humidity ; on them, in mid-winter, certainly could be no Arthropodous food (unless it were microscopic nymphs of Psocidae, whereof none were discoverable by the naked eye).

Hence one may be tolerably sure that the mould itself was the pabulum being assimilated, in which case the constant activity would appear superfluous, as it densely coated every twig and stem : the Eiders' just-unfolding green leaves were ignored. I sent one of the greened twigs to our Member, Mr. Mayfield, who kindly teils me the coloration is an Alga called Pleurococcus vulgaris, Men. ; more important is the fact that he found among this Alga what 1 had missed, i.e. two or three minute fragments of the Liehen Physcia stellaris, Nyl. Hence the scarce Liehen, rather than the prevalent Alga, pretty obviously formed the Bird's quest.—Mrs. R. A. MORLEY, Monks Soham House ; 30 Jan. CURIOUS FORM OF Passer domesticus, L I N N . — T h e r e is a variety of House Sparrow here to which I am sure attention should be drawn. It is of a complete glossy black, with no more than a single slightly lighter patch beneath the beak and, when the sun shines on it, it has almost the appearance of a coat of moleskin für. I first observed the speeimen when it was feeding with other Sparrows and our Hens at 3 p.m. on 29 November ; it was there and then again present on 1 December, as well as the two following mornings. Mrs. Bull and one of our farm men have both seen it and agree in the above description. A Blackbird with head, rump and a narrow line connecting the two white, has been about here of late.—ALWYN L. BULL. Brick-house Farm, Hitcham ; 3 Dec. 1944.

WAXWINGS PROLONGED V I S I T . — O u r Member, Mr. S. C . PORTER, Hon. See. Ipswich Nat. Hist. Soc., first reported a flock of some -•>5 Bombycilla garrulus, L., to be feeding on the berries of small Thorn-bushes in Sidegate-lane, Ipswich, on 8 January for several hours at mid-day. By lOth they were at Westbourne-road there.

On 17th others were noted at Bardwell by Mr. J. P . CLATWORTHY,

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and on 25th at Capel. 6 February saw them at Belstead hall; and " As I was Walking along the Bucks-horn road in Belstead on 6 February 1944, I saw high up in the branches of an Oak-tree a flock of some dozen Birds that I had never seen before. What most drew my attention was that they had a head-crest and whitebarred wings : then I recognised that they were Waxwings. A fevv mornings later I observed a flock of thirty or forty of them in an adjacent Hawthorn hedge, feeding on the abundant haws ; later that day I saw them settled for the night in the high branches of the same Oak-tree : they were uttering a song which resembled the tinkling of small bells," writes JOAN K L E I N , Millyard, Belstead, 12 Feb. On 25th a flock was in Whitton churchyard. On 2 March about 30 were perched in an Elm-tree near the bridge over Norwich-road in Ipswich (Mr. A. M. JENNINGS) ; on 15th others were noted in Long Melford (C. H. R o w ) ; on 20th many were wantonly slain at Stowmarket ; and on 22nd a dozen observed in Bury on trees in St. Mary's churchyard, quite oblivious of heavy traffic roaring past (B. O. TICKNER). On 2 April nine specimens visited a garden in Bury (Miss H . M. ROWLAND) ; on 5th about a score occurred at Hengrave (C. H . R o w ) ; and, finally, on-14 April others appeared at Barton Magna to Mr. FRANK BURRFXL, who on 15th states large numbers to have been seen in and round Bury St. Edmunds during the last fortnight, feeding upon Hawthorn berries.

Black Redstarts are nesting amid bombed ruins in London.— F. W. Frohawk.

W H I N C H A T COME A S T R A Y . — I saw a Bird catching Flies on 3 May in our stackyard at Hitcham. It I was able to approach to within a few yards, and so identify as Saxicola rubetra, L. It stayed with us for about a couple of hours and then flew on. This species has never been noted hence before.—ALWYN L . BULL. FLY-CATCHER CAUGHT.—The 11 July had been a dull and showery day tili sun emerged at 6 p.m., when I entered a bedroom to find a Spotted Flycatcher, Muscicapa striata, Pall., fluttering inside the window. Obviously she, whose sex I presume, had flown in through the three-inch crack, that the other casement had been left ajar to air the place, by mistake as no Flies were present on so dull a day ; though one would not expect so au fait a Bird to thus err. For long we had observed a pair, Fly-catching from an arbour-top over the lawn below, and carrying their victims to a nest in the ivy-clump just over this west window : often so momentarily that time seemed hardly enough for the prey's transference from old maws to young ones. Now, almost as I entered, the green-brown form of her mate appeared, fluttering at the outside, as she continued to flutter inside, the pane ; nor did my presence deter the free Bird, for he passed down and settled on the window-sill, some ten feet above ground, where solicitude for her fate yet allowed his pecking up a grub. Again the pair fluttered

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in unison and very pretty sympathy. But the poor little hen was getting hot and bothered by her invisible though very solid divorce from her mate : the three-inch opening appeared to her no freer than the glass, and did not attract her attention. Her head began to sag sideways ; so I lent her a finger to perch upon and gently moved it to the aperture, through which she flew off gaily with one thankful little ' teck.'—R. A. MORLEY, Monks Soham.

One day this month I witnessed a sight unprecedented in my own experience : in the village of Westhall near Haiesworth were four Green Woodpeckers, Picus viridis, sitting together, two and two, presumably the parents with a couple of young. They are by no means uncommon in this district, but usually seen singly or in the breeding season in pairs, but most often heard laughing invisibly.

—(Dr.) MELVILLE HOCKEN, V. V. 2 0 July. [In the less timbered parts of High Suffolk this species is none too common, though it may turn up casually anywhere, usually singly. T h u s we sometimes hear them in our Monks Soham garden, where a specimen was routing in the lawn with Starlings on the dull and cool 22 March as well as the sunny 4 August.—Ed.] SWAN REMATED.—Our Mute cob Swan on Grassmere, who lost his pen two years ago (Trans, v, 61), has found a new pen companion who came from I know not where : this new union is supposed to be very unusual in Cygnus olor, Gmel. We had Bewick Swans C. Bewicki, Yarr., here for two or three months, owing to the last unusually mild winter. Their presence for so long a period is very exceptional; but I hear that the same species has also wintered on the Ruislip reservoir in north London.— W. ROWLEY ELLISTON, Grassmere, Westmorland.

A Woodcock's nest, containing eggs, was discovered at Honington on 6 April.—C. H. Row. A POSSIBLE QUAIL.—While Walking along a field-path on 1 8 June, I was attracted by a clear, high-pitched and rather feeble whistle ; and suddenly a Bird flew up from the long-grass fieldedge, passed a short distance, then dropped into the wheat: brownish, like a small Partridge and with a similar but single note.

Could it have been a Quail ?—ALWYN L. BULL. [Such is just possible though, with so inadequate a description, one must regard the record as unconfirmed. Records in recent years are sparse.— F. C. C.] BIRDS ABOUT DUNWICH.—Among the species I have observed during the present year are Goldcrests whose nest I discovered, as well as Willow-zvarbler's ; Chiff-chaff; Nightingales with nest; six Nightjars' nests, of which two were but four feet a p a r t : is such proximity usual ? Little Owl with n e s t ; Short-eared Chol, Marsh Harrier, Buzzard and Stone Curlew. T h e spring-migrants were somewhat earlier than usual here : Nightingale 5 April ; Wheatear 17th; Swallow 12th ; House & Sand-Martins lOth ; Cuckoo 8th.

— M I C H A E L WEBSTER.

NYMPHAL

CASE

OF

DRAGON-FLY :

ANAX

IMPERATOR

(p.

158).

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I N TUE EASTERN SUFFOLK BRECK.—Here 1 find m y s e l f , a m i d

toil and pleasure, at length married and firmly established in the finest rural district of all East Anglia. 1 have been doing m u c h Bird work and enjoyed many evenings on the brecks, marshes and in their woodlands, making n u m e r o u s useful observations. Nests of Grasshopper Warbiers and Blackcaps are in plenty ; Lesserspotted Woodpeckcrs, Long-eared Ozuls, Redshanks, Stone Curlews a n d Yellow Wagtails occur, and I must say that this neighbourhood is exceptionally rieh in Bird-life. W e are no more than eight miles east of T h e t f o r d , whence the country consists entirely of open heaths, brecks, marshes with river-banks the whole way, abounding in Kingfishers, and all sorts of moorland and svvamp Birds.— CECIL S. LAST, H o p t o n , SuflFolk near Diss ; 21 June.

A WHITE Evotomys glareolus, SCH.—Albino f o r m s seem m u c h to the fore just now. Last a u t u m n near here I discovered a colony of albino Blackherries varying f r o m pure white fruit, through cream-coloured and slate, to the normal black, with each shade restricted to its own separate bush. I expect they seed freely, as this restriction could not be maintained f r o m running suckers.

A cream-coloured Starling has been shot by a local (?)sportsman ; 1 have seen an albino form of both Starling and Blackbird; and twice this winter I have noticed a parti-coloured Rook feeding on a field near the G i p p i n g here. Early in January M r s . Burrows of C r e e t i n g - S t . - M a r y sent m e an albino f o r m of the Batik Vole, that had been killed there and carried h o m e by her cat. It is a very nice speeimen and pure white, excepting only a few lightb r o w n hairs on the crown of the head.—I will add that I have just been to the Barking W o o d s where were no Insects apparent in such cold weather ; b u t I observed a hen Blackbird sitting on her nest, wherein to m y astonishment I f o u n d were already two eggs : the earliest in m y experience.—E. W. PLATTEN, N e e d h a m M a r k e t ; 10 F e b r u a r y 1944.