Observations 3 Part 2

178

OBSERVATIONS.

OBSERVATIONS. " The Are The The

charms that m i n d delights to trace those that glow in N a t u r e ' s face : only beauties that withstand touch of time's destroving h a n d . " J. W . Douglas (Ent. Mag. 1838, 257V

GEOLOGY.—At a Meeting of the Geological Society on 20 May Mr. J. Selwyn T u r n e r exhibited specimens from temporary exposures around Chelmsford, of Boulder-clay underlying the Glacial-sands and -gravels of the Chelmer Valley (as well as the majority of central Suffolk). Brown Boulder-clay was thus found two-and-a-half miles east of Chelmsford beneath the gravels west of the Sandon Brook, and Chalky Boulder-clay about a mile north of Chelmsford near Broomfield Lodge. Other occurrences had been mapped on the western and southern sides of Danbury Hill and at Widford. T h e deposition of this early Boulder-clay over an area of considerable topographical relief must have produced appreciable modifications of the pre-glacial drainage, and the well-bedded character of much of the succeeding sands and gravels, for which a marine origin had been claimed, was readily explained by accumulation in temporary lakes before the deposition of the main Chalky Boulder-clay of Essex and Suffolk.

BAWDSEY NODULE BED.—Frost and rain of the late winter erosed our sea-cliff between East Lane and the post-office in Bawdsey to an unusual extent; Fir-trees and even one or two small concrete forts, relics of the German war, had fallen from its brow to the beach in mid-March. Enormous masses of Rederag and the glacial talus above it had come hurtling down, revealing not only entirely new faces of the former but broad sections o f t h e Nodule-bed of Corpolites at its base, immediately above the Lower Eocene London-clay that is here sometimes ironed into a brilliant crimson colour. Rarely have broader exposures of the Nodule bed been revealed and these were found to average just two feet in depth. This always interesting and prolinc deposit, seen in the annexed photograph by M r . Rumbelow at Ramsholt, was found at Bawdsey to be füll of Mesoplodon-bones (first discovered in this bed by our Society at Trans, iii, p. xxx) with a few palatal teeth of the Ray-fish Myliobatis tumidens, W d w . (loc. cit., p. 131) though none of sharks were noted.

In it were very numeruos Mollusca, the species of which were peculiarly few ; in a b n g t h of some twenty yards, no more appeared then Turritella incrassata, Sow., Mytilus edulis, L., Cardium Parkinsoni, Sow., and edulis, L., Pectunculus glycimeris, L.,

179

OBSERVATIONS.

Mactra procrassa, W d . , and ovalis Sow., Astarte Omali, Jk., Solen siliqua, L . and Mya arenaria, L . Fossil wood, Pinites, was entirely absent and t h e Stratum, whence chips strewed the beach some years ago (finally at T r a n s , ii, p. cvii), appears now exhausted.—CLAUDE MORLEY ; M a r c h ,

1936.

KESSINGLAND WELL.—You may like to place u p o n record that, in the course of sinking a well for the parish of Kessingland last February in a field known as Nordells, due south east of the Kings-head inn, somewhat light Boulder-clay was f o u n d to t h e depth of twenty-three feet and to be underlain by nine feet of a blue-black Stratum, bearing more the consistency of pondrti'jd than loam, wherein were discovered several lengths of black wood somewhat resembling coal in texture. Below these were eight feet of sharp sand a n d here, at forty feet f r o m the surface, the first water was Struck. T h i s spring was cemented back and pumped out, as the main supply is not likely to be m u c h less t h a n eighty feet below ground.—RICHARD S. GIRLING ; W r e n t h a m .

FOSSIL RED-DEER.—The base with complete b u r r of an antler bearing two tynes of Cervus elaphus, L., was f o u n d by m y son half-embedded in the Pleistocene Clay of Corton cliffs on 21 November 1936.

I t was inches in circumference and broken off at the same distance f r o m t h e skull.—E. W . C. JENNER Lowestoft.

ANOTHER IPSWICH RHINOCEROS, ETC.—The

discovery,

since

our M a r c h Meeting, of t h e complete skull of a Woolly R h i n o ceros ( R . tichrohinus, Cuv.) during excavations at the B r a m f o r d Road in Ipswich, was announced at the end of April to the Suffolk Institute of Archasology by OUR Local Secretary there, Mr. M a y n a r d : cf. also Suff. Inst, xiv, p. 63. [Will M r . M a y n a r d kindly r e m e m b e r that Paleontology is Science, not Archseology ?

—Ed.], O u r late Local Secretary for Haiesworth, Mr. Lambert, reported in M a y the recent discovery of part of t h e femur of a M a m m o t h (Elephas primigenius, Blum.) in the pleistocene gravel of Blythburgh Heath, which the CC. has been digging for road-repairs since about 1930. T h i s we saw in M r .

Lambert's house, with a very nice specimen of t h e Indian Ocean Fungia patellaris, a Flat-gilled Coral b r o u g h t h o m e by a sailor.

THE RIVEN OAK.—This populär feature of legends, recalling Hern the H u n t e r and good Queen Bess' stag-shooting in Heveningham Park, is neither rare nor conspicuous when t o n e d to normal colour by atmospheric influences ; b u t a quite fresh rive is certainly a singular object. I never witnessed one tili 26 September last and, w h e n eome u p o n , such a scar is not a t h i n g to go unseen, for the pale cambium-layer and but slightly darker inner bark stood forth with great prominence f r o m the t o p of a straight and well grown young Oak of just about a century's •age right down to t h e ground, in strong contrast to the d u l l - r u d d y

180

OBSERVATIONS.

r e m a i n d e r of t h e t r u n k . So fresh a n d moist was the white streak, averaging four inches broad, down t h e tree that it seemed sure to have been Struck by the comparatively small t h u n d e r s t o r m of the 16th morning. N o dryer were t h e long a n d narrow strips of bark, of varying length and b r e a d t h , which t h e lightning's force had torn away and now lay in exact ratio to their size, the smaller close to the" t r u n k a n d the larger f u r t h e r away, while the m o s t conoiderable, a piece some six feet long by the füll breadth of t h e scar h a d been dashed thirty feet across Westleton H e a t h . — C L A U D E MORLEY.

REMARKABLE

PLANTS OF

1936.—Calamintha

Acinos,

Clariv.

T h e small sweet scented Basil T h y m e favours a dry sandy soil, containing a fair proportaion of calcium. It is a b u n d a n t on some rough breckland fields that slope d o w n to the fens of north and west Suffolk, as at Redgrave in July, C a v e n h a m and T u d d e n h a m on 28 June, 1936. I n east Suffolk it is rare and sparingly f o u n d in chalk a n d crag pits as at Bramford and Offton, and a Coralline Crag pit at Sudbourne.—Cceloglossum viride, H a r t m . T h e interesting little Frog Orcbis was not seen this year in t h e known three localities, owing to more extensive grazing than is usual. Sheep had been t u r n e d into one of its habitats where it is normally c o m m o n along with a b u n d a n t spreads of Orchis morio, L . ; OrchisFuschii, D r . L i s t e r a ovata, Br. ; a n d the Adder's T o n g u e F e r n , Ophioglossum vulgatum, L . I t was a great shock to find such a paradise t r a n s f o r m e d into a mere closely cropped pa sture. T h e F r o g Orchis is quite rare and h i d d e n away in r o u g h old t u r f y pastures on a heavy clay s o i l : it must be diligently searched for. T h o r p e Morieux, N a u g h t o n and Barking in J u n e , 1936 —Pedicularis sylvatica, L . T h e H e a t h Lousewort is very u n c o m m o n in Suffolk in spite of no localities being afforded i n H i n d ' s Flora. I t seems to prefer moist grassy hollows on heaths near t h e source of a spring. U p to this year I knew of only two localities for this species : Black H e a t h , Ipswich and Boxstead, n o r t h Essex ; b u t I f o u n d it at Redgrave on 19 July a n d unexpectedly at Belstead a few days previously on 15th.

T h a t day had been very stormy with a severe m o r n i n g thunders t o r m overhead ; I had left the path a n d entered a heathy marsh to investigate the side of t h e wood that h a d been Struck by the lightning, w h e n I jovfully noticed this m i n u t e plant growing about an inch high, along with white-flowered Milkwort (Polygala vulgaris, L . ) ' a m o n g the shortest turf and moss. T h e larger Marsh Lousewort {Pedicularis palustris, L . ) is common in the fens of north and west Suffolk, and of L o t h i n g l a n d . — N a c t o n Heath, near Ipswich. A certain part of the heath exhibits a more specialised and interesting flora than t h e rest. T h i s area has been cultivated in mediseval and later times, and t h e land dressed with broken oyster shells.

Plants in this association are Carline T h i s t l e (Carlina vulgaris, L), Salad Burnet (Poterium

OBSERVATIONS.

181

sanguisorba, L.), Wild Thyme (Thymus (malus, Mill.), Sheep's Scabious (Jasione montana, L.), Smooth Cat's Ear (Hypochceris glabra, L.), and one of the new Heath Pansies (Viola Pesneaui, Lloyd and Foucaud) in September 1936.—Bidens cernua, L. Although supposed to be rather a local plant, the Nodding BurMarigold was evidently very abundant this year in the Leiston and the Minsmere Marshes, where it grew in continuous lines as far as the eye could see beside the ditches. T h e moist mixed alluvial and sandy soil suits its root requirements perfectly, and the vast quantity of fruit adhered freely to one's clothes, in October, 1936. T h e others species, the Trifid Bur Marigold (Bidens tripartita, L.) is much rarer.—FRANCIS W. SIMPSON, Ipswich Museum.

W I L D CROCUS AND W I L D DAFFODIL.—Crocus nudiflorus, L . , is now in bloom in a meadow adjoining the main road not far from Ashbocking church. The leaves appeared in the spring, but have died down ; the flower is pale lilac, somewhat like our Spring Crocus, and with no greenery (F. J. CRISP ; 10 Oct.).

Düring last April I was very glad to discover genuinely wild Narcissus pseudonarcissus, L., flourishing in an isolated wood that shall be nameless in north-east Suffolk.—MRS. J. L . MOORE ; 10 August 1936.

T H E LARGE DANDELION.—It seems to me a pity Mr. Doughty did not dig up the plant in question (Trans, supra, p. 75), and observe whether the root were abnormally large also. I think there can be no doubt that the field had borne a leaf-crop next before the turnips ; and that the fertilizer used for that crop had extended to the edge of the field where the Dandelion grew : with the result that the latter benefited by it to the production of the super-Dandelion recorded. T h e lack of flowers was not a result of exhaustion due to excessive leafage, as appeared, but a natural consequence because the manure used for the leaf-crop would not be productive of flowers.—CHARLES NICHOLSON, Tresillian, Truro, Cornwall; 2 6 January.

Two M A R I N E ALGTE.—Several instances of the large Bladderwrack Seaweed, Ascophyllum nodosum, Lejol., that had been washed ashore at Gorleston during last March in fine fruiting condition, were thickly coated with one of the Red Seaweeds, Polysophonia fastigiata, Grev., in this case truly parasitic.

FUNGUS N E W TO SUFFOLK.—The yellow Toadstool Russula claroflava, Grove, was growing among Sphagnum under birches in Blythburgh Wood on 16 August last, when a few flowers of Achillea ptarmica, Linn., were seen in a fen there. T h e latter is a very local plant in E . Anglia nowadays. — E . A. ELLIS. [The tormer is not enumerated in the Victoria History's list of our r u n g i ; Sneezewort we have known in that fen for some vears, T

182

OBSERVATIONS.

without noting its localness, for it flourishes in our Monks Soham paddock and is familiar as pabulum of the Plime-moth S. bipunctidactyla, Hw.—Ed.] T A P E - W O R M S CAUSE PEARLS.—Fifty years ago Dr. Kelaart discovered that the pearl-producing irritation set up in Oysters Margaritifera vulgaris, Lam., was caused " by the intrusion of some parasite or a grain of sand " (Proc. iii, p. xxviii). Onlv recently has it been ascertained by Mr. Hornell at Colombo and Prof. Herdeman of Liverpool that at least all the largest Pearls arise from a single kind of Tape-worm, belonging to the genus Tetrarhynchus.

T h e Ceylon Govt's Report shows that this Worm's eggs, floating in the sea, develope free-swimming embryons of which an uncertain proportion pass between the two shells of an oyster and burrow into its body, where the parasite developes a head. A large number of the embryons there die ; and it is entirelv or mainly in order to coat-over their titillating carcases that the Oyster forms Pearls.—But the surviving Tape-worms cannot live in Oysters alone : the latter are so numerously devoured by the Rough-skinned Triggerflsh, Batistes, that Orders for its extermination were proposed in Ceylon, tili it was fcund that only when its host-Oyster had been swallowed by that Fish could the Tape-worm develope.

T h e embryon, thus transferred to the Batistes' stomach, bores its way out into the flesh and renders the Fish measly. Nor is this all : to attain its own perfection, the Tape-worm must yet reacli a Sting Rav-fish of the genus Trygon, within whose intestines it finally matures into a worin, having lateral eyes and four multi-hooked apical tubes on its head. So the Ray digests Batistes and the mature Worm, still anchored to the former by three embedded tubes and a couple of suckers, lies otherwise free in the water tili innumerable eggs in the flat joints of its apical third are ready for dispersal, in the form of the above swimming embryons. Thus Science demonstrates that Cleopatra drank a Tape-worm's carcase! T h e whole is an extensive cycle of no small practical interest.—Ed.

COELENTERATA.—Düring the first week in July last, great numbers of the gooseberry shaped Jellyfish Pleurobrachia pilens, Flem. (Trans, i, 70), were noticed close inshore at Gorleston, and many specimens were washed on to the beach. 1 note in Wilson's ' Life of the Shore and Shallow S e a ' that this animal has two long fishing-lines armed, not with stinging cells but, with sticky globules. The lines are trailed out behind as the beautiful glassy creature swims along ; immediately a small prey becomes entangled with or sticks to one of them, the line contracts and draws it up to the mouth.—E. A. E L L I S .

NEW SUFFOLK GALL-MITES (Arachnida): cf. Trans, ii, 164.— I have been able to identify a few plant-galls, found in this

182

OBSERVATIONS.

without noting its localness, for it flourishes in our Monks Soham paddock and is familiar as pabulum of the Plime-moth S. bipunctidactyla, Hw.—Ed.] T A P E - W O R M S CAUSE PEARLS.—Fifty years ago Dr. Kelaart discovered that the pearl-producing irritation set up in Oysters Margaritifera vulgaris, Lam., was caused " by the intrusion of some parasite or a grain of sand " (Proc. iii, p. xxviii). Onlv recently has it been ascertained by Mr. Hornell at Colombo and Prof. Herdeman of Liverpool that at least all the largest Pearls arise from a single kind of Tape-worm, belonging to the genus Tetrarhynchus.

T h e Ceylon Govt's Report shows that this Worm's eggs, floating in the sea, develope free-swimming embryons of which an uncertain proportion pass between the two shells of an oyster and burrow into its body, where the parasite developes a head. A large number of the embryons there die ; and it is entirelv or mainly in order to coat-over their titillating carcases that the Oyster forms Pearls.—But the surviving Tape-worms cannot live in Oysters alone : the latter are so numerously devoured by the Rough-skinned Triggerflsh, Batistes, that Orders for its extermination were proposed in Ceylon, tili it was fcund that only when its host-Oyster had been swallowed by that Fish could the Tape-worm develope.

T h e embryon, thus transferred to the Batistes' stomach, bores its way out into the flesh and renders the Fish measly. Nor is this all : to attain its own perfection, the Tape-worm must yet reacli a Sting Rav-fish of the genus Trygon, within whose intestines it finally matures into a worin, having lateral eyes and four multi-hooked apical tubes on its head. So the Ray digests Batistes and the mature Worm, still anchored to the former by three embedded tubes and a couple of suckers, lies otherwise free in the water tili innumerable eggs in the flat joints of its apical third are ready for dispersal, in the form of the above swimming embryons. Thus Science demonstrates that Cleopatra drank a Tape-worm's carcase! T h e whole is an extensive cycle of no small practical interest.—Ed.

COELENTERATA.—Düring the first week in July last, great numbers of the gooseberry shaped Jellyfish Pleurobrachia pilens, Flem. (Trans, i, 70), were noticed close inshore at Gorleston, and many specimens were washed on to the beach. 1 note in Wilson's ' Life of the Shore and Shallow S e a ' that this animal has two long fishing-lines armed, not with stinging cells but, with sticky globules. The lines are trailed out behind as the beautiful glassy creature swims along ; immediately a small prey becomes entangled with or sticks to one of them, the line contracts and draws it up to the mouth.—E. A. E L L I S .

NEW SUFFOLK GALL-MITES (Arachnida): cf. Trans, ii, 164.— I have been able to identify a few plant-galls, found in this

OBSERVATIONS.

183

district. On Yarmouth denes in 1934 [and doubtless all down our coast] one found a few plants of Rest-harrow, Ononis arvensis, producing thick Clusters of minute leaves where flowers should have been : the malformation appears to have been casued by Eriophyes ononidis, Nal., one of the gall mites. At Gorleston, leaves of Convolvulus arvensis are ' pocketed ' and discoloured through the activities of E. convolvuli, Nal. The leaf-buds of Yew-trees are subject to attack by two animal-agents that produce leafy, cone-shaped Galls from them. One is a Fly-larva, Cecidomyia taxi, Inch. [probably a Perrisia-species: cf. Kieff' Synop. Cecid. d'Europ. 1898, 13] ; the other a pinkish red Mite Eriophyespsilaspis, Nal. The latter has been found during March 1936 in Mendlesham churchyard by Mr. A. Mayfield: there were quite a lot of Mites in each gall. The curious twiggy galls now appearing on willows at Southtown have been supposed to arise from depredations by another of these Mites, E. triradiatus, Nal. ; but at present they have not been discovered in the galls here, though an Aphis is found abundantly, so it yet remains to be seen what is the true gall-maker in this case.—E. A. E L L I S ; April, 1936. Leaves and shoots of the small Burnet, Poterium sanguisorba, L., were found transformed into densely woolly masses by Gall-mites Eriophyes sanguisorba, Nal., on a ry-bank at Hadleigh on 20 June. No notice seems to have been taken of them in the County before.—R. B U R N .

T H E HARVEST MITE.—This is the larval form, red and smaller than a Flea's head, of an Acarid. It is abundant everywhere and burrows into one's skin, causing a red spot or even pustule.

It is six-legged; but its imaginal form (Microthrombidium autumnalis, auct.), which lives in the ears of Rats and Mice, of course possesses eight legs. Its name applies to both its appearance with the hay-, and disappearance with the cornharvest.

ADDITIONAL SUFFOLK S P I D E R S . — I n order to extend the County hst of Spiders that is printed in the Victoria History and supplemented at our Trans, ii, 285 and iii, 76, I sent bottles of spirits to our Hon. Secretary, who dropped into them individuals taken while he was insect-collecting in and around Southwold during September last. The new kinds are Oxyptila sanctuaria, Uimb., which is local in only our southern counties ; Mengea (Umeticus) Warburtoni, Camb. ; Helophora (Linyphia) insignis, ol. ; Clubiona corticalis, Wik. and C. stagnatilis, Klcz. (grisea, ^_ch.). And around Gorleston in August last:—C. terrestris, West, and C. pallidula, Clk. ; Stearodea (ßteatodd) bipunctata, Linn. ; Tegenaria Derhami, Scp. and Lycosa riparia, C L K (prativaga, Kch.), with the two Harvestmen Opilio (.Phalangium) parietinus, DeG. and Liobunum rotundum, Latr., a very common Many generally-distributed species are still outstanding,

184

OBSERVATIONS.

doubtless merely through lack of Observation. Next year I hope to make my delayed trip to the neighbourhood of Brandon.—A. RANDELL JACKSON ; 4 October, 1936.

THE HOME OF Polyxenus.—I was very much gratified to discover the undoubtedly natural habitat of this curious Myriapod (Trans, iii, 78) on 4 July last. While working a large gravelpit about eight feet deep at hot noon, I moved systematically round it and beat the old and luxuriant heather hanging over its lip as 1 went. Obviously here Polyxenus was quite at home among the roots of the heather by day and, presumably, roving thence by night. For, among a vast concourse of various Insects there sheltering from the heat of Sol, a surprisingly large number of these animals feil into my inverted umbrella. The individual, ' found crawling on eider bark ' on 31 May last at Scolt Head in Norfolk, seems to have been accidentally disturbed from daydreams.—CLAUDE MORLEY. MUSOPHILOUS IMPORTATIONS.—We

want to show you a live Rhinocerus Beetle, a Slug three inches long, and a great Spider, that have come to this town in Bananas [Musa sapientum], presumably from Jamaica. The first refuses to eat, at which we are much concerned and fear it must be poisoned soon.

Also we have some fir-cones, gnawed by apparently Crossbils [more likely by Squirrels.—C. G. D.] ; and different Clays from various levels of a 240-feet well that is being bored.—BRIDGET HILL ; Saxmundham, 12 June.

The Rhinocerus Beetle (Strategus Titanus, Fab., a Jamaican species) was still quite liv on 8 August; it, the Slug (Vaginula sp., teste Robson) and Spider (Heteropoda regia, Fab.), are all West-Indian and have been kindly named by our Member, Dr. Blair. The last was imported also to Southwold in September.—Ed. I am sending you herewith a curious, exotic-looking Blackbeetle that was caught in a Southwold shop yesterday. Surely he must be an importation to Suffolk : we don't breed them so !

GEO. J. BAKER, Reydon ; 7 August, 1936. [Black-beetles are not beetles and are not black ! The Cockroach in question had quite certainly come to us in Bananas, because it is Nyctibora serice Burm., a handsome fellow, indigenous to the West Indies and South America.—Ed.] MORE BEETLES FROM SHORE PEAT (cf. p. 53, supra).—Your Coleopterous fragments from Moorlog investigations, made at both low and high tide-mark on Horsey beach in Norfolk with MM. Doughty and Rumbelow on 11 January last, are interesting at least as regards the third of them. I believe them to belong to the Beetles:—13. Pterostichus diligens, Stm. : left elytro 14. Coelostoma (Cyclonotum) orbiculare, Fab. 15.

Heisei, Hub. : both elytra and part of abdomen ; the latter is very dark, but I see no reason to consider it distinct from

OBSERVATIONS.

185

modern specimens, and it is I believe an addition to Moorlog fauna. 16. Plateumaris (Donacia) sericea, Linn., probably, judging from the colour and texture, but I cannot place the actual fragment—K. G. BLAIR ; 6 May. [The peat at low water was in situ, being washed by small waves, among the shingle elsewhere ; that high on the beach had been thrown there by the tide' We entertain grave doubt respecting the fossil or even semifossilised condition of this peat which the set of the current might well wash on shoreat Caister, and believe it the direct continuation of a broad strip of marsh-land that here runs parallel with the coast, divided from the above ' moorlog ' by nothing but a belt of sand-dunes, some twenty feet high and perhaps two hundred yurds broad, that most probably rest upon and mask similar bog (hroughout their base. Such blown-sand is likely to be of no great age, probably under a Century ; and it will be noticed that all the Beetles hitherto recorded (except the curious presence of the Rhysodes, which COULD bave been washed ashore here from some passing Mediterranean ship) are just such as one would nowadays expect to occur in the adjacent marsh-land.—Ed.] CLICKS.—After the uselessly wet morning of 18 July last, the sun emerged hotly and for a füll hour I had beaten tall Gorse-bushes for the Click-beetle Sericosomus brunneus, Linn., with the result of a couple of quite different Clicks, Elater sanguinolentus, Sehr. A poor bag ! So I sat down on the heather for rest and nicotian solace. But hardly had I rubbed the Perspiration out of my eyes when a nimble Beetle flew up wind past my head, and settled on the tallest shoot of a flowering Gorse a yard away; him I boxed and found to be a third Click, Corymbites tessellatus, Fab. After just time to light a cigarette', I noticed both flight and settlement repeated : this time I boxed on the Gorse another E. sanguinolentus. Then it became evident that I had happened to select for shade the sole Gorse-bush that was yet flowering over a wide area of heath all around, and to it were being attracted by smell all the Furzeflower-loving Beetles in the vicinity, along with Halictus-bees, etc. In course of the next half-hour my bag of E. sanguinolentus was füll and many common kinds discarded. This proves, I think, that the Elater has no further association with Gorse than its nectar, and the specimens had probably flown from the adjacent oakwood around Queens Bower in the New Forest.—CLAUDE M O R L E Y .

S O M E BEETLES FROM THE BRECK.—The following are the best, among a total seventy-four species of Coleoptera, taken by me at Barton Mills and Tuddenham at Easter, 1935. Badister sodalis, Df., Stomis pumicatus, Pz., Amara fulva, DeG., Bembidium bipunetatum, L.*, Dromius agilis, F . ; Heterothops nigra, Kr., (Juedius nigrieeps Kr., ochripennis, M e * and pieipes, Mn.,Philonthus cnalceus, Ste. (proximus, Kr.), Xanthohnus atratus, Heer*,

186

OBSERVATIONS.

Cryptobiumfracticorne, Pk,,Lesteva Heeri, F v . ; Adaliaconglomerata, L.*, Cerylon histeroides, F., in moles' nests Hister marginatus, Er., Sylvanus unidentatus, F., Dryops (Parnus) luridus, Er. and Ernesti, Ds. ; Throscus dermestoides, L. ; Rhinomacer attelaboides, F., Phloeophthorus rhododactylus, M n . and in moss Calandra granaria, L . — H . R. P. COLLETT, Lauriston Pk. Rd., Timperley, Cheshire ; 1 April, 1936. [The four species asterisked are NEW to our Suffolk List, and raise its total to 2112 different kinds.—Ed.] MORE Callidium variabile, LINN.—" Among larvas and pupae of Rhagium, under oak-bark in Bentley Woods were " so-and-so on 25 May 1935 (Proc. iii, p. xliv) : at least, at that time I had no doubt they were those of Rhagium inquisitor, Fab., which Beetle is sometimes beaten from bushes in those woods. It was, then, with no small pleasure that I discovered in the course of the following autumn that two males and a female of C. variabile had emerged from three of these pupae that had been brought home and simply placed in a tin box, with a few fresh nettle-leaves to retain moisture for them. Schiödte described this larva about 1840 as enveloped in short, dense pubescence with somewhat elongate antennse and the corneous pronotum much broader than the apical segment, living in dead oak-wood (Pars ix, p. 416), whereas in Rhagium the body is nearly parallel-sided and very sparsely pilose with short antennse.

T h o u g h I noticed none of the former characters, the imagines prove theLongicorn, feeding in the present instance u p o n t h e inner side of bark left upon the stools of two-years-felled oaks of a century's growth (cp. Proc. ii, p. clii), to be C. variabile.

With them in the tin box remained nothing but their own tightly shrivelled and very small pupal-skins. T h e interest in the breedment lies in the fact that this generally rare Beetle has never been detected in Bentley Woods through forty-five years' Observation there. In Britain, the species is confined to S.E. England from Sherwood Forest through Oxford to Hants, and has most often been bred : so the question arises whether the imagines be not habitually nocturnal as the rufotestaceous coloration, by no means always developing nigrocyaneous pigment, and their known attraction to night-sugared trees, seem to suggest.

WIND-DISPERSION

OF

INSECTS.—The

mile-long

parade

at

Gorleston has been known for years to produce many species that have never been found to occur elsewhere in the vicinity.

A decade ago M r . Doughty worked this sea-front with considerable success, but considers it of little use from a collector's view-point now because the inland district is much more built upon and cultivated into little gardens, etc. However, on 19 April last with a stiff and steady west-north-west breeze blowing, I spent the morning noting what sorts of insects are still carried there. T h e result justified the above consideration for, with

OBSERVATIONS.

187

the exception of Leptacinus batychrus, Gyll. and, perhaps, Onthophilus striatus, F., Strophosomus faber, Hb., Mecinus pyraster, Hb. and Hypera trilineata, Msh., the hundred beetles brought home out of about five hundred seen and representing twenty-nine species, were quite common sorts. T h e sole bugs were a few Stignus arenarius, H n . ; the sparse Diptera were Lonchoptera lacustris, Mg. and some Chironomi; and the Hymenoptera were the ants Lasius fuliginosus, Ltr. and Mrymica leevinodis, Nyl., the ichneumon Phygadeuon speculator, Gr., the Proctotrypid Bethylus fuscicornis, Jur., some Chalcids; and Springtails, Orchesella cincta, L. How many of this assemblage would have reached Picardy, or what percentage been drowned in their seapassage, one cannot teil. If the insects had been of larger sorts we might have heard of an ' emigration ' ! T h e most abundant species were Harpalns latus, L., Oxytelus 4-carinatus, Blk., S. faber, and both Hypera nigrirostris and trilineatus, all sufficiently attached to our coast. T h e last has been erroneously recorded from broom-bushes at Brandon waterworks: the weevil in question is correctly Tychius venustus, Fab. A S U N - L O V I N G BUG.—At Castellane in Basses Alpes on 9 April 1931 I was interested in the manner in which a handsome Bug, Aphanus phoeniceus, Ros., was running in some numbers, swiftly among the roots of rather sparse grass (no other plant was noticed) on stony ground sloping towards the bright sunshine.

At Bentley Woods on 6 May 1936 I was delighted to discover his cousin, Aphanus lynceus, Fab., running in some numbers swiftly in just the same manner among the roots of short heath grass, Erodium cicutarium, Ragwort but two inches high, Hieracium pilosella, a shrubby Moss, but most conspicuously Myosotis collina and veriscolor on pleistocene gravel and sand, sloping towards the bright sunshine ; with it were found such common insects as the Bug, Peritrechus luniger, Beetles Acupalpus meridianus, Amara tibialis and familiaris, Metabletus foveola, Tachyporus hypnorum, Corticaria fuscula, Agriotes sputator and pallidulus, Longitarsus dorsalis and gracilis, Apion apricans, Ceuthorhynchus troglodytes, etc. A. lynceus is usually considered a local species, most often found in moss ; but here it is quite evidently in its native element, running actively in shining sun on warm ground, just as it does in the Suffok Breck, where it is not rare. But in east Suffolk, it has been hitherto known only from the Bergholt example recorded in the 1905 ' Hem. of S u f f . ' — C L A U D E MORLEY.

A BROADS B R A C O N I D . — T h e 1 2 August last " was one of those still evenings you get in the summer, when you can hear a snail clear its throat a mile away. T h e sun was sinking over the hills and the gnats were fooling about all over the place, and everything smelled rather topping, what with the falling dew and so on, I was

188

OBSERVATIONS.

beginning to feel a little soothed hy the peace of it a l l " (Wodehouse's ' Carry on Jeeves ' 1925, cap. prim.) as we sat round the moth-lamp in Major Buxton's garden at Fritton Lake.

Various entomological topics were discussed, and no better explanation found for the general scarcity of Macro-lepidoptera throughout 1936 than their exhaustion by the unusally prolonged heat of the two preceding seasons. To-night, in entirely ideal surroundings of place and atmosphere, few Moths were attracted by our powerful beam across the Lake ; and the great prize was three specimens of the extremely rare and local Braconid parasite Heterogamus dispar, Curt. (Entom. 1916, p. 8 4 ; 1919, p. 135).

Numerous Suffolk records are contained in some " Notes on Braconidae, No. x v ; Microgasterinse," by our Hon. Secretary, printed in T h e Entomologist (of which monthly he has been Hon. Editor for Hymenoptera since 1910) during 1936, pp. 39-215, including the descriptions of one species New to Science, Microgaster Pluto from the New Forest; four species New to Britain, Accelius erythronotus, Fst., Apanteles carbonarius, Wsm., A. affinis, Ns. and A. longipalpis, Rth. ; and the previously unknown sexes of Microplitis adunca, Rth., M. borealis, Msh. and Microgaster Suffolciensis, Morl.

PRIORITY.—I suppose we should use the genus Gelis (Thunb, 1827) for Pezomachus (Grav. 1829), but I will not do so ; the former may have a couple of year's ' priority,' but the latter is so long and well established in literature that it would be a shame to change it. What do we give names to Insects or any other Natural Objects for, anyway, if it be not primarily recognition ? You and I could not keep changing our names with impunity : and, when studying Parasitism in general, such alteration is a multiple curse. An Ichneumon, e.g., is parasitic on a certain kind of Moth, which has borne a half-dozen names during the past half-century ; and one has to remember them all, when hunting information anent its Ichneumon from periodical literature. Again, and more ridiculous, is the case of an Ichneumon bearing the name of a Moth or other Insect, whose title later has been transferred to a different species. T h e mere collector has to change only a label in his cabinet, but with us workers it is a very different matter. It may be regarded (at present) as Science; but it is certainlv not Common Sense, whereof Science is termed the acme — J A M E S M U R R E Y ; 26 February.

Macromysis flexuosa (of page 77 supra) is now called Praunus flexuosus, Müll., but I do not know how far the change is justified ; also Palaenmon should be Pandalina.

Macropsis of Lewis, used in 1836 for Hemiptera, has priority over Macropsis of Sars. 1876 for Crustacea ; I see the latter is called Mesopodopsts

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189

now, but I do not really know about it. I should be inclined to stick to the old (' wrong ') names !—DR. ROBERT GURNEY, M.A., D.Sc., F.L.S., Bayworth Corner, Boars Hill, Oxford; 8 May. SOME MOTHS AND A WHITE O W L . — S i n c e I g o t back f r o m I n d i a

in June I have been very busy, and do not think I have much entomological news after so poor a summer. I saw both sexes of Sphinx pinastri in its old spot [Proc. 1934, p. clxxv] on 7 Julv ; when looking along the fir trees there I found on one a fine fresh female Stauropus fagi, whence I tried to rear larvae but failed.

On a tiny bush at Dunwich I discovered ova or larvae ofQuercifolia, Vinula, Ocellatus, Antiqua and Chrysorrhcea (brown-tail): a truly populär tree ! Other moths about Sibton are Reticulata which is fairly plentiful, Advena, Notata, Complana, Immutata, Quercifolia of which three came to light in this house. I was delighted to find that the Barn Owl (Strix flammea) has survived my absence : 1 see him on most evenings about 7.45, when he goes out to hunt now. A magnificent male Marsh Harrier in füll plumage was put up by me on the Dunwich marshes the other day. He got out of the rushes within fifty yards of me, so there was no chance of mistaking him, even apart from the great size : I do hope no officious gamekeeper shot him. I shall be in the Isle of Wight all next week.—COL. BROUGHTON HAWLEY, Sibton ; 6 August.

MOTHS AROUND GORLESTON.—I have little to report entomologically this year, having been busy on the fauna of Syria. It seems to have been a late year for I noted Caradrina elymi, Tr., commonly at Hopton links on 13 July, just four weeks later than in 1929, which year better represents its normal time of emergence.

Also on 13 July at Fritton I saw Senex, Suspecta and at the above links clifF the same night Pseudoterpna pruinata, Hf. I omit all the general species present at the same time : eleven kinds of Noctuffi and seven Geometers at Fritton, and nine Noctua: on the cliff. This year in Gorleston neither Mr. Doughty nor I have seen Salicis, which in some seasons is so abundant here.

My garden produced Eupithecia denotata in July, as well as its more regulär repertoire. But the best catches were in Norfolk, on sandhills between Winterton and Hapisburgh on 16 July, when Lithosia lutarella, L. (pallidifrons, subsp. pygma-ola) turned up on the same spot as Uncula, Vestigialis and Littoralis ; that night produced at Somerton Broad both Leucania impudens and Toxocampa pastinum, among many commoner fry. To-day Mr. Doughty and I got plenty of Typhhce, but failed to find A onagria sparganii, Esp., at Fritton Lake [Not yet known to occur in that locality] ; but it should turn up there, and Major Buxton's bay looks an ideal spot for it at light in September : this would be the most northerly record [the latest is from North Cove 1935 (Master T o m Jackson).—Ed.] of it in Britain. We did discover one Sparganium stem that was mined by a large larva to the

190

OBSERVATIONS.

length of four inches or more, but the gallery was vacant. However, we also found in another Sparganium leaf the chrysalis of a Cramb or Pyral, which makes a smaller mine. Mr. Doughty is keeping it and will send you the name when it has hatched.—E. P. WILTSHIRE ; 29 August 1936. [This pupa on 3 September was vacated by the Tineid, Orthotcelia sparganiella, Thnb.—C.G.D.] W H I T E ADMIRALS IN N O R T H - E A S T S U F F O L K . — A t about four p.m. on 30 July I saw two rather worn specimens of Limenitis Sibylla, Linn., whom I was able to watch for some time, while they were feeding on the blossoms of a bramble-patch in Blythburgh Wood (J. L. MOORE , 10 August). A very beautiful and but slightly worn female White Admiral occurred to me, or rather my wife, in Blocka Lane at Fritton on 9 August last (P. E. RUMBELOW). [Ordnance Survey shows no basis for the spelling Blocka. This lane, the most picturesque of all Lothingland (pictured at Trans, ii, 88),runs south to t h e " Blocker H a l l " of Faden's 1783 Map of Suffolk.—Ed.] O N E CLOUDED-YELLOW ! — I saw a Colias Edusa, L., between Sibton and Yoxford on 25 September.—W. G. HAWLEY. The sole specimen observed in Suffolk this year, excepting one in a south Rushmere garden on 13 October. Hummingbird Hawkmoths, M. stellatarum, have been no commoner, and we have heard of but a single example: in a Lowestoft garden on 7 September.

LARGF. TORTISESHELL BUTTERFLIES (V. polychlnros) have been quite common in this part of Suffolk recently ; I watched seven at once disporting themselves about elm-trees at Bradlev the other dav, and it has been bred from elm growing in a High Street garden at Needham Market (E. W. PLATTEN). Noted during September actually in the towns of Lowestoft (A. B. M I T T O N ) , Haiesworth (DR. HOCKEN) and on 25 August in Gorleston (ELLIS).

COMMA REACHES THE NORTH S E A — I n my garden here, I have a large Buddleia-bush, which has flowered very well this year, and am interested to have seen all the British Vanessa on lts blossoms lately, except the Camberwell Beauty, videlicet : Small Tortoiseshells, one battered Large Tortoiseshell, Peacocks, Red Admirals, Painted Ladies and finally last Wednesdav the 26th, a very fine specimen of the Comma. In addition to these brightly-coloured revellers, are always a score or two of Whites floating around and, after sunset, about as many Silver-\ Moths. We are now looking out for Vanessa Antiopa, but without very pronounced hope !—GEOFFREY M. FRENCH, 23 Bath Road, Felixstow: 30 August 1936. [It is sufficiently satisfactory that our Member has at length definitely confirmed the arrival of the occidental Vanessa C-album, Linn., across England to the North Sea. All the old records, from Miss Jermvn's of 182/

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191

to our own (Trans, i., p. 72), have been most unsatisfactory solitaires : that f r o m Offton was doubtless noted by Revd. Rivett Shepherd who lived there late in the eighteenth Century.

John o' Bosmere published on 3 December last its alleged occurrence at T h o r n d o n on the previous 5 October ; and on 9 August, 1936, M r . G o d d a r d f o u n d it Coming eastward in the Devils Dyke. Although Capt. H . G. Hutchinson of 11 C h u r c h Street in S u d b u r y is said to have observed three in that town on 24 August last, he vouchsafed no reply to our editorial enquiry.—Ed.], It may interest our M e m b e r s to hear that I captured a specimen of V. C-album in my garden here in W o o d bridge this morning ( M A J O R H U B E R T W . H A R T ; 3 October).

1 had a C o m m a Butterfly here in my Bailingdon Hall garden at Sudbury all day on 21 October. T h e next day was cold and wet, so I have not seen it again ; but I hope that it will survive the winter and that I may see it or its progeny next year (C. F. D. SPERLING ; 29 October 1936). On 1 November in bright subshine I noticed to my joy a nice specimen of the Comma, Aying about the last of some Salvias and French Marigolds in my Waldringfield garden. I have been having rather a gruelling time lately and very little time for bugs ( R E V D . A . P . W A L L E R • 2 November 1936).

OLEANDER H A W K - M O T H AT I P S W I C H — A live specimen of Deilephila Neri:, Linn., was captured by an A.A. scout on a telephone kiosk at the junction of the Valley by-pass and Woodbridge roads in Ipswich on 13 September last and given to Ipswich Museum, where it is to be displayed. T h e spot in question lies no more than two miles f r o m the docks so there is a great possibility or the moth having been brought over from the Continent in some ship. It is inches in wing-expanse ; nearly all the central area of the forewings is marked with pink that shades into lighter and darker brown, leaving their basal area and apex of the usual rieh green ; both hind wings and body are of the normal coloration. I have the specimen on my setting-board at the moment.—FRED. T . CRISP, H e m i n g s t o n e ; 20 September.

[This fine immigrant f r o m central Europe turned u p at Southtown in August 1871 ; and the late W . H. T u c k reported it f r o m \ a r m o u t h , Bury, F o r n h a m and Hardwick during 1918-20.

In Norfolk it occurred singly on our border at Aldeby in 1858 and Hemsby, close to the coast, in 1926.—Ed.] P I N E H A W K I N C R E A S I N G . — P o o r as the present season has been ror all Insects, an interesting exception is found in the case of Sphinxpinastri, L . In Dorset it was taken freely, bv every collector who wanted it, near W a r e h a m ; in Hants, where it had not been tound since one came ' to l i g h t ' in the N e w Forest some five vears ago, Dr. Haines found an o u t w o m female in his garden on 28 July, Col. Fräser took examples both within the same

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OBSERVATIONS.

sylvan area and at Bournemouth. Here in Suffolk numerous specimens have been secured on pine-trunks at the Bishop's locality and also well to the south of i t : this Hawk now seems to ränge along our coast from the Deben to Easton Broad.— CLAUDE M O R L E Y .

POSSIBLE LOCAL SURVIVAL OF Arctia plantaginis, LINN.—A Tiger Moth was found two months ago or thereabouts [say on 10 July], in a little grassy hollow on some broken ground by old sandpits on Foxhall Heath. It seemed rather torpid [or even moribund, at so late a date for all Tigers]. I am nearly certain it had ground-work of black, with creamy-white markings ; the upper wings were black or dark chocolate, with whitish marks ; the under wings were orange ; the spread of wings was about U inches [374mm.]. Not knowing what potentialities of reflected fame were involved, I put it in a privet-hedge, whence it disappeared : probably eaten of the first passing sparrow.

A day or two later, when still recollecting it well, we described it to an Entomologist, casually met at Ramsholt; he considered it must have been a Wood Tiger, and said they were not very common. Next we looked up Wood Tiger M o t h in the Ipswich Museum collection, and found it appeared to be indentical with the specimen we had discovered.—Miss POWELL, 5 Gainsborough Rd., Ipswich; 9 September, 1936.

[Among the indicated details, size is the most reliable : A. plantaginis \aries from 33-40 mm., A. villica (a common Suffolk insect) from 505 8 ; other Tigers have not orange hind wings.

Arctia plantaginis used to occur at Bentley, Belstead and near Ipwsich, as well as probably about Newmarket, but has totally died out of Suffolk (and the New Forest), for we have no record since before 1890. Hence the interest of the above Observation.

Will some Member further investigate next year ?—Ed.] SEVENTY YEARS AGO.—At Lowestoft we spent the last fortnight in July, when I went out mothing every night with a lantern etc. to the low marshy ground just at the back of our lodgings.

I set a hundred and ninety-six insects, for they swarmed from nine to ten o'clock so as to make the rushes (Juncus effusus L.) look füll of various-coloured flowers. I could have taken hundreds every evening, for thev sat perfectly still extracting something froni the heads of these" rushes, then past flowering ; and all I had to do was to make a selection, and box all I wished for.—The late Edmund Skepper of Bury, 1867 ( E M M . v, p. 22).

Polyploca flavicornis, L., FLYING I N S U N . — A S whether P. flavicornis is known to be diurnal, it is that while I was after Brephos parthenias, L., cum-heathland near Blythburgh on 22 March, than six specimens of the former moth flying in

I am uncertain worth recording in some birchI saw no fewer bright sunshine

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OBSERVATIONS.

between 1.30 and 2 o'clock. All were flitting along quite leisurely until approached by the net, and all at a height of about five feet from the ground. No suggestion of disturbance from bushes is tenable as I was the only person within sight, most were 20-40 yards away when first seen, and none made any attempt to find cover; nor could the very light wind, in that sheltered spot, have aroused them. None flew after 2 p.m. Has such a day-flight been previously noted ? [What South's little populär book on moths, whose best feature treats of their habits, may say we know n o t ; certainly all text-books, from the 1819 Samouelle, give its Situation as resting upon palings, tree-trunks and birchtwigs by day, at both sugar and light by night, without reference to diurnal flight.—Ed.] I have been interested in some Hydriomenaber berata, Schf., that I bred from a female captured near Bury on 15 May last. All her eggs hatched within a week, and some individuals began to pupate during the third week of June and onwards. T h e first moths emerged on 9 July, when about a dozen larvae were still feeding, and the last one did not pupate until 20 July : so that I had ova from the second generation before all caterpillars of the first one had pupated. T h e great difference in the time taken by the larvae, in completing growth under parallel circumstances, seems extraordinary.

There are probably three generations, in some cases, during the year.— P . J. B U R T O N ; Lowestoft.

Ephestia M O T H S AGAIN (cf. vol. ii, p. 286).—Not a single case of these destructive insects' presence has been found since the Australian Dried-fruits Board adopted Dr. J. W. Monro's extermination process some twelve months ago. The imagines are attracted, presumably by light as is the whole genus, to a central area in each of the London Dock warehouses. This area in the roof is then finely sprayed with pyrethrum-gas, forming a misty cloud wherein the Ephestia cannot breath.

A

RARE

KNOT-HORN

MOTH,

ETC.,

AT

LIGHT.—Unlocalised

more exactly than the ' New F o r e s t ' were the total six British specimens of Nephopteryx similella, Zk. [one in 1901 and one in 1903 (EMM. xxxix, p. 1) and four in 1928 (Entom. xli, p. 282)] tili one came to light in Sussex last June. I had no idea it was so scarce, though my single female was termed ' a great rarity' by our Member, Mr. A. R. Hayward when naming it.

Its capture happened upon a verv festive night, 14 July 1934', when there gathered from dinner around Mr. John L. Moore of Gorleston's powerful petrol-lamp upon the historic Lobstermoth spot in Denny Wood, New Forest, Sir Thomas and Lady Jackson of Herringfleet, their son and several other of ourMembers, Commander Burt and one or two local entomologists. It was one of those uncertain, warm and dry niglits when luck is upon the knees of the gods, for no less than eight Great Footmen

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OBSERVATIONS.

(QZnistis quadra, L.) of both sexes came down and practically nothing eise of note, excepting the present Phycitid and a male Ophion bombycivorus, Gr., t h e I c h n e u m o n of Lobster-moths, both of which were attracted not by t h e sheet-light but bv supplementary head-lights of one of our cars Standing alongside.

M r . T o m Jackson asserted he could see a Deaths-head Hawkm o t h (A. Atropos, L . ) Aying over the main l i g h t ; but, even bv Standing u p o n a piece of paper, his stalwart father failed to reach t h e prize ! So we trundled off home at 1.45 (lving time).— CLAUDE

MORLEY.

[NOTA BENE. T h e majority of 1936 Observations u p o n Moths are held over for incorporation in this Societv's proposed 1937 publication of a separate M e m o i r on " T h e Lepidoptera of Suffolk."—Ed.] A H U N D R E D YEARS AGO.—"Though the p a s t s u m m e r h a s b e e n by no means favourable to the Entomologist, I have a few specimens the discovery of which is due to M r . H e n r y Doubleday. Although the species are somewhat rare and one or two peculiarlv interesting, I should not have troubled you with this communication had it not afforded m e an opportunity for a few remarks I m a d e whilst collecting at S u d b u r y , having been too m u c h immersed civilibus undis to have leisure for Entomology when at home.—Any Entomologist would be well repaid all trouble and time were he to pass only one fine July day in the woods bordering the road f r o m Colchester to Ipswich. T h e r e he will find Limenitis Camilla [Sibylla, L.] in profusion, Apatura iris, Melitcea Athalia, etc. : specimens of all these mav, also, be purchased for a trifle of a person n a m e d Biggs, residing in these woods [in whom we seem to recognise the father of all local vandal ' dealers ' !

D i d he then occupy " M r s . M a y ' s cottage," still abutting southerly on Bentley W o o d s ?]. And should he be fond of the fossorial Hymenoptera and bees, he will find every s u n n y bank alive with t h e m . — T h e larva of L. Camilla may be f o u n d by carefully h u n t i n g the leaves of the honeysuckle. But, alas ! no A. Iris could be taken : had I been at home, I should have tried a plan which I know has proved very successful; this is merely to have a quantity of black, very wet m u d spread in some open place in the woods where Iris is seen : ' Mille trahens varios, adverso sole, colores.' T h e y will soon come down to it, to enjoy its coolness and moisture ; and are t h e n easily taken.—In a little wood near S u d b u r y this S u m m e r , I met with several specimens of Laphria nigra [of Meigen and Curtis = marginata, L., n o w a rare D i p t e r o n in Suffolk] and Thecla W-albuvi.

Also I took there Cleptes semiaurata and nitidula [of Fab., the present two British Ruby-tails of this genus, rare in Suffolk], etc. S u d b u r y is, perhaps, one of the best localities in England for land and freshwater Shells; but, f r o m its deficiency of wood, is not very

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195

favourable to the Entomologist. However, some rare Lepidoptera occur, as Agrotis aqua [Och. = form of segetum, Schf.], Orthosia Iota, etc. Last July Leucania pallens, which is, to be sure, common everywhere, swarmed in countless mvriads over the meadows. A large lime tree in the garden of Mr. W. P. King, when in flower, offered a most interesting spectacle [before ' sugar' was discovered, of course], Millions, I might say, of Noctuites visited it every evening; they were chiefly L. pallens, Polia dysodea [Och. = Melanchra serena, F.], etc., Agrotis exclamationis, segetum, hortorum [Steph. MS., doubtless a form of Euxoa nigricans, L.], etc., intermixed with Mamestra brassica, oleracea, persicarice and other Noctuites in smaller numbers.—Colchester and its [above] vicinity appear to me to be among the most favourable spots in our country for the Entomologist and, at the same time, among the most beautiful. Another year I trust they will be fully investigated by one quite competent to the task, and residing on the spot. Of our Lepidoptera I have no doubt that a very large proportion is to be found there ; and the sandy soil is peculiarly favourable to Hymenoptera and Coleoptera" (Entom. Mag. iv, 1837, p. 230). [Hence we may ascribe to the celebrated Henry Doubleday of Epping, the author of the earliest reliable Catalogue of British Macros, not onlv the discovery of ' sugar in the course of the following decade, but of the wealth of our Insect Fauna in south-east Suffolk ; though the possiblity of specimens' purchase in loco quo looks as if this were even then no new thing.—Ed.] O U R M E M B E R S I N I N D I A . — A s the temperature was running up to above 110° at Tubbulpore in the Central Provinces last June, we went off to Pachnearhi, a little place in the Mahades hills further on along the banks of the Nubudda. There it was comparatively cool at a height of 3500 feet, nor was it long before the rains set in : we had eighty inches in three months !

These hills are marvellously rugged, and seamed with impassable gorges that are many hundred feet deep, down which the water roars in the rainy season. There is a house on one of the higher peaks at 4500 feet and, after the rains were over, we spent a week in it. All views thence were perfectly gorgeous : over hills covered with Bamboo and other jungle-plants, the haunt of Bison and Tiger. However, we saw no sizable animals; and they kept in the dense growth, while we could move only along paths.

Walks in the evening were most interesting, for the paths are lined by flowering shrubs which attracted great quantities of Sphingid Moths, belonging to but three species apparently.

To Iight at night in the house came many kinds of both Sphinx and other genera, but I could not take specimens, having no means of mounting them handy. Also we saw some curious larvje, of which one was a giant and just the shape of Lasiocampa

196

OBSERVATIONS.

quercus, L., but palest grey. I found an immense cocoon, probably of the same kind, but must have unluckily damaged the pupa, as the M o t h never developed its wings.

Upon returning to Tubbulpore, I bred some larvje of Deilephila nerii, L., which 1 found in the garden ; one of these caterpillars was quite abnormal in colour, the usual apple-green being replaced by bright orange-red. But luckily the imago emerged and differs from the typical form in only its extra-deep coloration : I took notes and sketches of the ova and various stages of larvae of which one batch was all parasitised and I kept the parasites' cocoons not yet emerged. This parasite pupates inside the rear half of the host-larva, when the latter is in the its third or fourth skin; the front half then drops off, whilethehinderremainsattached by its legs to stem or leaf, where it hardens into a firm yellow casing to protect the parasitic pupa. [Doubtless some species of the Braconid genus Rhogas.—Ed.] I was much annoyed when about a dozen half-grown D. nerii larvae proceeded to fall in half, one after the other !

We motored about a hundred miles to some hilly country in March, and camped there for the whole month. Our idea was to shoot a Tiger, but in this we were disappointed : indeed, we shot nothing, but my wife had plenty of thrills upon seeing one really magnificent Tiger at fifteen feet distancc ! Another was Walking in the open at a longer ränge ; and we got a glimpse in long grass of a third, on to which we nearly stepped. The last proved a most unpleasant specimen, and swore horribly at being roused from his mid-day slumbers. Altogether we came across many animals, though the great density of jungle made it difficult to see even a quarter of what were audible. I Ostend to a delightful duet one morning between a Panther on the ground and a pack of Monkeys in treetops. We saw Deer and Antelope, Wildboar and Crocodiles, besides many smaller creatures of interest; and, one evening, became aware of a great black shape which I have no doubt was a Bison. Now we are going out with the Forest Conservator for a few days, so we shall come across more ; but mainly I want to go to the Bunjar Valley, a large gamesanctuary, where one can watch all kinds of big game Walking about in comparatively open country. We hope to be home at Sibton in March.—W. G. B. H A W L E Y ; 15 Dec. 1935.

HOVERING-FLY N E W TO SUFFOLK.—Verrall states, in his 1 9 0 1 Svrphidse of Britain, that Chilnsia maculata, Fab., differs from the rest of its genus in six blue-grey abdominal spots and attachment to Ramsons ; it was then recorded from only Sussex, Dorset, Devon, Hereford; but, in thirty years' collecting, he had found it merely once, on 13 June 1888, when it was abundant on a small patch of Allium ursinum at Dovedale in Staffs, adding that the imagines fly low among the stems of that

OBSERVATIONS.

197

plant u p o n which its larva is likely to be f o u n d an internal feeder. D r . F o r d h a m has extended its known ränge to L o w Fell in Yorks, during J u n e 1923-5, whence he has kindly given me a series. I t was never noticed u p o n the a b u n d a n t Ramsons in Freston W o o d near Ipswich ; but at noon on 22 May 1936 sexes were discovered in some numbers, both sitting with half-extended wings upon the leaves of D o g s - M e r c u r y and other equally low plants among which Ramsons was growing in profusion over several h u n d r e d yards in Monks-park Wood, and flitting very slowly and gently beneath their upper leaves, though none seemed actually attracted by the Garlic. A capital series was secured, and possible depletion averted by the ubiquity of brambles and briars on that heavy clay.—CLAUDE MORLEY.

GNATS' GLUE.—We have been very troubled on Oulton Broad recently with spots appearing on our decks and other parts of boats; the spots are a little smaller than a three-penny bit and set hard, exactly like varnish or marine glue. W e were very puzzled as to the cause, but have now traced it to be a large Gnat, a specimen of which you will find enclosed. One notices a sac between the G n a t ' s legs, and this appears to contain the gummy substance which is deposited on the woodwork. W e have never known such an occurrence on the Broads before, and I am taking the liberty of asking if you can give any information regarding the Fly. Probably it is quite a c o m m o n insect, whose egg-laying instincts have been perverted owing to the peculiarly cold weather of this spring.—CAPTAIN. B. W . BLOWER, J.P., North Cove Hall, near Beccles; 26 May, 1936. [Your H o n .

Secretary replied that the species was the generally common Chironomus riparius, M g . , female, but that such an occurrence was quite u n k n o w n to him and Prof. T h e o b a l d (Brit. Flies i, 169), suggesting the ejectamenta to be waste product given off by the imago at the end of its teneral condition, analogous with that ' red rain ' emitted by certain Butterflies u p o n attaining maturitv: cf. A. T . M u n d y on Psychology of Chironomus, Leicester, 1909. But the extent of the deposit seems out of all Proportion to the insect's capacity.]

SOME UNBITING GNATS NEW TO S U F F O L K . — A m o n g a m a s s

of these Diptera f r o m various parts of Britain, the following species are recorded f r o m our County (still badly neglected in respect to these Chironomidas) in a paper in T r a n s . E n t o m .

Soc. Lond. 1929, pp. 2 7 9 - 4 3 0 : — Pentaneura barbitarsis, Zett., captured at Mildenhall by E d w a r d s : Proäadius lugens, Kf., one female at T i m w o r t h by Col. N u r s e ; Cricotopus tricinctus, Mg., at Mildenhall as a b o v e ; C. obtexens, Walk., at Newmarket ln March or April, by V e r r a l l ; Spaniotoma tripilata, Edw., a cotype of this new species was f o u n d in Suffolk, presumably at

198

OBSERVATIONS.

Mildenhall; S. truncorum, Goet., from Mildenhai] ; Corynoneuru majuscula, Edw., the type of which new kind was found in Suffolk ; as also was that of C. coronata, Edw ; Chironomus supplicans, Mg., taken at Aldeburgh bv Jenkinson ; C. fasciipennis, Zett., at Newmarket by Collin ; and Tanytarsus inoperius, Walk ' at Mildenhall by Edwards.

N o t until quite recently have I become satisfied with the determination of a half-dozen specimens of Piophila latipes, Mg., that occured to me in the carcase of a drowned Dog beside the salt-water Orwell at Hogs Highland on 1 June 1897. T h e y had there congregated for the purpose of ovipositing in so delectable a pabulum ! All the British species of Piophilidas are now known to occur in Suffolk.

Limnobiidce NEW TO SUFFOLK.—The British midges and daddy-longlegs are at length becoming adequately worked into scientific order by competent systematists ; and among them, an account of the smaller daddys constituting the family Limnobiida: was published in Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. during 1921, pp. 196-230, showing Britain to contain 180 different kinds.

T h e original Suffolk Diptera list of 1915 enumerated only 50 species, for identification was then most difficult to obtain, though actual specimens were numerous everywhere. Our Transactions have added Ephelia apicata, Lw. and Limnophila subtincta, Zt., at vol. i, p. 228 ; and 14 other kinds listed at vol. ii, p. 39.

Until one of our own Members attacks this group locally, we can but keep on adding to our Suffolk catalogue as opportunity offers. T h u s , during the present year, there may be included— Limnobia dilutior, Edw., a metatypical male on Monks Soham House-window on 13 May 1932 ; L. Masoni, Edw., from Assington Thicks and Brandon Staunch in May of 1902 and 1932; Dicranomyia sera, Wik., has been taken at Aldeburgh by Yerrall ( T r . E. Soc. 1921, p. 202) and Benacre by me ; D. complicata, Meij., NEW to BRITAIN at Orford on 22 July, 1908 (J. F. King, in Brit. Mus.) and in Covehithe Broad on 10 September, 1928 [ later taken by me also in the Norfolk Broads and New Forest.—C.M.]; a male of D. autumnalis, Stg., at Benacre Broad light, 9 p.m. on 20 September 1935 ; Hehns longirosiris, Mg., at Brandon staunch in May, 1929; Molophilus appendiculatvs, St., on Monks Soham window in J u n e ; M. armatus, Meij., beaten commonlv from alder in Herringfleet marshes, along with several M. pleuralis, Meij., in Buss-creek salterns at Southwold, in S e p t e m b e r ; and M. ochraceus, Mg., of which rare species a male was Aying in Monks Soham garden in August 1923 ; Ormosia uncinata, Meij., is frequent in both May and September, at Southwold, Reydon, Stuston Common and Brandon staunch ; Limnophila phceostigma, Schm. (Meigeni, Verr.), common at Blythburgh Wood in autumns of 1931-4;

OBSERVATIONS.

199

L. dimidiata, Meij., at Herringfleet and Reydon, with its var. noscibilis, Edw., at light in Benacre Broad ; L. Ifuscipennis, Mg., sitting at 6 p.m. in Monks Soham garden in June ; Adelphomyia senilis, Hai., abundant on Frostenden rushes in autumn ; and Cylindrotoma distinctissima, Mg., of which both sexes were Aying slowly in some numbers amid dappled sunshine of a damp and boscy dell in Bentley Woods on the afternoon of 30 May 1932. These sixteen additions bring the Suffolk total up to 82 species of Limnobiidae.—CLAUDE MORLEY ; April.

USE OF SMALL EARWIG'S FORCEPS.—The O b s e r v a t i o n s at

page

92 interested me a good deal, for I noted a large number of the Small Earwig (Labia minor, L. : cf. Trans, i, p. 92) at the end of June 1935 in Bury. They were at the most half the size of the Common Earwig and lighter in colour, Aying in the sunshine towards cvening near the pavilion in Victoria sports-ground. My car was waiting inside the gates, and Mrs. Lisney and I watched many of them alighting upon i t ; we were much amused by the way in which each Earwig, when it wished to take to the air, Aicked open its wing-cases with its anal pincers. Dozens were on the wing there, and about the same time I saw a few also in the garden of mv house at Sextons Hall.—ARTHUR A. LISNEY, Leicester; 20 January, 1936.

NEUROPTERA : Ischmira pumilio, C H . (p. 9 3 , supra).—Several specimens of this small Dragonfly occurred to me on the Waveney at Beccles on 26 July this vear, in practically the same spots as last. It is worth noting that the male can always be distinguished from that of I. elegans by the two spots on the blue tenth segment of the abdomen. Lucas' illustration marks these spots black ; but in my experience they are occasionally of a darkish grey colour : sometimes they can be seen only with a powerful lens, but are always present, however faint, and constitute an infallible distinction. T h e female differs from the female of I. elegans in having no blue coloration on the apical segments.—JOHN L.

MOORE ; 10 A u g u s t , 1936.

ANOTHER SUFFOLK M A Y - F L Y . — A few males of Caenis horaria, Linn, (dimidiata, Ste.), one with its subimaginal skin still attached to the anal styles, were taken at light close beside Fritton Lake in mid-August of both 1934-5, and a single female by the same method at Pondhead in the New Forest in mid-July 1934, by our Members : writes Dr. Blair, who himself found the doubtless common but overlooked Centroptilum luteolum, Müll. (Trans. iii, 96) at Corton in September 1925. Though typical ' beings of a day,' horaria, since the time of Aristotle ('founder of Science ' in 4 cent. B.C. : Hist. Animal. viii, 27), these small and delicate F.phemeridae have recently been little known in Britain tili Dr. Blair published their catalogue in 1930 (Entom. lxiii, 82),

200

OBSERVATIONS.

showing them to total but forty-two species : later, one has been added. The Suffolk thirteen kinds are susceptible of easy extension, if attention be accorded the subject: Habrophlebia fusca, Ct., is still outstanding, though known from Gosfield in Essex.

DISTRIBUTION OF Nemoura dubitans, MORTON.—This Stonefiy, hitherto known in Britain solely from West Stow in Suffolk (Trans, i, p. 186), is probably wide-spread along our northern border. A good many specimens were beaten, with a single male N. variegata, from sallow-bushes both by day and after dark in Fritton marshes during mid-April last. But at West Stow itself on 24th occurred nothing but N. inconspicua, and that as rarely as it had been found in Blythburgh Wood on 18th.

— C L A U D E MORLEY. RIVIERA INSECTS.—We left home on 30 March, and I noted on our way south several Large Tortoiseshells, V. polychloros, near Givors where I heard the Cuckoo call for the first time this year, on 2 April [seven days earlier than in Suffolk]. Near Avignon, Satyrus Mtegera, L., was in abundance on 3rd and I took a predatory Dipteron, with his prey which is Bibio Marci, L. On 4th at the wood near Le Muy just beyond Brignoles, where you and I collected in 1931, Papilio Machaon, L., Leucophasia sinapis, L., and female Saturnia pavonia, L., were Aying in patches of sunshine ; and I beat two large Geometrid caterpillars with five larvas gregarious on hawthorn : three of the latter were ichneumoned, but the other two pupated on 7th and not tili then did I recognise them as our Black-veined White, Aporia crataegi, L., by the chrysalides' resemblance to P. brassicae.

Also on hawthorn flower was a nice beetle, Tropinota hirta, Pod. After reaching Juan les Pins, I made many profitless excursions; the weather was nothing like so settled as in 1931, and up to l l t h w e had only one fine day in three. But on 22nd near Villeneuve Loubet I took a Solitary Wasp, Polistes Gallicus, L., with her nest. She was at work on its construction when first noticed and, as she had apparently no wish to fly awav, I covered the nest and wasp with a glass-topped collecting-box and cut away the twig whereon the former was built. Even this did not disturb the Wasp, for she went on steadily with her work : in fact as far as I saw, she died on the nest at the end of three days without attempting to desert it. A few days later near Biot, I found, on turning up a piece of soaked and partlv rotted cardboard, another nest and Wasp of the same species. This one also resolutely refused to desert the nest, which I cut away similarly; but unfortunately it became slightly crushed by the box, and then the Wasp did leave it. Such strong maternal instinct, or rather love of lares et penates, seems well worthy of remark.

OBSERVATIONS.

201

At the same time and place I discovered a Vanessid larva feeding on some unknown plant and, on further search, found eleven more, all closely resembling V. Atalanta, black with minute white dots and black spines ; they only attained, however, two-thirds the latter's size. I collected a good supply of the pabulum and preserved it in tins, thus being able to feed "them on the homeward journey; and now in May, ten have pupated [Melitaa sp.]. On leaving the car near Biot on 24 April, I saw three Vanessa Antiopa, L., hovering around an elm ; presently one came and perched on my Shoulder. The net was in the car, but in such a position capture would have been unlikely. As I remained motionless, it sat for some minutes, whilst my wife admired it, and then sailed off gracefully: the flight somewhat resembles that of Sibylla.

Later I managed to capture one of the three but, though I went to the spot four or five times subsequently, I saw no more.

Judging from last year, everything was a fortnight late and not productive at that. One place, which at the same time last year, was swarming with Fritillaries very like euphrosyne, produced but one. No Antlions appeared tili our final days' and then very few, whereas I had seen them in profusion a fortnight earlier in 1935 (cf. Trans, iii, 98); however, there were plenty of Glory of Provence, Euphenoides. On our returnjourney theLeMuy wood was again explored, but the sole capture was most unexpected : seeing a movement in the grass, I clapped my net over it, expecting one of the common large Lizards, Podarcis muralis, Merr., but was surprised to find an extemely active Tortoise, Testudo Graca, L.: I had quite forgotten they occur wild in south Europe.

At first I intended to bring him home in the car, where he was very lively ; but, on second thoughts anent customs' troubles re imported animals, I decided it best (for both of us) to give him the liberty of which he was not slow to take advantage. I have a few beetles for you, [Zabrus curtus, Serv., and some Harpali] under stor.es, where was one bug, Pyrrhocoris apterus, L., like a small edition of Blatta.—C. H. S. VINTER, home 9 May. ANOTHER CUTTLE-FISH.— Our Mollusca Recorder may well have indulged in ' a little folding of the hands ' this year, for both Snails and Shell-fish have been as retiring as all Insects.

But the local Ipswich newspaper on 26 October presents a representation of some Cuttle-fish that seems to be Octopus vulgaris, L., if one may judge by the eight arms and double row of suckers : no length is indicated. The speeimen was caught, presumably quite recentlv, by two men who were nshing off Aldeburgh. (Cp. Trans 1934, p. 285.)

MORE Saltno salar, L., IN DEBEN (Trans, ii, 118).—I do not expect that the capture of a twenty-eight pound Salmon in the jJeben at Eyke, as reported in the Ipswich daily paper on 7 Uecember, with large photograph on 8th and another paragraph

202

OBSERVATIONS.

on 9th, has escaped your notice. But it seems of such special interest, in showing that the individual had already spawned in that river and was killed upon its way back to salt water, that I send a reminder. Sir Charles Bunbury also states on 1 Ith that a male Salmon, of some 15-18 pounds, was found dead in a dyke at the next village of Rendlesham on 8th.—C. C . T . GII.ES ; Hopton, near Diss.

A L L BRITISH SNAKES ARE S U F F O L C I A N . — I have looked up the reference (Trans, supra, p. 102) to the periodical ' Knowledge,' vol. viii, 1885, p. 210. In an article on ' Skin-casting of Snakes,' a correspondent who signs himself C.H. writes " I had for a time two Coronellas (from Suffolk); but as these refused to eat efts, and sand-lizards (their proper food) were difficult to obtain, I gave them to the Zoological Society. These snakes were not particularly endearing in their ways, and were in the habit of biting my fingers, though without drawing blood " Nothing much in it, beyond the bare County record.—DR. K. G. B L A I R ; 1 0 February.

T h e reference to ' Knowledge,' which periodical I used to have in my old Kent home now broken up, is definite enough. The occurrence of Coronella Austriaca, Lac., in Suffolk so surprised me that I thought it worth while to call attention to the fict.

T h e New Forest and Isle of Wight are the only places where I have had personal experience of the Smooth Snake in Britain ; but 1 have taken it also up one of the mountain torrents near San Remo in Italy, which capture bars the inevitability of a heath habitat.—DOUGLAS ENGLISH, Watford ; 4 February. [ The Zoological Society of London appears to us to be pursuing a very short-sighted policy in paying the local Wateridge eighteen pence a head for all New Forest Snakes : we doubt its right to do so, unless by especial agreement with the Commissioners. So horribly thorough is the work effected that the Pondhead district is said to be now ' free ' of Ophidians—even C. Austriaca was slain there on 20th of last June. Certainly none were seen by us through all June and July 1936, where were several of both our other species in 1934.—Ed.] O U R SAND LIZARD C O N F I R M E D . — I have much pleasure in confirming the occurrence of Lacerta agilis, Linn., in Suffolk, which was left in a somewhat unsatisfactory condition at Trans, ii, p. 212. A tailless female, according perfectly with this species in both capital plates and coloration, was found in a moribund condition among grass-covered shingle near Orford lighthouse on 12 July 1936. 1 have preserved it in spirits.

This specimen must have crossed the narrow shingle ridge between the sea and the river at Slaughden in order to gain access to the peninsular : evidently it occurs close by, on Black Heath near Aldeburgh.—F. W. SIMPSON ; 1 August.

OBSERVATIONS.

203

O N 1936 BIRDS IN THE IPSWICH DISTRICT.—I h a v e b e e n m u c h

Struck by the great abundance of Blackbirds and the long continuance of their song. T h e y were singing in February, and the last note 1 made on the point was dated 28 July. On 25 May I found a Blackbird's nest containing four eggs and a Cuckoo's : rather an unusual foster-parent for this bird to ' adopt.'

Düring May a Cuckoo with a REGULÄR tri-syllabic song haunted the outskirts of Martlesham Heath ; i^s notes closely resembled the opening of the familiar catch ' Three Blind Mice,' uttered qiiickly.—Stone Curlews turned up in their familar haunts, and I found one incubating on 18 April, again an unusuallv early date (cf. Trans, iii, 107 ; and Bird. Suff, on 4 and 13 April).—Woodlarks were in their usual satisfactory numbers. On 2 May 1 noticed one singing at 11.50; itcontinuedwithoutcessationtilll2.26,when I walked into the area it was ' covering.' Düring all this time its position did not vary more than, perhaps, ten feet verticallv and fifty yards laterally.—The large number of Lesser Redpolls in the Ipswich district and the Butley area has been noticeable.

On many occasions I have seen and heard, not only pairs but, little companies of as many as five or six birds Aying over. T h e r e must have been verv many nests, but I found only one and was shown another in a town garden.—Plenty of Yellow Wagtails have been in the appropriate localitics: one nest, I found, contained seven eggs.—Three strong colonies of Lesser Terns were between Bawdsey and the North Wier : perhaps fifty-sixty pairs altogether.

Two pairs of Common Terns also bred there. On one of the meres on the beach at Shingle Street in Hollesley on 17 May I saweight Turnstones and one Dunlin, all diligently feeding as I watched them at a distance of less then thirty yards. This mere is evidently a halting-place on their journey northwards, as in two or three other years I have seen the same thing at this spot.

—It is pleasing to record a perfect invasion of Wood Warbiers in a certain favourite haunt in east Suffolk, where at least five pairs bred.—Sheld-duck, anything from a couple to a score, were a common sight on most heaths and waste-land areas.

Nightjars' protective coloration is very perfect and must generally fulfil its purpose, yet I have frequently found the tell-tale eggshells left permanently close to the young on heaths.

Three unusual fatalities to young birds came under my Observation. (1) I picked up a dead fully-grown young Blackbird with what appeared to be about an inch of thick string protruding from its beak ; but, upon closer examination, this turned out to be a strip of uncooked bacon-rind which I withdrew to a length of seven inches. (2) In a Blackcap's nest I found one of the newly-hatched nestlings dead, with its head fixed up at the füll Stretch of its neck by a thorn through the tongue ; the nestling being unable to free itself, had perished thus curiously.

(3) A keeper told me that, on Hearing sounds of alarm near

204

OBSERVATIONS.

a Wood Warbler's nest, he investigated their cause and discovered an Adder at the nest, devouring the last of the nestlings : nasty things, Adders !—T. G. POWELL ; 22 August.

O U R TIDE-MAKK BIRDS IN FEBRUARY.—I have not noticed the Bridled variety of Guillemot (Uria troile, L.) since the one I found here about 1916 tili 14 February 1936, when I found one dead on Gorleston beach, quite clean and free from oil (C. G. DOUGHTY : " I have notes of six, but it cannot be said to be at all common ; out of scores handled by me, I never met with one." Ticehurst, page 433). A Fulmar Petrel, Fulmarus glacialis, L., and Cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo, L., were discovered dead on the beach at Corton on 16 February. A pitiful exhibition of distressed Sea-birds was seen between Lowestoft and Hopton on 22nd : eight Common Guillemots, a Razorbill (Alca torda, L.), two Red-throated Divers (Colymbus septentrionalis, L.) and a Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus, L.), all terribly tarred with waste oil from oil-burning ships : some of them were not yet dead. But between Pakefield and Kessingland also lay four of the first, two of the last, a couple of Common Gulls [Larus canus, L.) and a Common Scoter (CEdemia nigra, L.) on 23rd, when between Hopton and Gorleston lay no less than six Guillemots, another of the Divers and another Common Gull, all dead. When this oily filth [already prohibited by law : cf.

Trans, ii, p. lxxii.—Ed.] reaches bathing Homo sapiens, steps will be taken to destroy it.—E. W. C. JENNER. T H E W I N T E R N I G H T I N G A L E . — A t our premier Meeting of 1936 the Nightingale was once again the subject of no small controversy. its song had been heard during July and August, and even later in the year : Mr. Morley challenged whether it were indeed the voice of this species, suggesting rather that of some other among our well known warblers. My experience has been to assist, time and again, at the same discussion in many a country district.

The song of true Nightingales comprises notes borrowed from practically all the English songsters. Though purely its own, there are characteristics in its voice suggestive of the varied combinations of the Song Thrush whose notes bear closest resemblance and, consequently, are most frequently confused. It recalls the Blackbird's contralto, the Garden Warbler's ripples, the Robin's sprightly outburst and the clear mellow tones of the Blackcap, often termed the northern nightingale. It combines harmonv with so marvellous a crescendo on a single note as no other bird can mimic. Usually the volume opens softly with 'pew-pew,' rising rapidly to a height which produces a thrill in the keen listener. Then, amidst superb harmony, comes a harsh croak, ' kur-kur,' fully as distinctive but entirely discordant. This ' kur-kur' indicates alarm, just as the seductive call is expressed by a soft and distinct ' wheet! ' Too short is the period of song, coincident merely with the courting

OBSERVATIONS.

205

days of early May up to those when the young are hatched in June, whereafter both parents are busily engaged in chick-feeding.

Nightingales are single-brooded except, of course, when disaster befalls the first nest. It is, therefore, obvious that their song can be mistaken by the inexperienced ear and, in varying degree, imitated by several other birds with considerale dexterity: hence the populär ' Winter Nightingale.'—C. S. L A S T , 1936.

BEARDED REEDLINGS.—One or two pairs of these Tits [Panunis bisarmicus, Linn.] have regularlv nested about Oulton Dyke since the spring of 1921, when I first witnessed a pair feeding fully-fledged young. On Oulton Broad I did not see a single one throughout last summer ; though one or two appeared at the lower end of Oulton Dyke, and I am inclined to believe they nested there. But during January 1936 I saw seven, very lively and restless, among the reeds of the Broad. By drifting my boat close to the reeds on 2nd, I passed within two yards of several such Tits who did not fly off, though Reed Buntings [Emberiza Schceniclus, Linn.] that were close to them took wing at twenty feet or more. T h e nearest was a male, feeding like the rest on the seedy reed-tops. Later reed-cutting seems to have driven most of these Tits to near the River Waveney ; early in the morning of 9 February, only one was at a dyke-mouth on the Broad. Fortunately they are increasing in numbers.—F. C . COOK ; etc.

I saw four or five pairs of Bearded Reedlings, while out shooting on the ronds on 4 January last. I cannot be mistaken in the species, because one of the pairs observed was well within five yards of me. All were on the Suffolk side of the river, between Somerleyton Station and Beccles. Have they been recorded from this particular vicinity before ? — T . R. E. JACKSON, Herringfleet Hall.

[Yes ; but if a dealer asks, teil him ' very rarely ' !—Ed.] ACROBATICS OF Parus major, L I N N . — A t the still and sunnv midday of 29 April, just as the first Small White Butterfly of the year flew by, a Great Tit swooped straight on to the splice by which flag was bent on halyards of a west lawn flagstaff here.

Thence he descended gracefully down the ropes, delicately picking as he went the numerous flies, Scatopse notata, Linn., that are ahvays sunning themselves on the staff in spring and had been noticed numerously there on the 28th. T h e entire descent of ten feet occupied about three minutes ; next other insects were pecked, while clinging inverted on his claws like a fly on ceiling, trom below the transom of an arbour. And the Tit plainly exhibited himself on an adjacent twig, to which he was chased off an old post by a Robin.—R. A. M O R L E Y ; Monks Soham House.

G O L D E N O R I O L E AT B U N G A Y . — O n e of these rare and beautiful Birds was seen by Miss Kate Tracy of Beccles, a reliable recorder, on Bungay golf-links during the first week of July last.—J. L. M O O R E ; 1 0 August 1 9 3 6 .

206

OBSERVATIONS.

SPRING ARRIVALS.—Forms were returned to me by the Misses C. E. Cooper, Teresa Chevallier (TC), R. M. King (K), L. Harwood (H), the Revd R B. Caton, Major H. de Mussenden-Leathes (M. Leathes), M M . H. M. Bland ( B U G. B.rd (B), C. Chevallier (CC), F. C. Cook and E. W. Jenner (C-J1 J R. Girling (G), F. N . Maidment(M), A. Mayall, A. G. Stansfield (S), and C. S. Last (L). The earliest two dates for each species are here shown.

BIRDS

LOCAI.ITY

DATE

1935

OBSERVERS

1936

Lakenheath L. Butley & Dunwich B. & S. Eriswell & Wantisden L. & B. Euston, Playford RC.,, K. and Flixton — & „ M. Gt. Bealings & StavertonAM. & B 5 & 12 Apr. Wryneck 7 Apr. Lowestoft, Falkenham C-J & L Swallow 7 Apr. 12 & 14 Apr. S. & C-J. Minsmere, Flixton Yellow Wagtail 9 Apr. 1 & 10 Apr. B. & R C .

Butley, Fakenham Willow Warbier 10 Apr. 26 & 30 Mar. Nactön, Orwell Park I,. & A M .

Nightingale 10 Apr. 12 & 15 Apr. Orwell Park & Earl Com. Whitethroat 10 Apr. 12 & 24 Apr. L. & M L .

Soham Lowestoft, Falkenham C.-J. & BL. 5 & 11 May Garden Warbier 10 Apr. Brightlingsea & Öulton G. & C-J. Sedge Warbier 12 Apr. 17 & 19 Apr. B. & L .

Blackcap 13 Apr. 21 Mar. & 5 Apr. Butley, Lakenheath B. & M .

Staverton, Westleton Redstart 14 Apr. 25 & 26 Mar. Blyford & Great House Martin 15 Apr. 16 & 22 Apr. B. & M A .

Bealings G . & BL. Britlesea & Kirton 20 & 23 Apr. Sand Martin 15 Apr. Kesgrave, E. Bergholt Cuckoo 14 Apr. 9 & 14 Apr. B. & H. & R C and Euston Falkenham and 17 Apr. 6 & 7 May Turtle Dove Bl. & C E C Aldeburgh Orford, Brightlingsea 1,. & G .

19 Apr. 20 & 25 Apr. Commom Tern I.ittle Bealings, 20 Apr. 15 & 20 Apr. Tree Pipit AM. & K. Playford 1,. & C C .

20 Apr. 29 Apr. & 6 May Melton, Rushmere Whinchat Earl Soham, Less. Whitethroat 23 Apr. 19 & 27 Apr. ML. & C - J .

Lowestoft 23 Apr. 25 Apr. & 3 May Shingle St., Lesser Tern L. & G .

Brightlingsea L. & C C .

Bacton, Rushmere 25 Apr. 2_ „& 10 May Spot. Flycatcher C-J. & 1 May Lowestoft, Elvedon -& L .

29 Apr. 13 ' " Apr. * Grassh. Warbier Lowestoft, Brightlingsea C-J & <->.

30 Apr. (one) 1 & 4 May Swift Herringfleet C-J. 1 May 18 Mav Nightjar 2 May 30 Apr. & 3 May Brightlingsea, Reed Warbier Falkenham, Rushmere G., KU., i Kesgrave, Cavenham AM. & L. Wood Warbier 3 May 2 & 6 May I dead bird seen at Earl Soham b)' Ringed Ousel 3 May Major de Mussenden-Leathes Boyton L. Common Bunting 5 May 10 May Hobby 9 May None Blue Hded. Wagtail B . Sc L .

Butley, West Stow.

Red Backed Shrike 10 May 10 & 15 May C J .

Oulton Broad Com. Sandpiper 11 May 19 Apr. None Corncrake B. Ipswich Siskin 14 Mar.

Stone Curlew Montagu Harrier Wheatear Chiffchaff

3 Mar. 5 & 6 Mar. 22 Mar. 5 & 8 Mar. 25 Mar. 24 & 27 Mar.

10 Mar.

The above Table is compiled to show the relative dates of arrival o f s p r i n g m in this County. The assistance of the above observers is appreciated. C. 3-

i g r a -

OBSERVATION?.

207

A BLACK REDSTART.—On 21 March a fine adult male of this species was seen at close quarters at Southwold. According to Dr. Ticehurst's book, this date is exceptionally early.— ALFRED STANSFELD. [Nothing of the sort was said : Dr. Ticehurst gives the last week in March to end of April as normal dates.

This Redstart is not a summer visitor but mainly a passage migrant, a few wintering.—C.B.T.]* LESSON TO L I T T E R E R S . — A pair of Spotted Flycatchers nested in a rose-tree, which is trained up the front ofmyFalkenhamhouse.

When the young had been hatched, the hen bird always examined the whole rose after feeding them and carefully removed every rose-petal that had fallen, not or.ly from the branches that were near the nest but above and below, right to the ground. She carried the petals across the drive and dropped them among the shrubs beyond it. One day, when a strong westerly breeze was blowing, a large petal thus dropped in the shrubbery became wafted back towards the house. The bird swooped and caught it again, long before it reached the ground, and dropped it a little further off than before. A second time the wind swept it back ; once more she swooped and caught it, and thistimecarried it right beyond the shrubbery before dropping it. Düring the fortnight that the young were being fed, I never discovered a Single rose-petal on the ground beneath the tree or on any of its branches.

A FALKENHAM SANCTUARY.—In May I found a very remarkable group of nests all in use at the same time and within six yards of my drawingroom windows. T h e species included two Thrushes, Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Pied-wagtail and Linnet. For three weeks all the nests were occupied ; the two Thrushes' were within three yards of each other and within three davs' nidification of each other; and, although they fought terribly during building Operations, the builders eventually settled down amicablv.

I noticed however, that to the very last they went in exactly opposite directions to get food for their young.—A Hedge-sparrow completed a nest in gorse on 4 April in my garden ; the nest was *May I suggest that, instead of a List of First Arrivals in the C o u n t y , some u s e f u l work might be d o n e on Status and fluctuation of certain species ? T h e first s u m m e r migrants have b e e n recorded for a great m a n v years, and t h e dates of arrival are fairly accurately k n o w n . M o r e o v e r such a List in itself m a y be misleading in that t h e first are never t h e m a i n arrivals, a n d the whole scheme is unlikely to p r o d u c e any new facts. O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , if observers would make a point of w o r k m g their d i s t r i c t j and sending in r e t u r n s of t h e n u m b e r s , if any, of a selected dozen species which breed there, some very useful and interesting results m i g h t accrue. Also I think it is possible that more observers m i g h t be roped in, as knowledge is rerjuired of only a dozen Kinds. T h e species I suggest a r e : — M a g p i e , C o m Bunting, Crossbill, Hawfinch, Grasshopper W a r b i e r , C o m m o n Redstart, T r e e Pipit, Red-backed S h n k e , W h i n c h a t Lesser Spotted W o o d p e c k e r and Corncrake.—C. B. TICEHURST. [ M i g r a n t Lists will be omitted after 1937, i.e. with t h e opening of o u r V o l u m e iv.—F.d.]

208

OBSERVATIONS.

visited occasionally after this date, but no egg was laid until 24 April.—A Thrush began building in my garden as early as 23 February.—H. M . BLAND. [This is a normally early date for mild winters : cf. Ticehurst's Bird. Suff. p. 149.]

PIED FLYCATCHER AND A CROW.—Mr. Russell Quinton of Needham carefully watched a Pied Flycatcher at Nacton on 7 June. Muscicapa atricapilla, Linn., is known only in a few localities on the Fast Coast according to Coward. [Much more frequent now than in Babington's time. If Coward says that, he could have known very little about the East Coast. But why not see Ticehurst's Bird. Suff. pp. 176-8, where it is shown to be a regulär and, at times, rather a numerous visitor ? June 7 is a somewhat late date, though not impossibly so : the latest previous record is 25 May.—Ed.] I am told by H. Folkard that he recently watched a Crow near Needham while it took all the freshly born Thrushes out of a nest and ate them gluttonously, one after another.

Is this usual ?—E. W. PLATTEN ; 11 September.

My brother and I recently saw a male Pied Flycatcher at the bottom of our Walberswick garden. It perched upon a willow that is about four feet from the ground, passed to a sycamore, and then disappeared. A few moments later it returned to the latter and, after feeding, flew away.—H. M . CLEMINSON ; 10 May. SWIFTS CORRECTED.—Fear I misinformed you, at page 107 supra, about the departure of Swifts last year ; most of them left us between 8-11 August [as is usual], not July. I saw the final Honse Martin on 3 November, and Swallow on 11 October; the last Flycatcher left at the unusually late date of 30 September.

A happy New Year !—R. B. CATON, Fakenham ; 1 January 1936.

HAWFINCHES AT MARTLESHAM.—With the deplorable sale of our large estates and consequent felling of their timber by smallholders, the old Rectory gardens of Suffolk are patronised in ever increasing numbers by such Birds as are fond of nesting near houses. We have seen no nest of the Hawfinch (Coccothraustes vulgaris, Pall.) at Martlesham yet, but during February 1936 fully a dozen of this species, along with one or two Squirrels, were observed quite close to the Rectory. This morning I could see only one pair of Hawfinches; but we are very old friends, they and I : thev have made this garden their habitat for many years. Ten were seen on 12 April 1897 and seven the next day ; though as a rule we have three pairs each spring. Eight were noticed on 8 March 1932 and some years ago I found a nest on laurel-bushes, but the young ones disappear very quickly and must grow at a great pace.—(The Revd.) FRED. E. DOUGHTY ; 2 4 March.

Carduelis elegans, Ste., BY THE STOUR.—The ornithologists of your Society will, I am sure, be interested to know that, a few Goldfinches appear in the apple-trees of this garden about 3.30

OBSERVATIONS.

209

everv afternoon ; they are graduallv followed by others in fives and and sevens, until eventually at least a h u n d r e d have congregated.

They all go to roost in one tall Holly-tree, the lower branches of which have been lopped close off. And by four o'clock not a bird is to be seen, all having retired for the night excepting a very few who at last take refuge in a Yew-tree that is close to the house. l t is just 3.35 as I write : all are Coming in crowds at this m o m e n t ; they p o p in and out, playing everywhere tili darkness actually falls. A delightful sight to watch.—MRS. BLANCHE GRAVES, T h e Lodge, D o v e r c o u r t ; 1 January 1936.

[This species has been appearing in m u c h larger flocks than formerly in recent years : each disperses in spring.]

THE CIRL BUNTING ( T r a n s , iii, p. 108).—It m a y b e well t o State

the following details, since some scepticism has been expressed by our Birds Recorder, D r . Ticehurst. T h e nest in question was discovered on 21 J u n e 1935 and visited by m e upon both of the two following days ; it was about one mile f r o m the Suffolk coast in t h e parish of Boyton. U p o n two of these occasions the Bird was seen sitting on the nest, and definitely identified by me. T h e eggs were confirmed as those of Emberiza Cirlus, Linn., by our Birds Recorder, M r . Powell, and later by Manchester University. T h e Cuckoo's egg was deposited on the f o u r t h dav of the Cirl's laying ; and its parent broke or ejected two of the host-eggs in the process of oviposition.—CECIL S. LAST ; 20 January 1936. [Mr. Last's " evidence " only confirms that my scepticism was not without reason. H e does not say how he identified the Cirl Bunting on the nest and 1 am not convinced that anyone could distinguish a female Cirl Bunting f r o m a female Yellow Bunting when on its nest. N o r are the eggs usually identifiable. T h e Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain informs me that if one knows the complete Variation of the eggs of both birds t h e r e are some sets of Cirl Bunting which can be distinguished.—C.B.T.] A flock of Snow Buntings was seen on shore at Brightlingsea in Essex on 29 F e b r u a r v last (J. R. GIRLING).

Whilst Walking t h r o u g h Smilley Wood in Hoo during last May, I noticed a large branch that had been cut off an ash-tree, and was interested to find a Magpie's nest had been built u p o n this fallen limb ^CATHERINE E. COOPER).

A Moorhen's nest with six eggs was found on a pond at Bacton so late as 20 September last, w h e n the bird was seen to visit the nest and sit on the eggs.—ALI.AN GOODERHAM ; 25 September.

A MARINE Corvus frugilegus, L . — W h i l e my son was Walking along Felixstow beach on 28 D e c e m b e r 1935 he saw a very remarkable association. Some little way out to sea were several Gulls, along with a black-coloured Bird, floating on the water.

210

OBSERVATIONS,

Upon his approach, the former flew away towards an outflow pipe further up the shore ; and the odd Bird also rose with some difficulty, from the surface, winging a flight resembling a Rook's.

He was curious to know what this stränge associate should be and upon reaching the pipe, found that the sole Bird present with black plumage was actually a Rook. H e has often observed Rooks, hunting along with Gulls, on the beach here and once, in Harwich Harbour, noticed a Rook try to pick u p an object that was floating in the sea ; but never has he or I actually witnessed one floating upon the water before.—GEOFFREY M . F R E N C H , Felixstow. [See Ticehurst, Bird. Suff. p. 20, footnote.—Ed.] A Rook was shot near Stowmarket on 24 October last, ringed

by Leyden Museum, No. 1 1 9 5 5 5 . — G E O R G E B I R D .

T H E E A R L Y B I R D G E T S THE D O U B T . — O u r Spring Arrival list shows the Cuckoo's advent on 9 April. But Mr. W . K. Richardson of Bredfield heard (sec. local paper of 23rd) its call there on 21 March. T h e March Cuckoo-bov is, of course, a well known rural phenomenon ! But cf. Trans, ii, p. 91.—Ed.

On 17 May I found a Cuckoo's egg in a Hedge-sparrow's nest at Hoo, and on 28th another in a garden at Woodbridge.— CATHERINE E .

COOPER.

I found a Blackbird's nest containing a Cuckoo's egg in close proximity to 1 pswich this year.—T. G^ POWELL. [In the south of England it is considered rare to find aCuckoodepositing in a nest of this species : though commoner in the north. I have never before heard of such a foster-parent, which seems quite new in Suffolk. M r . Powell himself compiled the list of such parents at Trans, ii, p. 192: the Blackbird was not enumerated.—C.S.L.] RARE O W L NEAR SUDBURY.—Though not directly relating to our County's avifauna, it may be well to bring forward the apparently unrecorded fact that the taxidermist, M r . Rose of Sudbury who died there at a great age during January 1935, possessed a specimen of Scops Owl (Otus Scops, Linn.), which was killed just over our southborderatBrundonabout 1900. Dr.Lisney found on the back of the case containing Mr. Rose's example of the Buff-backed Heron (Ardeola Ibis, Linn. : cf. Trans, ii, p. cxciii) a label showing it to be the well known individual that was shot in Devonshire in 1 8 0 5 . — H E N R Y A N D R E W S . [This Scops Owl is not recorded in Glegg's " Birds of Essex."]

H A W K I N G ON T H E B R E C K — T h e celebratedandeccentric Colonel Thornton, who died in Paris, where he was known as Comte de Chambord, in 1823 (Ann. Biog. and Obit. 1824, p. 468), teils us that Admiral the Viscount Keppel planted a conspicuous clump of Scots firs at each extremity of his propertv and that these became locally known as the Barton Mills Gap in the Newmarket

211

OBSERVATIONS.

direction and the Thetford Gap (of Ordnance M a p still) towards that town, though strangers termed both ' the Eiden Gaps ' : for the Admiral owned the whole of Elveden about that period.

This interesting topographical detail (cp. Proc. supra, p. Ixxi) is merely incidental to the memorable six-miles hawk that began close to the southern of these clumps (presumably where the War Memorial was erected in Nov. 1921), when the Admiral was ranging with a Kite (Sporting T o u r through the N. Parts of England, 37).

CORMORANTS.—The common black Phalacrocorax carbo, Linn., was peculiarly ubiquitous both inland and on the coast early this vear. One was shot by a ' sportsman ' at Earl's Stonham on 28 January (Platten). T e n were Aying south near Benacre sluice on 4 February, in single file near the water a hundred yards off shore and maintaining regulär distance between each (R. S. Girling). T h e largest recent assembly observed on Breydon Water is twenty-two specimens ; and on 2 April last, eleven were seen on Oulton Broad, mainly standing on vacant buoys. None had been noted in Lowestoft harbour this year up to "that date ; but for a solid month in April-May 1933, no fewer than twenty'persisted in frequenting the Herring Dock there, catching Dabs (.Pleuronectes limanda, L.) so large that much neck-contortioning was needed to swallow them.—Green Cormorants, P. graculns, Linn., have been reported from Botesdale, a female shot on 18 January while sitting on a garden post (Last); and Darmsden on 22nd, when a man was thrown off his pedal-bicycle by the front wheel's impact with the bird, which died : any doubt of lts species is dispelled by the annexed photograph by Mr. Platten.

FIRST

OCCURRENCE

OF

PHALACROCORAX

CARBO-SINENSIS

IN

SUFFOLK.—A specimen of the Southern Cormorant which had been ringed at Lekkerkerk Zuid in Holland on 27 June 1932, was shot by F. Darby on Oulton Broad, 11 December 1935 (British Birds xxix, p. 358). This form, which differs from that which breeds in Britain, the above P. carbo-carbo, in its smaller size, breeds from Holland eastwards. 1t is most likely an annual visitor but has never been detected before, probably because so few Cormorants are ever handled by any one who could d i f f e r e n t i a t e t h e m . — C . B . TICEHURST.

OUR BITTERNS.—Our Bittems are credited with having successfully brought off four er five voung this season close to the mid-Suffolk shore. I have arranged with the Catchment Board there to move their workmen higher up the river in order to minimise the chances of disturbance. T h e nest in question was situated actually upon the Stretch of river-front that is owned by our Member, Captain Barne, who has confirmed its existence.

—H. M . CLEMINSON ; 10 May. [It is gratifying to know that Botaurus stellaris, L., is becoming so firmly established in our

212

OBSERVATIONS.

County : now we can definitely assert the Bittern to be a species breeding in Suffolk. The concurrence of the Catchment Board and keepers is verv fully appreciated, in affording thisfineand rare bird the maximum of protection. We confidently anticipate its increased propagation in other of ourdistrictserelong.—C.S.L.] HISTORIC PHEASANTS.—One of the kindest Reviewers of our last ' Transactions ' points out that the 1467 Suffolk Pheasants of page 113 are not the earliest recorded, for the Acton Manor steward's account for the year 1418-9 (Ministers' Accts. Bdle. 1249, no.

4), as translated by M. K. Dale, M.A., antedates them by nca: a half-century. In it at page 134 " seven Pheasants were taken as gifts this year, of which three were used in the household and there remain four " : they seem to have been uncommon or inappreciated. Similar commodities consumed that year include Partridges, young Swans (cigniculi), Geese, Capons, Conies, Pigeons, young Herons, Salmon, Sturgeon, red Herrings, white Herrings, Buchorn or Haddock, stock Fish, salt Fish and salt Eels. Perhaps Miss Dale, not a Member of the Suffolk Institute of Archseology which published this account on 13 July 1931 as an Appendix to Alice de Bryene's household book, can run Phasianus Colchicus, Linn., in our County yet further back in time ?

A LATE-SITTING PHEASANT, ETC.—At Nacton on 7 September last a Pheasant wasflushedfrom her nest, which contained six eggs. Of these one was broken and found to be perfectly good ; the blood-streaks, but just formed, showing that incubation had only recently begun. Thisfindmay possibly erect a record for so late in the season. Unfortunately, when the bird was flushed, she hit telegraph-wires rather badlv and did not return to the nest.—Five Siskins were observed in a garden near my house in the midst of Ipswich on 14 March ; they were feeding and preening, andfinallyflewoff in a northerly direction.—I saw a Woodcock's nest containing four eggs at Easton in 13 April.

Unfortunately disaster befeil it. [It is regrettable that both nests of this species discovered by Mr. Bird should fail to produce young. Woodcock is becoming extremely rare in east Suffolk, and the destruction of two or three nests in one season may well result in the species' extinction in our County.—C.S.L.]—Three Teals' nests came under my Observation at Leiston ; all contained clutches of eggs, and were situated on the tops of haystacks. For photographic purposes I constructed a hide in close proximity and rendering myself invisible within it, awaited a Teal's return to a nest. I antieipated a half-hour to be ample for this purpose, but all failed to return within nearly four hours ! Later I discovered this bird to possess an unusually strong sense of smell, so their peculiar wariness was due to their ability to scent me near the nests. I might have wasted the entire day without avail, unless

OBSERVATIONS.

213

peat had been burned around the hide to destroy all other odours.

—A Quail was picked up at Trimley St. Martin on 2 June, which seems to have hit the telegraph-wires as it was lying dead in the road when found and taken to M r . Pretyman's gamekeeper at Orwell Park. There it was given to me, and is now being set up for Ipswich Museum. This is the first specimen known to have been seen by any keeper in that district, nor have 1 heard of its previous occurrence in Colnies Hundred. Possibly a brood might have been brought off, if this annoying accident had not slain i t : would that all such human communications were placed below ground ! — G E O R G E BIRD. [In the Birds of Suffolk I drew attention to the ever decreasing numbers of Quail and recorded that since 1884 there were few records. T h e last known to me is of one ' telegraphed ' at Beccles on 14 May 1917, and the last nest in 1909.—C.B.T. But cf. Trans, ii, p. 205.—Ed.] Sterna hirundo, L I N N . , IN M A R C H . — I saw from the train, while going to London on 31 March last, what I take to have been three Common Terns in a flooded meadow near Sudbury. According to the books, it is very early for them. I do not know what eise the birds could be, because of their streamers and white plumage: perhaps someone eise also saw them ? I saw near Long Melford, a week or two ago, my friend the Magpie.—(Sir) John Tilley ; 2April. [TheseTernsusuallyarriveaboutmid-AprilI; butWitherby reports them on 1 and 4 Februarv at Kintyre, 24th on the Clvde, and 22 March in Argyll. Collinge (Scot. Nat. 1921, p. 133) records a number during winter. Common Terns arrive off the coast much earlier than is recorded for the littoral and some may, at times of course, be seen inland.—Ed.] PURPLE SANDPIPERS.—Three of these nimble Birds [Tringa striata, L.] were hunting for food along the eastern base of Gorleston breakwater on 23 March (E. A. ELLIS). This is essentially a rock-bird and peculiarly tarne, but of not infrequent occurrence along our Suffolk coast. T h e first I saw were under Southwold pier a good many years ago (C. G. D O U G H T Y ) .

Never ' visits us in any numbers ' (Ticehurst).

MAMMALIVOROUS G U L L . — I was much interested in the paragraphs relating to Stoats at page 114 supra. When I myself was driving along by the sloping side of a hill in Argylshire last June a Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus, L.) swooped down and chased a Rabbit for a quite appreciable distance, in the direction I was going. T h e latter tacked and turned several times when hard pressed by the gull, which eventually lost view and found itself at fault. But while it lasted the chase was most exciting, far surpassing a match between greyhound and hare. I was not aware before that Gulls would attack any ground animal while alive; here there was no mistaking the avid reality of the pursuit.—GEORGE B I R D ; 3 January 1936.

214

OBSERVATIONS.

M I C E AND MOLES.—Our Original Member, Mr. Mayfield, sent me a Yellow-necked Mouse (Apodemus flavicollis, Mel.) last April for identification. It is a fine specimen of this large and handsome species, and I have had it set up by G u n n for the mammal collection in Bury Museum. Being mounted in a semiupright position, it shows the distinctive markings very well.

T h i s individual was taken in his neighbour's apple Store in an attic : our mouse's near relation, the Long-tailed Field Mouse, often enters rural houses and, by reason of its superior size and boldness, kills off any House Mice that may have been in previous residence. Now we have three known habitats for the Yellowneck in SufFolk, previous records being from Troston and (Trans ii, p. xvii) Thorndon. Also later M r . Mayfield sent me a Mole (Talpa Europea, L.), exhibiting partial albinism. By now I have seen several stuffed specimens which were totally albinistic, so j u d g e that this is not an uncommon trait in the species. T h e deficiency of pigment in the present example caused a curious mottling or piebald coloration on the back, though the belly was bright orange.—HENRY A N D R E W S ; 3 1 August.

ACCLIMATIZATION.—That England might well be adorned by many equi-latitudinal Mammals which are not indigenous was well instanced at a Meeting of the Zoological Society on 25 M a y last. Thereat Lady Downe stated that a pet female R a c a n n , Procyon lotor, L., which escaped from its [unlocalised] cage five years ago, had recently been caught in a rat-trap and killed at Muston near Filey ; although the estate keepers were instructed to search for the animal at the time of its escape, the Racoon was unrecorded as ' having been seen during the long period of freedom it had enjoyed,' just as it would at home between Canada and the neotropics.

RABBIT NESTING OUTSIDE B U R R O W . — A nest containing five or six young was recently found in some short, lately-cut clover above ground. T h e young were just able to crawl, and the nest was made like a Partridge's, but lined with down instead of grass.

T h i s is the first occasion upon which I have ever heard of, or seen, a nest above ground in open fields.—(Major) H . DE M U S S E N D E N LEATHES, Earls Soham ; 2 7 June. [ A most rare and interesting reversion to original economy, unless the field were boggy.

Sir Harry Johnston says " T h e Rabbit is never found singly at any season, always in large companies whose burrows form a warren of associated dwellings . . . . In wet or marshy localities with abundant Vegetation they construct a labyrinth of runs and galleries in the Vegetation and these runs, in such localities, are entirely substituted for burrows. This is an instance of an earlier mode of life of this member of the Hare family, with whom burrowing in loose soil may have become a much more recently acquired habit " than living in a superficial ' form.'—Ed.]

OBSERVATIONS.

215

Do STOATS EAT WORMS ?—Much to my astonishment, during rain on 5 September last, I saw a young Stoat (Mustela erminea, L.) here, rushing along and holding a large garden Worm, Lumhricus terrestris, Linn., in its mouth with the two ends hanging down like a Chinaman's moustache. A couple of Blackbirds and a Thrush were Aying round it, about three feet away and occasionally trying to grab the ends of the Worm. I had no idea that Stoats touched such food : is it baby diet, a kind of Mellin's Food ?—STANLEY T . CRIBB, Kettleburgh.

A PEA-FIELD'S I N H A B I T A N T S . — T h e y were carting peas on 19th August to be stacked from a field at Lound. As the dried heaps were tossed into the cart, swarms of Woolly-bear caterpillars, those of the White Ermine Moth, were revealed ; they were nearly ready for pupation, and I placed some in a tin to take home. But I was not the only collector of these furry fellows, for a young Cuckoo there was gobbling them all the while, and was bold enough to steal one from my tin ! A Com Bunting alighted on the moving cart to snatch at some morsel or other. Once or twice an orangebrown, large-eyed Field Mouse with long tail bounded from covert, zig-zagging like a miniature Kangaroo; a smokecoloured ranny Shrew squeaked and bit, when a hand stopped him for a m o m e n t ; and some large yellow Frogs were there.

Nearly every pea-heap sheltered a squatting Toad; upon the sudden disappearance of his roof, the Amphibian would sit for a moment with startled gaze, then tardily hop away from the harvesters' feet. T h e Toad is not so very heavy, despite his bulging sides ; he is distended with air and carries a quantum of water to eject when suddenly handled : a monster was only two ounces in weight, or equal to that of the largest Frog I ever found.

These Toads were remarkably varied in their coloration : many yellow-brown with darker lumps and blotchings, pale with brown spots underneath ; a few brown-backed with red spots and brick-red marblings on the dull white under side ; one or two had orange glandulär patches, especially on the head. Their eyes shone golden-brown, in some with a flamy glitter. Scores of Beetles scuttled from under every pea-bundle to swiftly hide in earth crevices : here was sustained provision for many Toads.

From an adjacent field came the skirl of Lapwings, and three migrant Curlews stood among the tumips. Swallows and thistledown skimmed the pastures together.

Dragon-flies, ranged far from their fen, darted at other insects and made stupid rushes at the thistle-down in their heedless hunting. While such work was wrought above them, Tufted-vetch, Knapweed and the great white trumpets of Bindweed interwove their glories on surrounding hedge -rows : they, too, are Coming to the scythe ere long and will be carried off, but next autumn all would again burgeon in just the same old magical way.—E. A . E L L I S .

RED

CRAG

EXPOSED

AT

RAMSHOI.T,

1936.

THE

R I V E N OAK AT

WESTLETON.