Observations 4 Part 3

182

OBSERVATIONS.

OBSERVATIONS. Go : from the creatures thy instruction take.

T h v arts of building from the Bee receive ; Learn of the Mole to plough, the Wren to weave ; Learn of the litt'.e Nautilus to sail, Spread the thin oars, and catch the driving gale : Here too all forms of social union find, And hence let Reason, late, instruct Mankind.

Popes' Essay on Man, epistle iii

SOME IPSWICH FOSSILS.—For long we have been hoping to elaborate the following all-too indefinite records; but the opportunity has not presented itself, so it were well to place them in our annals as originally published. In the EOCENE strata at Bramford " fossils are very scarce, but pyritous casts of Mollusca, Wood and shells in Cement-stone, and pyritised Plant-remains, are found. As a rule the fosssils are so badly preserved as to be almost beyond determination, but among those identified are the Molluscan (1) Pisania sp. ; (2) Natica labellata, Lam. ; (3) Astarte sp. ; and (4) Modiola sp." (Proc.

Geol. Assoc. xxiii, 1912, p. 232).—In the LOWER EOCENE (London-clay, over Oldhaven and Reading beds) pebble-bed in Bolton's Ipswich brick-yard are the very fragile fossil Mollusca (5-6) Astarte species, probably comprising both tenera and rugata ; (7) Cardium sp. ; (8) Corbula sp. ; (9) Cyrene sp.; (10) Cytkerea 'iorbicularis ; (11) Ostera sp. ; (12) Pectunculus sp. ; (13) Aporrhais sp. ; and (14) Natica labellata, Lam. (loc. cit p. 233 : the Fish arc entered at T r a n s . S N S . ii, pp. 127-8).—In UPPER CHALK at

Bramford are found fossils of the Molluscan (15, 16, 17) Actinocamax quadratus, A. granulatus, and A. verus; (18) Belemnitella mucronata, Schi., many specimens ; and the Seaurchin (19) Echinocorys vulgaris (Proc. Geol. Assoc. 1912, p236).

NOTABLE SUFFOLK TREES.—The beauties of Nature are so little appreciated just now that we have to go back well nigh a Century before we come at the time when men loved trees for their own sake enough to publish anvthing original about those of Suffolk. In 1838 " the County can boast of possessing some

0BSERVA1 IONS.

183

of the finest trees in the Kingdom : " are these all gone as grist to drive the (saw) mill now ? " The Black Poplar at Bury St. Edmund's stands near the monastic bridge which, with the River Lark, forms a picture to attract the traveller bv the road from Norwich. T h e height is ninety feet, and its circumference at three feet from the ground is fifteen feet; the trunk rises fiveand-forty feet with but little diminution in size, then it divides ; the solid Contents are 551 feet," asserts the Suffolk Literary Chronicle of November 1838, p. 20, where are made references to the Poplar in classic poets.—Ed. SOME PLANT RECORDS OF 1940.—Cardamine pratensis, L., var flore-pleno and Hypericum Androsamum, L., at T h e b e r t o n ; Geranium Pyrenaicum, Burm., var. album, at Semer; Hippocrepis comosa, L., at Blakenham Parva ; Gcum intermedium, Ehrh., at Needham; Prunus spinosa x domestic at Mickfield; Pyrus torminalis, Ehrh., at Barking; Primulaveris, L. x garden Polyanthus, in an old pasture at Theberton, with corolla reddish-orange and Cowslip-like but more o p e n : very scarce.

Centaurium pulchellum, Dr., at Stutton in September; Solanum rostratum.

Dun., at Felixstow docks in 1938 and on Bramford Tye in 1940 (Mr. J. R. Egerton), a North American alien, NEW to Suffolk.

Atriplex Halimus, L., at Brantham ; Orchis mascula, L., semipeloriate form, at Needham ; Neottia nidus-avis, Rieh, and Carex strigosa, Huds., at Polstead ; Allium Scorodoprasum, L., NEW to Suffolk, at Hintlesham. Populus canescens, Sm., at both Pin-mill and Harkstead; Triodia (Sieglingia) decumbens, Bernh., plentiful in an old pasture at Wetheringset, and also occurring at both Groton and Hinderclay; Agropyron pungens, Roem., var. littorale, Reich., at Stutton.

HEMLOCK W A T E R - D R O P W O R T . — H a s anybodv really found the true CEnanthe crocata, Linn., anywhere in Suffolk ? Certainly it does not occur at Pin-mill in Chelmondiston, and a careful search of the habitat mentioned to me by M r . Ronald Burn, our late Phanerogamic Recorder who refrained from putting it on record, showed only large Apium graveoletis, L. Possibly the north-west of our County will reveal this handsome Dropwort.—F. W. SIMPSQN, Liverpool ; 15 Oct. [Our assignment to this plant of Umbels noticed in the River Lark near Icklingham (Proc. supra ii, p.c.) was quite casual and no more reliable than Hind's queried West Stow, Bamham and Ipswich. Forty years ago we discussed the question of its absence from north Essex, Suffolk, Cambs and PNorfolk with the Revd. E. N. Bloomfield who, also, was astonished at so curious a hiatus of a conspicuous species that occurs in at least 92 of the 112 British districts. In the New Forest it abounds

184

OBSERVATION?.

in every rivulet, and is so attractive to Insects that I can date its flowering there this year exactly from 11 June to 11 July, and not July only as given in most text-books.—Ed.] F I R E W E E D . — I see in the Proceedings (1939, p. lxxxiii) of one of our Meetings, Members discussed the growth of Rose Bay on ground that has been burned. A few years ago parts of the Waldringfield and Martlesham heath-lands were swept by a conflagration, and all the beautiful Gorse was eliminated. Last September this Epilobium augustifolium, L., growing in great masses over a wide area amongst the Heather, was a gorgeous sight, especially in the evening with the last rays of the setting sun glinting upon it. Before the fire, I never remember there noticing this plant at all.—(CANON) A. P. WALLER, 4 April 1940.

PEACEFUL PENETRATION.—I do not know whether my enclosure will interest our Members ; it shows how Twitch or, as it is called in East Anglia, Spear Grass [Agropyron repens, Beauv.], can actually penetrate and grow clean through a bulb.

I send a couple of specimens for you to see that these common Narcissus-bulbs are not decayed in any way but quite sound [respectively 28 and 24 mm. thick, but the latter is pierced diagonally through a thickness of nearly 30 mm.—Ed]. I had no idea this Grass was so destructive. How goes the Society ?

I do not expect many Members have done, or sent in, much in the way of contributions this year.—C. H. S. VINTER, Dedham.

G R E A T B U R N E T . — A tall and handsome plant, with cylindrical red flowers and serrated leaves, caught my attention on account of its profusion in Thelnetham Fen on 8 last September.

I guessed it to be a Saxifrage ; and found myself not far wrong on identifying it at home as Poterium officinale, Hook, the Great Burnet that occurs in half the London Catalogue's areas of Britain and yet appears confined in Suffolk to the County's northern border. Hind's 1889 Flora describes it at page 128 as a " herbaceous perennial, in marshes and boggy meadows : Thelnetham Fen, Hinderclay Fen, Palgrave and Lakenheath" only. Here it was growing in a swamp that had been mown last spring, but is probablv too wet to traverse dry-shod in winter.

Step says its flowers are fertilised by ' insects,' though none were noted at them on the present occasion ; nor do I recall any Lepidopteron feeding upon the foliage. I expect the Society's phanerogamic Recorder could add to the above localities; unfortunately his experience is not at present available. A single plant of Caltha palustris, L., was in füll flower there on 23 September, an unusual date.—P. J. BURTON, Lowestoft

186

OBSERVATIONS.

rudimentary ; b u t the m o u t h is admirablv adapted to suction.

T h e female generative vulva and uterus lie in tlie u p p e r part of the body ; the male's lower extremity bears a cup-shaped cavity, in which the intromittent tripartite penis lies. T h e convoluted ova-sac of the female may always be found teeming with eggs in all stages of development which, after gestation assume an ovoid shape with at one end a micropyle, whence the embryc escapes.

Young W o r m s are densely granulated superficially, and take an active migration : the C o m m o n Earthworm Lumbricus terrestris L., is generally believed to be the intermediate host. But, t h o u g h I have carefully dissected Earthworms f r o m Gape-disease localities, 1 never once f o u n d a single T h r e a d - w o r m : once I f o u n d a perfect Sclerostoma alive in a newly formed Earthworm's cast in an authentic Gape-disease locality ; on several occasions I have found t h e m attached to Duckweed ; and once on a small quantity of partly-decayed leaves in an authentic Gape-disease locality. These T h r e a d - w o r m s are exceedingly tenacious of life : they will live submerged in water more than two days, and I have frequently found t h e m still active in its trachea on their f o u r t h day after the Chicken had died from their insidious attack.—J. H . A. HICKS, in Naturalists' Gazette, iii, 56.

SOME S P I D E R ' S W E B . — I n a plantation of young Spruces, averaging ten feet high, I nearly became enmeshed in a surely remarkable Spider's web on 7 July last. It was slungontooutliers of only a single Strand that stretched f r o m near the top of one tree, no less than eleven feet f r o m the ground, to another at only 1 \ feet high. T h i s top Strand sagged centrally to only five feet, and there alone was netted in the usual m a n n e r of Araneus diadematus, Clk., though no actual weaver of the web could be detected.

So stout was the top Strand that it pulled the northern Spruceshoot out of the perpendicular.—CLAUDE M O R L E Y .

SPIDERS' USURPATION.—[Düring last winter I had occasionally noticed grey-web nests in bare hedges, the last on hawthorn a foot f r o m the ground near Henley church on 22 April. T h i s I had the curiosity to pull to pieces hoping to discover its fabricator, and in its very centre discovered a half-dozen immature Spiders that escaped before I thought them of interest. So, on noting a hitherto overlooked nest of exactly similar size and shape (or, rather, shapelessness) on blackthorn a foot f r o m the ground just under the position occupied by that of Lanestris larvae taken last M a y (Trans, iv, 135), I sent it and its three enclosed Spiders on 3 May to Dr. Jackson for their names.—C.M.] T h e two little Spiders are Clubiona reclusa, Camb. and Chiracanthium erraticum, Walck., both very young. Each was in a sac constructed by itself; but I do not know where all the rest of the webbing came from. I think, however, it was m a d e by a Spider and not a Lepidopterous larvae.—A. R. JACKSON : 5 May.

OBSERVATIONS.

187

WOODLICE VERSUS ANTS—The feature, that Struck one forcibly about the fauna of Sizewell denes early last May, was the great prevalence of Oniscus asellus, L., and Lasius alienus Fst., over all other Arthropoda. Both were in countless myriads at the roots of all the plants, under well-nigh each stone on grass, and wherever cover from daylight could be had.

Other things,' such as the beetles Amarae, Calathi, Metab'eti, Sylpha; and Apiones, the bees Andrena thoracica, Fb., fulva, Sehr, and nigriesnea, Kirby, with some common Flies (excepting the ubiquitous Bibio Johannis, L.), could not have totalled a hundred speeimens seen in two hours. Hence it will be interesting to find if Woodlice displace Ants on these denes, in the same way as the British Porcellio scaber, Ltr., is said some years ago ( E M M . xxxviii, p. 132) to be rapidly ousting six kinds of indigenous Ants in New Zealand, where a larger ant Hubcria striata alone seems able to hold its own to some extent, despite the fact that the last is itself badly attacked by the parasitic Mite Uropoda vegetans, DeG. HIEMAL INSECTS.—Oppidans have a very imperfect notion of the multiplicity of all Orders of Insects" that remain active until slain or driven into hibernacula by frost, no matter upon what date it fall. Last autumn happened to be unusually open though peculiarly wet ; and early December was comparatively warm with mainly south-west air, so that the woods at Henham, Frostenden and Fritton still harboured much active life on 2nd3rd. An hour's beating bushes and trees at each of these localities showed the following interesting results ; moss and dead leaves would have produced many more species, but were not explored. Lepidoptera: Hybernia defoliaria, Clk., and Gracilaria elongella, L., beaten from dead leaves still on oak-boughs ; several Cerostoma radiatella, Don., on pine-boughs.

Diptera : Sciara-sp. on gorse ; Scatophaga deeipiens, Hai., on oak-leaves at Henham ; Tephritis vespertina, Lw. and T. bardana, Sehr., on pine ; Diastata nigripennis, Lw. and Ccenia palustris Fln., at Fritton with Chloropisca glabra. Mg. Hymenoptera : a 5 Biorrhiza aptera, Fab., beaten from bare oak-branch four feet from ground ; Proctotrypes laricis, Hai., on Abies with both Pimpla pomorum, Ratz, and P. maculator, Fab., at Frostenden.

Neuroptera : the Psocids Elipsocus cruciatus & abietis, Kolb., were plentiful every where. Hemiptera : Lygus pratensis, F., occurred on gorse ; Zygina flammigera, Geof., in profusion on oak ; Chlorita •viridula, Pin., and Psylla pineti, Flor., on Scots-fir. Coleoptera : the Ladybirds Coccinella impunetata on conifers, C. 11 -punctata on gorse and Exochomus 4-pustulatus turned up in plenty, the last on gorse where was Apion ulicis but no Sitones ; Strophosomus coryli feil from bunches of dead leaves still on oaks ; and several

Teiratoma

fungorum

from a dry fungis on oak at Fritton.

CLAUDE M O R L E Y ; D e c .

1939.

185

OBSERVATIONS. " NOTICE.— FRITILLARIES A N D ALL OTHER W I L D FLOWERS STRICTLY PRESERVED

BY ORDER.

Society for Preservation of Nature Reserve?."

Despite this Notice, which is twice posted on trees bordering the Fritillary Field acquired by our Society two years ago (Trans, iv, p. 1), the local farmer told me there at the end of April last that ' scores of folks ' has been trampling over it the previous Sundav and, indeed, the Sign of the Beast was everywhere present in picked and discarded specimens of Fritillaria Meleagris, L. These beautiful plants were then just Coming into füll blossom, and nearly as numerous in our Field as in the adjacent meadows which had not been ploughed ; we were glad to notice that the ground had been recently rolled.

It is a delightsome spot on this late April day, surrounded on three sides by trees, whence Birds are vociferous, over the babbling brook wherein the Water-fly Nemoura variegata, Ol., was sitting on Brooklime Veronica Beccabunga, L. In the warm sunshine the Butterflies Vanessa Io and Urtica; were ovipositing on Nettles ; and the ground was bright with flowers Stellawort, Dog-violets, Barren-strawberry, Cowslips, early Chterophyllum, Ground-ivy attracting Bee-flies Bombylous major, L., Milkmaids Cardamine pratensis, L., on which was the Beetle Phyllotreta undulata, Kts., and Dentdelion supporting some Hoverer-flies Chilosia pulchripes et intonsa, Lw. Over this herbage were merrily gamboling the Daddy-longlegs Tipula vernalis, Mg., the Weevil Ceuthorhynchus pleürostigma, Msh., the Bee Andrena albicans, Kirby and numerous Mark-flies Bibio Johannis, L. In a very few years, when Nature has had time to fully burgeon, our Field will have become as paradisian as any other of the Nature Reserves.—CLAUDE MORLEY. [Some notice of " Mickfield Meadow, Suffolk," of almost \ \ acres, appears in the above Society's 1940 ' Handbook,' p. 7.—Ed.] WORMS : CHICKEN'S ' GAPES.'—This disease is caused by the presence of a nematod entozoon Thread-worm, Sclerostoma syngamum, auct., that so closely adheres to the walls of the trachea sucking the blood that the fowl ultimately becomes asphyxiated, by the rapid propagation of its parasites. My observations show the female Worm to be dark red and usually f-inch long ; the male colourless and scarcely l-inch long. I have found the male in copula, closely attached above the female, never incorporated in her body as is described by Siebold and other Helminthologists. T h e ' female's caecal canal tapers to a point, and ends with an anal oriface ; these Worms are destitute of any especial sense-organs; their nervous system is very

OBSERVATIONS.

188

A RARE C A P S I D . — B o t h y n o t u s pilosus, Boh., was first found as British in Dumbarton during July 1865 ; three occurred in Sussex, 1878-Sept. 1889 ; and an eighth in Norfolk July 1886.

I have swept it commonly at dusk at Aviemore and got the two sexes in moss at Nethy Bridge, both in Scotland. I have just seen a couple of developed males that were swept at dusk in a marsh, close to the Ferry-inn at Horning in Norfolk, on 15 June 1922

by

our

Hon.

Secretary.—ERNEST

BEDWELL ; 5

Oct.

A M I T R E - B U G N E W TO S U F F O L K . — T h e large and stout Bugs of the genus Eurygaster are such conspicuous Insects that one would not have thought it possible to have overlooked them in our County for a half-century, excluding earlier collectors' Observation.

Such ignorance is attributable to nothing but their extreme localisation here. In Britain E. maura, L., is a southern species, occurring only at Cardiff, in all the seven south-litoral counties, Surrey and recorded many years ago from Whittlesea Mere in N W . Cambs. ; the last is the sole capture of the genus further north than Suffolk. It appears to be an imago during most of the year, for I have swept it (presumably after hibernation) in a swamp that has been later turned into a garden close to Lyndhurst-road Station in Hants on 28 May 1895 ; and found larvae of various sizes, with no imagines, in a Somerset peat-bog between 25 June and 17 July 1933. It is said, to be ' most often obtained by sweeping rank Vegetation in woods, etc.' (Jones 1930) on Centaurea nigra in July and August. Certainly it is perfect by late July and occurs in Sphagnum-moss in A u g u s t : hibernation presupposes its occurrence later in the year. On 8 September last, a warm and sunny day with small north air, M r . P. J. Burton and I were prospecting along the Little Ouse valley and, after working Angelica-flowers south of Bio Norton, came to Thelnetham Fen, virgin bog, a wild and fascinating swamp of many acres, yielding Sargus flavipes, Mg., Colpotaulius incisus, Ct., Agonum Thoreii, Dj., Odacantha melanura, Pk., Psammoechus bipunctatus, F., Anthocomus rufus, Hst., Galerucella viburni, Pk., Picromerus bidens, L. and Acompus ritfipes, Wlf. Finally we swept a tract that seemed to have been mown early last spring, and here at once took a perfect and a nymphal Eurygaster ; so we settled down to steady work upon the coarse growth of Carices, Reeds, Angelica, Meadowsweet, Phleum pratense, Vetches, Scabious, Polygonum and Parnassia palustris, over Ranunculus, Sphagnum, Ga'lium palustre, &c., but no Centaurea.

In an hour we had a füll series of perfect Mitrebugs, varying from ihe unicolorous dark brown form (for which the dead capsules of Yellow Wrattle are easily mistaken) to others mottled with thorax laterally paler and both apex and lateral marks on scutellum ochreous-white; thev were most likely on the profuse Scabiosa succisa, L. More surprise came

OBSERVATIONS.

189

when our Hemiptera Recorder found them to be, not the presumed E. maura but, the recentlv-introduced to Britain E. testudinaria, Geoff., which differs ( E M M . 1927, p. 253) inter alia in having the lateral lobes of the head not level with the central lobe which is clypeus, and first antennal joint longer than second. Vigorous sweeping on subsequent visits to the spot showed none on dull and warm days, but several more on sunnv days. T h e n y m p h of 8th assumed its perfection on 20th, it was m u c h darker and quite mature by 23rd. It came to the top of its box, containing nothing b u t its now quite dry marsh-herbage, whenever the sun shone u p to at least 30th, and was particularly active during the gale of 9 October.

The nvmphal skin was not devoured.—CLAUDE M O R L E Y .

BUG NEW TO SUFFOLK.—Our Hemiptera Recorder, M r .

E. C. Bedwell, exhibited the beautiful Stephanitis rhododendri, Horv., at our Meeting on 1 December 1937 (Proc. iii, p. cxiv).

Mr. Fox-Wilson shows that it has been discovered to be injurious to bushes, presumably of Rhododendron ponticum, about Ipswich at Proc. R. Ent. Soc. 1939, p. 4.—Among the Heteroptera recorded by him at page 120 supra, should have been added the very rare Pseudophlcens Waltli, Shsef. (Trans, ii, 136), f r o m Butley, which must be about its most easterly locality in England.

B U R Y I N G BEETI.ES.—Though the bare fact that certain Beetlespecies bury small Mammals, Birds and Reptiles, has been common knowledge since at least the time of Ray who died before 1710, observations u p o n the process are so unsavoury that we still lack details of their m o d u s operandi. However, it has recently been proved that, though a few Beetles are true sextons, the majority of those always f o u n d in and around such carcases have been attracted to t h e m for the sole purpose of preying upon the Dipterous maggots with which they are filled ; and this is a valuable Service, because such Flies are now recognised as the disseminators of enteric fever and the s u m m e r diarrhcea of infants (and to t h e m 1 shall always attribute a violent attack of the latter kind, f r o m which I suffered when collecting insects round Nottingham in 1914, when forty). It used to be supposed that Sexton Beetles of the genus Necrophorus shovelled earth over the carcases with their broad and flat heads ; now we know that the excavated earth tunnels point directly away f r o m the Carrion, which sinks mainly by decomposition of underlying Vegetation caused by its own deleterious juices, and is carried away by the Beetles scrambling through it. Yet a Mole at Monks Soham, that was flattened by dispersal through Beetleholes of the internal gases liberated by Bacteria, had been totally covered with earth by 11 Mav last, just ten days after its death in a trap ; but I could not ascertain how the earth came to be over it.

190

OBSERVATIONS.

D E A T H - W A T C H AND ITS P A R A S I T E . — A year or so after his 1 8 8 9 decease, the family erected to Archdeacon G r o o m e ' s memorv in M o n k s Soham church a platform (under the Stuart appliqueoak communion-table, for the gift of which the rector's original 1630 letter of thanks to the patron is still extant in the British M u s e u m : Add. M S . 15671, fol. 347-8), a screen covering the east wall, and a carved reredos, all of modern oak. This platform was f o u n d to be bored by presumably Death-watch Beetles early in 1940 by our M e m b e r the Revd. J. R. Chapman, who asked me to report u p o n the damage. It I examined on 17 M a y and f o u n d , not only the holes he had noticed but also, several active specimens of Xestobium tessellatum, Fab., sitting just outside these borings, along with some of their equally active parasites Corynetes cceruleus, D e G .

One would expect this larger Death-watch's holes to gradually destroy the entire platform, unless paraffin-oil be thoroughly rubbed into them, as well as into the few similar holes that I detected in the screen ; at present the reredos and splendid old table are i m m u n e . But the bulk of the Corynetes Beetle fully equals that of Xestobium and, if in sufficient force here, they alone should be capable of coping with the evil, for a natural is ever better than any artificial remedy.

R O C K - A - B Y Rhinomacer.—A pretty dark green weevil with yellowish pubescence and red legs is Rhinomacer attelaboides, Fab., common in Scotland and all Europe on Pinus sylvestris, in the male blossoms of which trees its eggs are deposited. It was known as British as early as 1819 but considered to be confined to north of the H u m b e r tili I took a couple in Bentley W o o d s during M a y 1898 ( E M M . xxxiv, p. 160). T h e r e it was never f o u n d again, though single specimens have t u r n e d up on Pines in the north-west Suffolk Breck at long intervals, tili 12 M a y last when the species was common on the needly heads of Scots Firs that were felled during the previous winter.

Doubtless these Beetles had gone into hibernation 30-40 feet in the air and emerged f r o m it surprisingly close to the earth !

T h e great height at which they normally live seems to account for the rarity of their capture, not their existence.—CLAUDE MORLEY. N E O T R O P I C BEETLES IN SUFFOLK.—Enclosed is a coffee-tin of old pollard (which is coarse middlings that has, I should say from its condition, been salvaged) f r o m Argentina. It is füll of the Surinamensis beetles, another small one with long antennae, a few R. pusilla, several other larva; and some microscopic insects.

I can find plenty more of the Pusilla.—GEOFF. B U R T O N , Needham M a r k e t ; 25 Aug. [Besides the tiny Acari, this small tin produced five Beetles, t h u s : — 2 Carpophilus mutilatus, Er., which species has not been noticed in Suffolk until the present

191

OBSERVATION^.

(occasion) ; it is m o r e usually a m o n g sugar, w h e n c e D r . T . A. C h a p m a n gave us o n e f r o m Reigate, taken o n 14 J a n . 1907.

3 Lmnophlaeus minutus, Oliv., b o t h i n d i g e n o u s a n d i m p o r t e d in Britain ; m a n y w e r e sent us f r o m (doubtless, c o r n in) a r i d i n g stable by t h e E d i t o r of Field N a t u r a l i s t s ' Q u a r t e r l y in S e p t .

1902. M a n y Silvanus Surinamensis, L., a cosmopolitan k i n d , always i m p o r t e d in flour, c u s t a r d - p o w d e r , &c., t o M o n k s S o h a m and L o w e s t o f t . 5 Rhisopertha pusilla, F a b . , f r e q u e n t l y i m p o r t e d in biscuits and old flour. A n d 12 Tribolium confusutn, Duv., often o c c u r r i n g i m p o r t e d in flour of bakers' s h o p s (cf. T r a n s , li, p. c v i ) . — E d . ] ORTHOPTERONNEWTOSUFFOI.K.—The cnclosed s m a l l C o c k r o a c h was f o u n d b y m e in s o m e n u m b e r s in corn-office a m o n g middlings, &c., in N e e d h a m M a r k e t t h i s a u t u m n , along w i t h the c o m m o n Blatta orientalis.—GEOFF. BURTON, 20 O e t o b e r .

[It is an i m m a t u r e e x a m p l e of Ectobius perspicillaris, Hbst., hitherto u n n o t i c e d in o u r C o u n t y or, i n d e e d , almost a n y w h e r e north of t h e T h a m e s in Britain ; t h o u g h c o m m o n e n o u g h o n old o a k - b r a n c h e s a n d at s u g a r in b o t h D e n n y W o o d a n d Wilverley I n c l o s u r e in t h e N e w F o r e s t ; a n d k n o w n in m o s t of our s o u t h e r n counties. O n e of o u r t h r e e i n d i g e n o u s k i n d s , though in t h e p r e s e n t instance i m p o r t e d . — E d . ] LACEWINGED-FLY'S

BRUMAL

COLORATION.—It

has

long

been

known t h a t , of t h e c o m m o n green Chrysopa vulgaris, S c h n e i d e r , " certain individuals h i b e r n a t e in t h a t c h , r u b b i s h , houses, &c., and all t h o s e taken in w i n t e r or early s p r i n g [cf. T r a n s . S N S . i, p. 139 ; ii, p. c x i i ; iii, p. xxxv] assume m o r e o r less a r e d d i s h tint (hibernal f o r m , Chrysopa carnea, S t e p h . Illust. M a n d . vi, 1836, 103), t o w h i c h t h e y c h a n g e w i t h t h e a p p r o a c h of colder weather, t h o u g h ordinarily coloured green o n t h e i r first appearance " in early a u t u m n ( M a c L a c h l a n , T r a n s . E n t o m . Soc. 1868, p . 200). H e n c e t h e peculiarly green coloration of M i s s Maia B o n d ' s h i b e r n a t e d e x a m p l e seemed r e m a r k a b l e ( T r a n s .

S N S . iv, p. xxx). But t h e r e is m o r e in t h i s s u b j e c t t h a n m e e t s the eye ; a n d " L ' h i b e r n a t i o n " is discussed at great l e n g t h b y M . Lacroix ( N a n t e s , Bull. Soc. Sc. N a t . 1926, vi) w h o shows w h a t M r . M a c L a c h l a n did n o t : t h a t this c u r i o u s rufescence is exactly c o n t e r m i n a t e with low t e m p e r a t u r e , a n d that t h e a u t u m n a l green is again a s s u m e d w i t h t h e w a r m t h of spring, t o w h i c h tint M i s s B o n d ' s s p e c i m e n h a d e v i d e n t l y attained w h e n exhibited on 1 M a y 1938.

GIANT LACE-WINOED F L Y . — T h e largest British L a c e - w i n g , Osmylus chrysops, L i n n . , is not yet recorded ( T r a n s , i, p . 188) from SufFolk, b u t is sure t o o c c u r since it is k n o w n in b o t h Essex and N o r f o l k . I t is very b e a u t i f u l in its b l a c k - n e t t e d w i n g s and polished b l o o d - r e d head, m e a s u r i n g fully an incli in e x p a n s e .

It used t o b e r e g r a d e d as a great rarity e v e r y w h e r e w h e n I was

192

OBSERVATIONS.

young and possessed but a single specimen, taken by Mr. A r t h u r Chitty before 1900 in the ' N e w Forest.' N o w that its habits are better known, we can find it commonly in its especial haunts, as Col. Fräser assures me. T h i s year it occurred for the first time to me in considerable n u m b e r s there, sitting in late J u n e on the underside of F e r n - f r o n d s that overhung the water of small streams, beneath the densest and darkest of Alder leafage, in which gloom one sees a very spectre slowly and weakly flit by above the current, and must net instantlv while light rests u p o n the gauzy wings. About such running waters it occurs throughout England, south of Yorks ; and in t h e m its amphibious larvae have been f o u n d and redescribed by D r . Killington in his recent Ray Soc. memoir on the group.

Let us

discover

DIARY

NOTES

it OF

in

Suffolk!—CLAUDE 1940.—The

MORLEY.

Dragonflies

Agrion

puella,

A. pulchellum, Calopteryx splendens and Libellula fulva, were all Aying at Beccles on 3 J u n e ; and L. quadrimaculata at Fritton t w o d a y s l a t e r . — J O H N L . MOORE ; 1

Oct.

DRAGONFLY N E W TO S U F F O L K . — W e h a v e b e e n

expecting

for

long that M r . M o o r e would discover Symprtrum Scoticum. Don. (Trans, i, 24), in marshes about the m o u t h of the Wavenev near Gorleston. However, it has fallen to our lot to do so in Redgrave Fen, that river's actual source ; here the species was Aying in n u m b e r s on 1 and 12 Sept. last, when M r . G o d d a r d and I watched t h e m for some time and took several of both sexes.

I t is known f r o m both C a m b s and Essex.—CLAUDE MORI.EY. [Mr. M o r t o n points out that ' /Eschna caerulea is a boreal and alpine creature, occurring in late spring, and I do not believe that it has been taken south of Perthshire and A r g y l l ' (in lit.

22 Dec. 1939). T h e species intended u n d e r this name, at p.

126 supra, is of course /F.. juncea as at Vol. iii, 95.—Ed.] WATER-FLY

NEW

TO

SUFFOLK.—I

captured

a

specimen

of

Grammotaulius nitidus, Müll., at light in Framlingham College m u s e u m on 17 M a y 1939. [This is a rare species in Britain, to be inserted next before G. atomarius at T r a n s , i, 190.

In our experience, it is gregarious and always nocturnal in broad marshes during July ; here it doubtless came f r o m the Castle M e r e . We have taken it at both sugar and light on the Horsey sandhills of east Norfolk, and in the boggy Peat M o o r at Shapwick in Somerset (cf. Proc. Somer. Arch. and Nat. Hist. Soc. 1935, pp. lvii-lix.—Ed.] A female of the very local dragon-fiy Sympetrum sanguinum, M ü l l . , occurred to me in Barking Wood on 14 A u g .

1940.—GEOFFREY

BURTON.

Lepidopterists' 1940 RESTRICTIONS.—The impossibility of night Operations by the authorities banning all light very much cuts the ground from under one's lepidopteral feet. I have years

OBSKRVATIONS.

193

ago beaten everything that is obtainable by day, and have never had much success in finding Noctuae by day. Even dusking at flowers keeps one out unduly late as time goes now ; and there is an atmosphere of suspicion in this part of the country.

Naturalists, who ask the way of usually obliging countrymen, are apt to be refused the information ; if, while wandering by day, you are seen to photo the village church by a yokel, police enquiries ensure ; if you walk you are thought to be a parachutist, if you motor it is considered you are going where you should not. [We ourseif were stalked by a file of Royal Engineers and had to exhibit our legitimate entomologising by specimens in net and boxes, whereon the riflemen fled with a genial " O.K., Guv'nor, so long ! " in Hants, whence the 213 J miles' drive home was accomplished in a day, after every sign-post had been removed.—Ed.] My second record of Smerinthus ocellatus, L., at Beccles was established by a friend's discovery of a pair paired in his garden on 2 J u l y — E R N E S T T . GOLDSMITH ; Beccles, 7 July.

PABULUM OF T Y R I A JACOBE.®, L.—While searching for Cucullia verbasci larvae on Verbascum nigrum at Harting Down near Petersfield in Hants. early in July 1939, I came across a large area of ground that was covered with Senecio jacobcea and Teucrium scorodonia. Also there were numerous plants of Common Mullein growing in the same place. A large number of Cinnabar larvae were feeding on the Ragwort and some, which had probably been blown by high wind off Ragwort, were crawling on the Mullein and Wood Sage. Those on Mullein were eating it, despite the presence of plenty of Ragwort in good condition all round them ; but those on Sage were not eating that plant, which bore no signs of having been attacked by t h e m : possibly its flavour was too strong. I carefully watched the larvae for a considerable time, in order to ascertain these facts. Text books give no food-plant for T. jacobaa but Senecio vulgaris, Linn., S. erucifolius, Linn, and S. Jacobasa, Linn.—J. L. MOORE. RECENT M A C R O - M O T H S . — S e v e r a l Diacrisia mendica emerged during 2 April to 20 May from Wangford Wood larvse ; those of Erias chlorana were abundant in terminal Osier shoots in a carr beside the Waveney at Oakley, where they were threequarters grown in early August and pupated between 19 and end of that month. Blythburgh larvae produced perfect P. piniperda between 10 April and 20 May ; one D. chaonia emerged on 7 May from a Wangford Wood larva ; Heliothis dipsacea was captured at Eriswell on 11 June; and Melanchra rtyrtilli at Blythburgh Wood on 19 May. Larvae between Aspen leaves in Hinton Wood produced both Palimpsestis or on 23 May and P- &-gesima on 8 June.

From the 1939 second brood of P.

194

OBSERVATION.

curtula imagines emerged in M a y 1940. Specimens of Drepana cultraria emerged hetween 12-15 M a y last f r o m 1939 pupae; evidently some of their second brood remain pupae throughout the winter, as only two came out of that brood of 1939. Both Tages and Mähte were late this spring ; first seen on 19 May in Blythburgh Wood.

Caradrina Hellmanni larvae were numerous in early October 1940 in stems of the boggy reed Calamagrostis lanceolata, Roth., at Mildenhall. Last night I went to the osier-carr by the Waveney at Oakley and captured a few C. fulva and C. lutosa ; at the time I thought the latter were N. typhte, which I want. So tonight I searched rushes round a pond on the Norfolk side and was lucky enough to find a Typhce sitting on them, while others were Aying round ; but the light faded so quickly that I could no longer see to net, so shall go again tomorrow. N o Peronea hastana were Aying at the Oakley carr.—JACK GODDARD ; Billingford, 9 Oct. A T O O - L A Z Y W A I N S C O T . — A nearly half-grown larva of Picromerus bidens, L., with its rostrum still embedded in or near the abdominal apex of a live male Leucania impudens, H b . , even after both had been slain by me, was found here at Linwood in the N e w Forest on 16 July last. Such large Mitre-bugs are well known to suck the juices of any Tracheata small enough for t h e m to overpower ; but so stout a N o c t u i d - m o t h as the present m u s t have been curiously off his guard, or possess unsuspectedly little anal sensibility, to have put u p with such unwarranted liberties. For, when first found, the M o t h was quite vigorous and yet allovved itself to be easily pushed and pulled by the Bug, which made me marvel as I watched the two Insects struggling amidst rank herbage.—DR. F. H . H A I N E S .

A N UNTIMF.LY Aletia albipuncta, F A B . ; &c.—I took a specimen of Leucania albipuncta on sugar here on 7 J u n e ; there can be no doubt of its identity, although the species is not supposed to appear until August. Also I secured the first Crocota strigillaria, H b . , on the heath here last week and it is now becoming common, as it was three years ago. Melanchra myrtilli, Deilephila porcellus and Hemaris fuciformis are all c o m m o n this spring.—C. GARRETT JONES, Iken H a l l ; 9 June.

Crocota strigillaria, HB., PERSISTS.—The half-centurv asterisk may now be removed in our Suffolk M o t h Memoir 1937, p. 83, as I have captured four males near Snape on 10 J u n e 1940.— J O H N BURTON, N e e d h a m Market.

L O S T ORIENTATION.—Düring the final week of July last vear, I went over to D e n n v for a few more Catocala promissa and sponsa, but did not see either ; the sole thing on sugar beinsi our old friend Trapezina, and not many of that. T h i s happened

OBSERVATIONS.

195

each night, so, tiring of it, I went through the wood to the spot where you and I took Stauropus fagi the previous year. T h e r e I sat down beside m y brilliant M o t h lamp f r o m 11.30 ; but, as there were no arrivals for a füll hour, I decided to trundle home to bed. I packed and started back through the wood, but had got little more than fifty yards when it suddenly occurred to me that here should be a m u d d v patch in the path, which was quite dry. I realised I was off the track somehow, and thought it best to get back to the lamp-stance and begin afresh.

But I quite failed to retrace those fifty yards. So there was 1, lost in the heart of Denny Wood, and all by myself. 1 wandered about with my hand-light in every direction and could find no familiar landmarks, every Beech-tree appeared alike. I decided I would continue to prospect tili two o'clock : If I was not literallv ' out of the wood ' by then, I would sit quietly and await daylight. However, at ten minutes to that hour I Struck some young Sycamores, through which 1 remembered previously penetrating, and thence very soon found my wav to the usual and familiar entrance-gate. I don't suppose I should have been the first Entomologist to spend a night in the New Forest's fastnesses : Head keeper Fagan used to teil of a half-demented lady who, after dark and many hours' of tramping, was saved such an experience by the lights of his Denny Lodge. But I do not hanker for a renewal of such an experience!—FRANK C . S T A N L E Y ; Southsea, Jan. 1940.

D O E S Catocala sponsa, L., YET SURVIVE HERE ?—Outside, the snow that had lain three weeks was merrily gurgling to " fill dyke ' in early February, under a raw and chilly mist, as dusk feil upon High Suffolk. Indoors, the fire's glow mingled with the shaded lamp's light-circle to brighten the study table comfortingly. I was jackalling a run of old periodicals to gather details of an exotic Homopteron, when I nearly threw a fit : for " sponsa in Suffolk " leaped at me f r o m the printed page ! When some of my wonted serenity struggled back, I rubbed incredulous eyes and shook myself to look again. N o ; the words had not deceived m e : " M r . Bloomfield exhibited Catocala sponsa, Dianthoecia cucubali, etc., from Bures in Suffolk " at a Meeting of the City of L o n d o n Entomological Society on 15 September, so recently as 1896. How so outstanding a record came to escape notice in our 1937 M o t h List (wherein erase the asterisk) is inexplicable, excepting upon the fatuous plea that in 1896 I was temporarilv relinquishing the study of M o t h s for that of Beetles. Harwood of S u d b u r y seems no better informed, for no reference to this grand Crimson Underwing (now pretty well confined in Britain to the N e w Forest) was mooted when his sister and he were with me at Bures on 9 July 1925 and we teaed with Colonel Probert : certainly he never met with the

species at Sudbury.—CLAUDE MORI.EY", 7 F e b .

196

OBSERVATIONS.

C A P T U R E OF Eublemma paula, H U B . — N o n e ofthe three very rare species of this genus are recorded from Suffolk (SNS. Mem. i, 1937, p. 52); and it will interest our Members to know that I was so fortunate as to capture a beautiful specimen of E. paula in the Waterville Woods near Southsea early last June.

Meyrick in 1927 restricts its British ränge to the Isle of Wight, wherein Frank Morey's excellent 1909 ' Guide ' refers only to the single example captured in an open corn-field close to the cliffs at Freshwater by Mr. E. G. Moore of London before 1873, at which date two other indigenous specimens were known in M r . Carter's and the Revd. H. Burney's collections, the latter presumed to have come from a school-boy ' on the south coast' (EMM. x, 19; Ent. Ann. 1874, 156). On the Continent, this is the commonest kind of its genus.—FRANK C. S T A N L E Y ; Southsea, 20 Aug. 1940.

Plasia chryson, E S P . , I N OUR WEST F E N S . — T h i s noble Noctuid's local headquarters are becoming less visionary than the sporadic and, except Middleton, indefinite records (Mem. i, 53) lead one to fancy. Mr. Frank Norgate says its larvae were discovered at Chippenham Fen, a bare mile over Suffolk's west border, in 1896 (Ent. Ree. viii, 312); and six imagines, acquired from L. W. Newman, are now in the Oxford University Museum " from Chippenham and Tuddenham F e n s " (Entom. lviii, p. 180), sans date or captors' names.—CLAUDE M O R L E Y .

D I A R Y N O T E S OF 1940.—From larvae taken at Blythburgh there emerged Tetralunaria on 26 March, Pendularia on 23 April, both Betularia and its var. Doubledayaria on 26 May ; from Gorleston larvae there emerged Tiliee on 15 May, Villica on 16 June (never seen here before) and Cossus on 1 July ; from Fritton larvae Dromedarius on 24 June. Also at Fritton I captured Dictceoides on alder, several Confusalis on both oak and rowan, and innumerable Punctularia during 10-14 M a y ; the last lingered there tili 5 June, with Margaritaria ; at Beccles one Syringaria and some melanic forms of Gemmaria on 20 July, and several Moneta at the end of that month ; there Nupta was first seen, assimilating their coloration to elm-trunks, on 20 August [noted so early this year as 27 July in New Forest.— Ed.], A newly-emerged Atalanta was settled on a brightly coloured hoarding in Gorleston as early as 3 July.—JOHN L. MOORE ; 1

Oct.

SEXES OF Orgyia gonostigma, FAB.—In July 1939 a female of this species, taken in Pamber Forest near Basingstoke, laid numerous ova ; the parent had been fed on Oak. I fed some of the ensuing larvas on Oak and some on Sallow, but the former progressed so much faster than the latter that Oak was supplied to all and the latter did much better upon it. Pupation took place between

OBSERVATIONS.

197

10 August and 15 S e p t e m b e r ; emergence between 20 August and 28 September. In all eighteen M o t h s emerged, twelve females and six males. Hence it would appear that females are much the more prevalent s>ex. Is this due to the immobility of the apterous female, which prevents the male finding her except by means of assembling ?—J. L . MOORE. [In late June 1819 M r . D o u g h t y f o u n d many larvae on the Sallow-bush under the bell at Horning-ferry in Norfolk, every one of which produced a female ; but a few larvse, taken by him and me at Catfield in Norfolk during early J u n e 1932, produced equal sexes. O u r sole N e w Forest larva, found fully fed so late as 12 July 1936, produced a male.—Ed.] MORE

MOTHS

FROM

THE

STOWMARKET

DISTRICT.—Since

sending in my note (supra, p. 135), I find I have taken near here in July:—Triangulum, Hepatica, Adusta, Rivata and Umfasciata; in August Stigmatica and the second brood of Alchemillata.

Hibernia aurantiaria has turned u p in late November ; and a few Ptilophora plumigera have emerged f r o m ova laid by females taken in m i d - N o v e m b e r 1938 (Proc. iv, p. xlvi).—H. F. CHIPPERFIELD ; 1 Nov. 1939, Stowmarket.

CAPTURES OF THE PRESENT YEAR.—This has been a poor season, f r o m political and natural causes, for Lepidopte a and I send you only some of my better records f r o m N e e d h a m district, and other named localities. A. villica was bred from eggs of a Sizewell female; A. rumicis appeared in April, M a y , Aug, and Sept. ; several Leucania comma at vipers bugloss at Darmsden on 15 J u n e ; three M. munda bred on 10 March ; Conspersa by the G i p p i n g on 14 June ; a dozen H. reticulata 15-24 June ; P. advena several at flowers in late June ; one T. albicolon at Valerian in garden on 17 June ; one A. luctuosa on Ragwort near Barking on 4 Aug. ; a few P. festucre at Valerian in June, with three Moneta, many Iota and one Pulchrina ; one E. pustulata bred in J u n e f r o m Barking larva ; L. halterata common on Aspentrees at Barking, 18 M a y to 8 June ; one M. procellata there on 29 June, with C. 4-fasciata on 7 July ; B. notha rare at Newton Wood and many Parthenias at Bentley W o o d in late March [where we saw none on 28th., or 12 April, though. Notha was numerous on 20 April.—Ed.] ; one A. pictaria at light on 23 April 1939 ; three D. porcellus in late June ; one male S.fagi bred 17 M a y f r o m Bentley larva, beaten f r o m Birch [Mr. P. J. Burton beat a small parasitised larva there on 5 August, and M r . Butters a large larva on 25 August that pupated satisfactorily]; three larval nests of E. lanestris round Framlingham, received 23 J u n e ; one M. castrensis larva at Bawdsey on 20 J u n e ; a dozen V. polychloros in July-Aug. and one hibernated in May ; only two V. cardui at D a r m s d e n and Cotton, with a single C. edusa at

198

OBSERVATIONS.

latter on 4 Aug. ; several L. Sibylla in Barking woods ; numerous T. w-album there, at Badley church, Cotton and by the Gipping ; both broods of P. argiolus numerous.—GEOFF. BURTON ; 14 Sept.

Eucestia efformata, G U E N . , CONFIRMED.—I have recently gone pretty thoroughly into the question of the occurrence of this Geometer in Suffolk ; and can now definitely confirm it by the capture of at least three males. These were taken at Ipswich during 1894, on a Monks Soham window on 3 Sept. 1933 and in Shrubland Park on 18 August 1938. All agree ad amusim with both a typical specimen sent me by Mr. Rait-Smith and the characters indicated at Entom. 1936, 99 and 126, 1927, 19.

The latter show it to differ from E. plagiata, L., in having (1) the last abdominal segment rounded and of no more than normal length with valvulae short and broad ; (2) outer edge of median band (before Stigma) less angulated throughout, and especially not indented just below costa ; (3) this band with less dark spots near costa and in middle ; and (4) the basal fascia is emitted from the costa at an acuter angle to its general direction. The angularity of the band, ignored by Meyrick in 1928, seems to me the most obvious character if it been constant.

Semiothisa limbaria, FAB., PERHAPS STILL SCOTS.—Everything interests us respecting this beautiful Geometer, whose last English home was in Suffolk (Mem. i, 79). So recently as 1922 the widow of Arthur Sidgwick esq., M.A., presented his collection of Lepidoptera to Oxford University Museum. In it are seven specimens of 5 . limbaria, all labelled as having been captured at " Achinalt, Ross-shire, 1891 " (Entom. lviii, p. 79): that is to say thirty-five years after Stainton's latest Scots record, referred to in our Trans, ii, p. 7, by Mr. Platten. Achanalt Loch is on Strath Bran, no less then seventy-five miles N N W . of Pitlochry, its earlier home. Does it yet persist there ?

DEATHS-HEAD AT NAPOLEON'S T O M B . — S o f e w

Lepidopterists

cver visit St. Helena that it is of interest to notice, in reference to the footnote at page xli post, a visitor of 13-5 March 1919 who saw on the island no more than one Acherontia Atropos " i n a dark shed in the enclosure around Napoleon's tomb, a singularly appropriate place " ; a half-dozen Vanessa cardui, one Danais chrysippus (cf. Trans, iii, 288), and fair numbers of both Lyceena batica (cf. Mem. i, 113) and a ' small day-moth ' that he calls Psara licarsisalis, Walker (Entom. Iii, p. 117). The last name, varied to licarisalis in the index, is probably a printer's hash for Botys abstrusalis, Wik., the six excellent specimens of which in Mr. Clement Chevallier's collection thence look like a dark form of our common British Notarcha ruralis, Scop.— CLAUDE MORLEY.

OBSERVATIONS.

Eriogaster lanestris, L., CONTINUED.—This incomprehensible animal seems to become curiouser than e v e r ! T h e majority of the hundred-odd larvae recorded last year (Trans, iv, 135) pupated satisfactorily, and in the middle of Februarv I tried to force their emergence by ' central heating ' with an electriclight bulb. Not an individual would budge ; so, in desperation, I put them out in the füll heat of the sun's rays with the result that five specimens, including both sexes, came out at Lowestoft on 21 February. In London my brother had exactly the same experience with five on that very day in sunshine, after futile forcing of about the other fifty pupje.—P. J. BURTON. [Sometimes in pupa four ( T u t t ) or many (Merrin) years.—Ed.] SOME MOTHS OF 1939.—I much regret these records were not sent in time for our annual Transactions, each n u m b e r of which increases in interest for me. In Bentley Woods T. rubricosa was fairly common in April, three C. coryli occurred in late May and two D. trepida on 29th. D. porcellus emerged in June from pupse taken at Stowmarket by M r . Chipperfield.

A. villica at Purdis-farm laid eggs, whence I have fifty larvae ; and have bred twenty G. quercifolia from a Stowmarket female.

Bentley provided T. batis and H. derasa in July, L. monacha and Sallow Kittens in August. Barking Woods, brought into prominence by the splendid discovery of P. plumigera there the previous October, yielded M. margaritaria, T.fimbriata, P. palpina and P. festucce during July, during which m o n t h Pamphila lineola was secured at Dovercourt.—ERIC BUTTERS ; Ipswich, 10 Jan. LOWESTOFT

LIGHTHOUSE'S

MOTHS.—My

father,

the

Arachnologist, was collecting at Lowestoft in the second half of August 1851, and in his M S . notes I find that he got the following at the light-house :— (16) Phragmatobia fuliginosa ; (69) Caradrina micacea; (121) Agrotis prcecox; (122) Euxoa vestigialis, six in fine condition ; (127) E. cursoria, commonly ; (349) Eupitliecia oblongata, c o m m o n l y ; and (571) Odontosia camelina.

I have no doubt that he got plenty of common things as well, but did not note them. ' On the denes Yarmouth,' Mesotype virgata was common.—A. W . PICKARD-CAMBRIDGE ; 20 April 1940.

LIGHT AT MILDENHALL.—A night's work with one lamp at Mildenhall on 19 August, 1939 which was perfect for the purpose, produced a large variety of Moths, including Complana, Griseola var. flava, Vestigialis, Agathina, Ravida, Baja, Flammea, Hellmanni, Liehe naria, Alchemillata, Pendularia, Prosapiaria and Alniaria in great profusion after midnight. Several species were distinctly late for that date, but quite unworn.

We worked tili 2 a.m., then slept in the car tili 6 a.m., had picnic breakfast and reached Gorleston at 9 a.m.

200

OBSERVATIONS.

NORFOLK

BROADS'

MOTHS.—On

26

July

I

took

at

Barton

Broad, along with such things as Muscerda and Phragmitidis a specimen of Cymatophora duplaris, var. obscura. A few nights later another specimen came to my light at Wheatfen with Rufa, Fulva, Maritima, Subtusa and Rhamnata. Both these examples of the variety correspond with South's description of the ' darkest almost black f o r m that occurs in Cannock Chase, Staffs. and Delamere Forest, Cheshire.'

Meyrick does not mention it.— J. L. MOORE, 1939.

Saturnia pavonia, L., LAST SPRING.—I went out on 21 April to see if Notha were Aying at H i n t o n Wood b u t saw none, nor any larval Eriogaster rubi on the heath, where were eight Polia areola sitting on posts and a couple of male 5 . pavonia (P. J. BURTON, in lit. 25 April).—A perfect male Emperor M o t h was sitting about nine feet high on Cupressa macrocarpa hedge in my south Rushmere garden on 8 M a y (MR. J. D. KING, in lit. 10 May).—A fully fed Pavonia larva in mid-August in the middle of Felixstow-road, Ipswich, and has pupated (ERIC BUTTERS, 2

THE

Oct.)

WORLD'S

LARGEST M O T H . — T h e r e

appears to

be

some

doubt open to the assertion that Attacus Atlas is the moth of greatest dimensions (Trans. 1939, p. lxxi). I rather fancy there is a greater, hailing f r o m South America, that M r . T a m s is fond of showing all and sundry who visit the Natural History M u s e u m at Kensington.—E. P. WILTSHIRE ; Iran, 15 Jan. 1940. [" Attacus (Bombyx) atlas, L i n n . Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 495 = Saturnia silhetica, Helf., Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vi, 1837, p. 41, is probably the largest Lepidopterous insect k n o w n ; it differs m u c h in size, and the largest specimen in the British M u s e u m expands very nearly a f o o t ; the commonest Indian form of this group, with two well-marked transparent spots on the front wings " (Kirby, Entom. xxv, p. 186 ; Hampson allows only 250 mm., but cf. Entom. 1916, p. 232). Perhaps the immense Caterpillar in the Royal College of Surgeons (Proc Ent. Soc. 1906, p. lxviii) may belong to a greater Acanthocampa belina; or will our Member, M r . Riley, put a name to this neotropic giant ? T h e American Saturniids are much subject to Ichneumonidous parasites, which emerge after the moths'

201

0BSERVATI0NS

cocoons have been fully constructed*.

In bulk, though not expanse, these are surpassed by the great Cicada imperatoria of Westwood's Arcana.—Ed.] O V E R T H E N O R F O L K BORDER.—Since June 1 9 4 0 I have been at Billingford Upper Street, surrounded by woods and pastures on poor Boulder Clay, and utterly rural ; it is a mile from the VVaveney, near its source, and opposite Oakley in Suffolk.

Several Lepidoptera have fallen to my lot that seem quite unknown about Lowestoft, at all events among the Micros. The Butterflies showed four Vanessa polychloros on 16 July, two bred; V. C-album was numerous in July, continued to 8 September, with a final specimen on 9 Oct. Thecla w-album was fairly common, but not noticed on bramble-blossom; T. quercus affected aspens near old oaks. S. Revayana occurred on 6 August; and I was suprised to take one E. luctuosa, that I have found in any numbers only near Mildenhall, in a grassy lane, reminding me that Col. Hawley took one at Sibton two vears ago. Among the better kinds of small Moths were Scoparia frequentella, on 8 Sept. S. angustea, Euxanthis hamana commonly, Tortrix diversana, Peronea literana numerous on oak-trunks in July with more during autumn, P. variegana common, P.

* For very many years I have had a long series of these parasites in my collection that were bred (1) ' f r o m pupse of N . American Bombyx, August 1891,' by M r . J. C. Watkins of Painswick, Glos. ; (2) very numerously, i.e. 34 $ and 14 $ , f r o m two cocoons of ' the c o m m o n United States Saturniid Platysamia cercopia ' by D r . T . A. C h a p m a n of Reigate ; and (3) a half-dozen f r o m ' U S . America, June 1912,' by Herr Smits van Bürgst of the Hague, who considered t h e m to pertain to the genus Hoplocryptus, from which the lack of an apical clypeal tooth excludes t h e m . T h e late M r . Ernest A. Elliott and I determined t h e m in Nov. 1916 to be a Spilocryptus that is somewhat closelv allied to the pala;arctic 5 . amaenus, Grav. It has been bred f r o m the same Atlacus cecropia in Britain by Billups (Proc. S. Lond. E n t . Soc., 26 Nov. 1891 ; cf. 11 M a y 1916) and in America by Prof. Riley, who raised it also from Callosamia promethea and the Noctuid Aleiia xylina.

Hence its synonymy will stand t h u s :— SPIIOCRYPTUS

NUNCIUS,

Say.—Cryptus

nuncius,

Say,

Boston

Journ.

Nat. Hist. i, 1836, p. 237 ; l.econt, Writ. Say, E n t o m . ii, 1859, 693 ; Riley, A m e r . E n t o m . ii, 1870, p. 100, figg. & 4th Ann. Report Ins. Missouri 1872, p. 1 1 0 ; Prov. Nat. Canad. xi, 1879, p. 141 & Faun. Canad.

Hym. 1883, p. 340, $ ; Riley, 4th Report U S . E n t o m . C o m m . 1885, p. 111. Cryptus exirematis, Cresson, Proc. E n t . Soc. Philad. iii, 1864, p. 304 ; Riley, id. 1872, p. 110, figg. ; Prov. id. 1879, p. 141, & id. 1883, p. 340, 3 2 • Cryptus Belangen, Prov. Nat. Canad. vi, 1875, p. 201.

Cryptus sordidus, Prov. A d d . F a u n . Canad. H y m . 1886, p. 67, 2 .

'•Echthrus Provancheri, Prov. Canad. E n t o m . xvii. 1885, p. 116, J } 4 Add. F a u n . Canad. 1886, p. 118; Harrington, Canad. Entom. xxv, 1893 P- 3 2 . — C L A U D E

MORLEY.

202

OBSERVA FLONS.

Schallerana, P. comariana, Notocelia roborana, E. ramella Endothenia antiquana flew at Barton Broad last s u m m e r , when I was lighting with M r . Moore, and is just named bv M r . RaitSmith. Other Billingford Tortrices are A. betulaetana, A. p r o f u n d a n a and on 17 July the variable A. s t r i a n a ; H. qusestionana and, Aying over clover, L . compositana. Among very numerous Tineae are Acampsis cinerella, very numerous C. conscriptella, A. Brockella, A. Godartella, T i n e a corticella on an oak-trunk on 8 Aug. and T . lapella. I was especially pleased with füll series of Cerostoma scabrella f r o m oak and whitethorn, and of C. sylvella, fairly common here, though not taken for over a half-century in Suffolk, where it is surely overlooked.—JACK GODDARD, Grove Farm, Billingford, near Diss, Norfolk ; 9 Oct. O U R M A C R O - L E P I D O P T E R A I N 1845.—Side-lights on the biology of our County will, of course, constantly emerge f r o m obscure sources now and again since interest first began to be taken in its exponent specimens. T h e r e can, however, be few collections of M o t h s still intact that were amassed before 1850 ; and we are fortunate to have one of t h e m detailed for us by the Revd. G . H . Raynor that was formed during only 184046 by M r . Alfred Greenwood of Chelmsford, who is nowhere mentioned in current literature and seems to have bought a large proportion of his specimens. M a n y of t h e m came f r o m Seaman, described as " an Ipswich taxidermist, who supplied details to H u n t ' s ' British Ornithology,' published at Norwich in 1815 and was still carrying on business in I p s w i c h " about 1843 (Bab. Birds of Suffolk, pp. 15, 76, &c).

T h e Ven. William K i r b y knew him before 1828 ( S N S . M e m . i, 102). All the following Suffolk insects are of his taking and show the richness of the Ipswich district, perhaps Bentley W o o d s in particular, at that early date. Among the more notable of M r . Greenwood's Suffolk species mav be picked out a couple of Leucophasia sinapis, L., taken ' at Ipswich ' in 1846 ; five Apatura Iris, L., captured between Colchester and Ipswich that y e a r ; two Deilephila euphorbia, L., bred in 1846 f r o m Felixstow larvar; four of the broad-bordered Hemaris bombyliformis, Esp., from Ipswich that year, two of t h e m bred ; along with three H. fuciformis, I,., " and I think Suffolk entomologists will be greatly interested to hear that thev were bred in the Ipswich neighbourhood about three quarters of a Century ago," adds M r . Raynor ( E n t o m . Record magazine 1913, p. 9). " Another particularly interesting record for the Suffolk List," he considers, is a couple of Endromis versicolora, L., taken ' Aying in woods 1846,' Ipswich, though it merely extends Stephens' a c c o u n t ; in just the same way as does a single Apoda limacodes, H u f n . , at Ipswich the same year. Obviouslv Seamen was a superficial collector.

OBSERVATIONS.

203

for when we come down to the more critical of the Noctuse he falls o u t ' every onc of the now coinnion kinds from ( Ipswich ' follow, because of interest on account of their early date which usually precedes that in our Memoir, with whose numbers these accord :—17 ; 21 ; 89 ; 122 E. vestigialis, one at ' Ipswich ' in 1846 ; 153 ; 192 P. ornithopus, one at Ipswich in 1844 ; 285 ; 291 ; 2 9 2 ; 5 4 6 ; 553 ; 5 5 5 ; 557 ; 5 9 2 ; 5 9 6 ; 6 0 0 ; 6 1 4 ; 6 2 7 ; 6 4 3

C. hyale, eleven from Ipswich, Chelmsford, Southend and Dover; 654 ; 657, P. comma, one from ' Ipswich ' in 1845; 801; 805; 1204, T. crabroniforme, seven from Ipswich, of which three were bred.

Geometers were not collected, being as comparatively neglected then as are Tineina now. Mr. Greenwood, though now unknown, was in touch at the time with such leading men as the Doubledays, Stainton, Samuel Stevens and Hodgkinson of Cumberland, as well as London and south-coast dealers ; he possessed G. c-nigrum from Mr. R. J. Ransome of Ipswich, whose 1846-59 Notes are printed at our Trans, i, 25.—Ed. BUTTERFI.IES AT WALDRINGFIELD IN 1 9 4 0 . — T h i s is n o t a g o o d

Butterfly district, but common kinds were unusually plentiful in the past season ; it is quite a long time since I saw the hedges enlivened with the gay flittings in such abundance of E. Tithonus and P. Megcera [last seen so late as 9 Oct. 1940 in his garden, close to Lowestoft pier, by Mr. P. J. Burton.—Ed.], the pastures with E. Janira and S. Semele, accompanied by a good sprinkling of P. Thaumas, A. Sylvanus, L. Icarus and C. Phloeas, as well as a few C. Astrarche not noted here for several years. E. cardamines cheered us in early May, with profuse L. argiolus, of which a second brood emerged on 12 July. T. rubi was well in evidence ; and the common Whites have been abundant from early spring [to 12 Sept. at Thelnetham], I imagine augmented from time to time by immigrants. On 12 May a worn V. polychloros was seen, and on 29 August a nice fresh specimen. V. cardui appeared very tattered on 27 May, with only one to two later.

I observed no C. edusa personally, though my sister saw a couple here on 27 August, and I have no other record this year [see that from Cotton. We saw only one male, going away at twenty miles an hour, dead against a stiffish north-east breeze at Hinchelsea Moor in the New Forest on 31 July—Ed.]. V. c-album was worn on 18 May, but a beautifully fresh specimen turned up on 20 June ; thence to mid-August they were seen continually, then came a break for three weeks or so, but in midSeptember they reappeared and today I have just seen a halfdozen Aying in my garden [the final one was sipping Ragwortflower in sun at Bentley Woods on 13 Oct.—Mly], with a goodly number of V. Atalanta, of which I have noticed two or three for several years about the end of May Aying around our old Churchtower or sunning themselves on its Tudor brickwork.

These

204

OBSERVATIONS.

specimens are mostly worn, suggesting Hibernation. Has it been satisfactorily proved that this Butterfly hibernates in Britain ?

[Much discussion thereon has been aired in the ' Entomologist of recent (and former !) years.—Ed.] I believe from time to time there has been considerable controversy about this question.

Such a tower would be an ideal hibernaculum, and the appearance of these Insects so regularly about the same time and in the same place through a period of years certainly rather points to their presence all the winter. Of Macro-moths, with the exception of ordinary kinds, I have little to note : a few A. villica were Aying, a really brilliant sight, here in May ; and, in late July, L. quercus. Single examples were noted of the Geometers P. emarginata and L. marginepunetata, that I have not taken here for five-and-thirty years.—(Canon) A. P. WALLER ; Waldringfield Rectory, 9 Oct. Apatura Iris, LINN., PERSISTS.—I was delighted to see a fine Purple Emperor at Belstead on 18 July this year, as well as the now locally rare High-brown Fritillary, Adippe, in a heathy oak-wood at Bentley. Comma Butterflies have been quite frequent in lanes and groves from April to September at Barking, Bentley and elsewhere in the County : one turned up in my Ipswich garden.—F. W. SIMPSON, Liverpool; 15 Oct. Vanessa c-album, L., PROFUSE IN SUFFOLK.—We certainly have not too many Butterflues in Suflolk now, and it is good to know this species is making such rapid headway (Canon Wir, 4 April). I took the first here during autumn 1935 and, each autumn since then, thev have become more plentiful tili in 1939 I saw forty or fifty on Michaelmas Daisies every fine day.

1 wonder why this extension of ränge has taken place (Mr. W . H. Taylor, Härtest Place, 2 April). I came across fiftythree in a meadow at Livermere, enjoying themselves on blooms of Scabiosa arz<ensis, L., on 12 August 1939 (Mr. Frank Burreil, 2 April ). 23 March 1940 : one in Bury by my brother (id.); 24th : one F.lveden (id.) and one Blythbro Wood (Btn) ; 25th : Bentley Woods (GBtn), Monks Soham (Mly) and a half-dozen in Staverton Thicks (Wir). 6 A p r i l : Southsea in Hants (F. C Stanley) ; 2 1 s t : on sallow-blossom in Hinton Wood (Btn) 10 May a quite good one in Monks Soham paddock, cheek by jowl with very worn V. lo ; 20th a second there, faded and torn (Mly) ; 13th one at Barningham, where they first appeared late in 1938, with a pair in autumn 1939 (Lingwood, 14 May)Lack of hiatus between the broods was conspicuous this year : at Barking it was noted on 21 April, 19 & 25 May, 22 June, " s p r i n g brood scarce ; " 7 & 13 & 14 & 21 July and 4 Aug. ( G B t n ) ; at Privet flowers at Stonham on 27 June, with Green & White-letter Hairstreaks ; and another near Nedging in early

OBSERVATIONS.

205

July (Elaine Fowler) ; one, just emerged, in Dedham garden on 4 Julv, of the pale-underside form (Vinter); one Var. Hutchinsoni at north Holton on 7 July (Btn). One in Southtown garden in Sept. 1939, when V. cardui was unusually common here; one at Beccles on both 17 July & 3 Aug., and on 31 July, one in my Gorleston garden, which are the most northerly Suffolk records ( M r ) ; 31 July Barsham, 20th and 4 Aug. in Beccles garden: " none taken ! " (Gls). 3 August Monks Soham (Mly); 24th a worn one on Buddleia flower* in Felixstow (Geoff. M. French); 25th two larvse on Nettle, third pupating and two pupse on a roof at Cctton, emerged 8 Sept. (GBtn).

9 September Dedham garden, later at Nayland and Stratford (Vinter); 1 Ith one emerged at Gorleston from Godalming larva on Nettle on 10 Aug. & one seen Beccles 15th (Mr) ; 26th dull day, one sitting on Äsh-leaf in Letheringham Wood, after being fairlv common just north of Oakley in July (Gd). 15th, three or four in Blythbro Wood, with almost the sole Suffolk V. cardui of 1940 ; 22nd, eight round rotting Apples and Plums at Sotherton and Holton ; on 17-18th I was delighted to see one in my garden, close to the pier at Lowestoft, surely the most easterly specimen in England ! It is the first to visit my garden, where also was a V. Atalanta that fluttered about the underside of an ivied arch and carefully selected a suitable spot to creep among the ivy-roots, the interesting point [of tentative Hibernation] being that this was done at 12.20 noon and, though the day was perfect and numerous other Butterflies were Aying up to a late hour, this one did not budge until the next day, thus wasting a half-day's sunshine. I last saw it sipping ivy-blossom in Monks Soham garden, on 13 Oct. (Btn), on which day the final C-album, was on flowers in a garden on Kesgrave Heath (Butters).

BUTTERFLIES

AT

BENTLEY.—•" I

had

a

pleasant

run

to

Colchester on 5 August, after saying goodbye to you; and the sun tempted me to dally for about three-quarters of an hour near Capel Station in Bentley Wood, where Butterflies were abundant. I managed to take a good A. Adippe and almost another; I got a moderately good L. Sibylla, several E. hyperanthus and L. argiolus. Fielding pointed out that the Hairstreak I took there was T. w-album, which is much scarcer than T. quercus; and one of the many V. c-album, taken in Belstead wood on 3rd, is rather unusual in having a complete circle on the underwing, instead of the usual Comma-mark.

Altogether it was a satisfactory collection over so short a period, though I shall not forgive myself for missing the Large Tortoiseshell on 2nd." This note from my great-nephew, 24

*At Buddleia the sole British V. Antiopa of Aug. at Ware in Herts (Entern. 234).—Ed.

/

1940 was taken

on

206

OBSERVATIONS.

Mr. Laurence Chevallier, is of interest. I may add that four V. polychloros were captured and two seen there by me about the same period.—CLEMENT CHEVALLIER, Rushmere; 9 August.

FRITILLARY BUTTERFLY L A I D DOWN.—The dearth, or even possible loss of the beautiful Argynnis Paphia of recent years throughout Suffolk and its ubiquity in the New Forest induced me to take eggs from a batch of about twentv specimens caught in the latter during August 1939 and lay them down in the Barking Woods near Needham Market. On 7 July 1940 I was glad to observe nearly a score of imagines disporting themselves in the latter Woods on Bramble and Thistle flowers ; they were all over the Big wood, and have spread into Park wood and the Causeway. I trust Members will allow them to persist for at least a few years there without molestation, as they cannot yet be accounted truly Suffolk specimens.—GEOFFREY BURTON ; Needham, July.

T H E LATE C. G. DOUGHTY AS A C O L L E C T O R . — " . . . I might really be in the Highlands for gum boots will be indicated and I have hopes of Snails if and when the rain stops. T h e weather here [Swanage, mid-July 1931] has been very mixed and I am somewhat tied to my friend, but I have taken six Aglaia which I wanted. I spent one windy but hot day in the Corfe quarry from 11 o'clock tili 4.30, with a brief respite for lunch : there was very little moving except Galatea and of the nine Skippers I boxed I dont know if any and, if some, how many are Actceon; they are in a Newman relaxing-box. Tatchell has given me the best localities for this and Corydon, and now all depends on the weather. I got my first Cribrella on the downs the other day, a nice little insect. Spent one day at Studland, which appeared absolutely insect-less. Think we can make a better arrangement next year by fixing our holiday in the Lewes district: Adonis occurs on the downs there, and we could work the Vert Woods. . . " BUTTERFLIES DRINK.—In the tropics no sight is commoner than assemblages of Butterflies on the muddy margins of lakes; but in Britain the heat rarely rises sufficientlv to cause their thirst, and those sipping flower-juices have always been supposed to be attracted by their sweetness. At the bottom of a chalky defile between arid hills on 6 of last June, I came upon a sheeppond, artificial and puddled, of about twelve yards Square ; and sitting upon its moist margins was a remarkable concourse of Blue Butterflies of four sorts (P. minimus, Astrar che, bellargus and Icarus), with several Hesperia Tages, but none of the H. malvce and C. pamphilns that abounded over the adjoining grass land. Many of the Heteropterous genus Saida and its nymphs were present; the Eeetlcs FJaphrus riparius, Atheta and Philonthus

OBSERVATIONS.

207

s p p ; but most amazing was the multitude of Diptera, both Dolichopodidee and Ephydridce, which literally darkened the pond's entire rim. Over all was Aying the stately Dragonfly Libellula depressa, miles f r o m any other water amid these hungry Wiltshire hills of chalk at Odstock.—COL. BROUGHTON HAWLEY. WHITE BUTTERFI.Y IN W I N T E R . — A female imago of Pieris brassica, L., in good condition and but recently emerged, was brought to me yesterday f r o m Gorleston Hospital, where it came out of a wardrobe in the board-room on 31 January ; it is apparently one of the spring brood. Is it not very early for such an emergence, even indoors, considering Britain has been below freezing for three weeks ? — J O H N L . MOORE ; 3 February.

[None of o u r Pierid Butterflies ever hibernate, nor can we recollect such to have matured before M a r c h , though often pupating all through the winter inside the halls of country houses.

Hospitals differ essentially in maintaining their temperature uniformly at some 60° (or smelling so objectionably that this example preferred to face fate and f r o s t ! ) . — E d . ]

BLACK ' W H I T E ADMIRALS.'—Col. Fräser of Bournemouth told me in the N e w Forest this year that he had captured, and given to M r . Brown, a totally black Limenitis Sibylla, L., at Wood Fidley there in J u n e 1939. A keeper's little girl there related to me on 5 July 1940 how her father had noticed an entirely black butterfly, stränge to him, near D e n n v Lodge ; and the keeper himself described its persistence thence on 13th at Ramnor Hill. So on 14th three of our M e m b e r s and an admirer went for i t : at noon M r . Frank Stanley had the good fortune to see it, still a magnificent specimen with b u t one small white dot on each forewing, sipping Bramble-flowers on the top of that Hill and the sight caused such thrills that—he missed i t ! But he came so close that the specimen was frightened out of our hemisphere; and m y own numerous subsequent visits were

fruitless.—CLAUDE MORLEY.

CLEAR-WINGED M O T H S . — I took a single specimen of /Egerw vespiformis, Linn., and saw one other, at Holton near Haiesworth on 2 June this year.—P. J. BURTON, Lowestoft.

Mompha N E W TO SUFFOLK.—I have captured two specimens of the small M. miscella, Schiff., at Framlingham on 17 M a y 1939, when several were Aying together at Apsey Green.— GEOFFREY BURTON. [This common Tineid was sure to occur in our County and is known in Essex, though Framlingham is hardly a likely spot for Helianthemum. W e have seen t h e specimens.—Ed.]

208

OBSERVATIONS.

Hyponomeuta irrorella, HB., IN EAST ANGLIA.—When our Hon. Secretary was strolling, with me on 30 August last, along some hedges and woods in Billingford, a Norfolk village bordering on Suffolk at Oakley, he remarked that the wealth of Spindle (Euonymus Europceus, L.) there should produce many Small Ermine moths ; I told him that I had already reared a good many specimens from them this year. On looking through these later, I noticed among them one example of the genus, captured Aying across a pasture between these hedges close to the Grove-farm shortly before dusk in mid-July, distinct from any of the common kinds. This I took over to Monks Soham on 5 September ; and we at once discovered it to be a female of the long-lost Surrey Ermine.—JACK GODDARD, Lowestoft.

[Tinea irrorella was first described by Hübner in 1776 (Europ.

Schmet., pl. xiv, fig. 93 ; Haw. Prod. 1802, 35); and was termed the ' Surrey Ermine,' Erminea irrorea, by Haworth (Lepid. Brit. 512). Samouelle records • Yponomeuta irrorella from only Coombe Wood at Wimbledon, in his 1819 Useful Comp. (p. 399 ; Nomen. 1819, 44); Stainton from only Near Wandsworth in July (1859, 308 ; Merrin 1875, 133 ; cf. EMM. 1908, 251). Meyrick in 1928, 739, gives ' Surrey local, not found lately ; C. & S. Europe, Asia Minor ; July. Larva on Euonymus in May-June.' But where in Surrey, beyond Wandsworth and Coombe which are within ten miles of Charing Cross, I am uninformed ; and both these records are—' not lately ! '— Ed.]

TWENTY-ONE

FUNGUS-GNATS

NEW

TO

SUFFOLK.—The

following specimens have been identified by Dr. Edwards of the British Museum :—(1) Sciara caudata, Walk., in the depths of Bentley Woods on 26 May 1928, and Aying at a Monks Soham window on 21 May 1931 ; (2) S. flavipes, Panz., captured at Frostenden on 13 Sept. 1937 ; (3) S. glabra, Mg., Monks Soham window on 6 June 1937 ; (4) 5 . hispida, Winn., Monks Soham on 16 June 1923 ; (5) S. nitidicollis, Mg., abundant in mid-Sept.

1935-9 on Aster tripolium in Southwold salt-marshes ; (6) S. pilosa, Stseg., swept from hedge-bottom at Bentley Woods on 13 May 1900; (7) Mycetophila fraterna, Winn., beaten from Scots-pine in HerringAeet woods on 3 April 1936; (8) M. fungorum, Ratz., on a Southwold window in Sept. 1939, and not rare at moth-lamps near there at abcut 10 p.m. in Aug.-Sept.

1935-9 at Benacre Broad and Fritton L a k e ; (9) Trichonta stereana, Edw., many were Aying in sunshine round yellow Boletus-fungi on dead branch of large felled Oak-tree in Bentley Woods on 5 March 1935 ; (10) Rhymosia fenestralis, M g . , attracted to moth-lamp at Benacre Broad at 9 p.m. on 20 Sept.

1935, and not rare on Monks Soham windows and out-house walls on warm evenings in Feb. and March ; (11) Exechia fusca.

Mg., several on windows of M r . Doughtv's house near the sea

OBSERVATIONS.

209

at Gorleston on 19 Feb. 1937, along with Rhymosia fasciata, Mg. ; (12) E. dorsalis, Staeg., taken with the above M . fraterna ; (13) Allodia crassicornis, Stan., sitting quiescently on wall of Monks Soham outhouse at 10 p.m. on 31 May 1937; (14) Leia or Glaphvroptera crucigera, Zett., common on Monks Soham windows in June and S e p t . ; (15) Tetragoveura sylvatica, Curt., one swept in Blundeston marshes of the Waveney on 12 Aug. 1936; (16) Monoclona rufilatera, Walk., on Monks Soham windows in early autumn in 1927-8, probably commonly; (17) Asindulum flavum, Winn., taken like the last species on 15 June 1925 ; (18) Platyura ochracea, Mg., Aying in Bentley Woods on 23 May 1931, and sitting outside a Monks Soham window on 27th ; (19) Macrocera stigmoides, Edw., beaten by Treasurer Elliott from young Beech-wood just N. of Barton Mills on 5 June 1928; (20) M. Änglica, Edw., this beautiful golden species is not rare on Monks Soham windows in A u g u s t ; (21) the first British 2 of Palaoempalia collaris, Mg., Aying at a Monks Soham window on 1 Sept. 1927 and presented to Brit.

Museum which posesses by a single 3 It is of interest to add to my note on the economy of Mycetobia pallidipes, Mg. (Trans.

Norf. Soc. 1915 Suppl. p. 12), that on 2 July 1932 a solitary female was hovering laterally backwards and forwards while she ovipcsited in rain-water congregated on an old Oak-stool at Gritnam Wood in New F o r e s t . — C L A U D E M O R L E Y .

EXIGENT C I R C U M S T A N C E S . — T h e very numerous male and female Hovering Flies, Syrphus punctulatus, Verr., that were hovering at and alighting upcn almost every-other blossem of Anemone in Letheringham Old Park wood on 16 April last, seemed prematurely driven to emergence into an unkind world.

Their poor thin bodies were void as empty sacs, and so feeble was their flight that they allowed themselves to be boxed on the Aowers ; nor, when boxed, did they move so much as a leg.

Indeed, thev showed little life in any way and were nowhere in cop., though externally fully developed. Colonel Nurse found the species to be common at Timworth and Ampton about 1915 ; but all I had previously seen is a male from Ipswich, named by Verrall who used to find it only singly round Newmarket; his earliest date is 21 March. T h e weather was sunny with cloudy intervals and a piercing westerly breeze ; snow feil on that, and the previous, day ; nothing eise was on the wing there, but single Bombylius major, L., (the first of the year !) at primrose and Andrenä minutula, Kirby, at dandylion Aowers ; one Hydrotaa dentipes, Fab., was beaten with the Beetles Silpha rugosa and Dermestes murinus from a dead Rabbit. This wood is now quite wild and open, well grown up since all its good timber was extracted in 1929. No Syrphus was visiblc on the warm and quite dull 20th, though Chilosia albipila. Mg., was hovering eighl feet from ground at glade-junetions.

210

OBSERVATIONS.

Two LATE HOVERING-FUES.—Our beautiful September tempted many animals to defer retirement to hibernacula (or ' die off, like flies ') unusually late this vear. T h e red Hoverer Rhingia campestris, Mg., that always appears at the Cuckoo flowers in May and persists through the summer, was still Aying at T h e l n e t h a m Fen on 12th, though Verrall's latest date is 29 August. Xylota segnis, L., was captured while sipping ivvblossom. in my garden on 20 September, against Verrall's 9tli ; it is one of our scanty survivals from the long-felled Monks Soham ' Thicks,' which wood clothed the rivulet's eastern acclivity (now arable) to west of the Hall in Elizabethan days.

T h e latter, I noticed in the New Forest last June, is strongly attracted to sawdust that had been strewn on a forest trackway for the passage of lumber-lorries ; on it they bask with great contentment in the sun's hottest rays.

A N A N T S ' - N E S T FLY.—Larvae of the Hovering Fly Microdon mutabilis, L., are well known as denizens of nests of Formica rufa, wherein two Germans mistakenly described t h e m as Molluscan ! T h e Fly occurred to our late Treasurer Elliott and me first in M a y 1895 ; and I have hardly ever seen it alive again tili the present year. Hence I was greatlv gratified to meet with it quite commonly at the east end of Stubby, a very different part of the New Forest from our earlier one, on 1 June this year. So little is known of the perfect Fly's habits (beyond Verrall in 1901, p. 661) that I sat myself down to smoke and watch what they were doing upon the rough-grassy edge of a tangled ditch, overhung by Oak, Sallow, Rose and Bramble, flanking the southern side of a grass-ride, along the northern side of which I have long known many nests of F. rufa that contain the fine beetle Clythra quadripunctata.

Microdon is a sluggish Fly with short wings and stout legs, having little use for the former ; for it certainly crawls much more freelv than it flies. On my ditch-bank several were placidly Walking about the herbage but, even in hot sunshine, rarely Aying and then for only quite short distances. N o preference was shown for any particular kind of plant, and no flower at all attracted them ; in fact, they took no notice of the example of the commonly associated Dioctria atricapilla, M g . T w o days later at the same spot and hour, possibly because the Ants' nests were then in shade, our Flies were only slightly less numerous ; and with them I was astonished to capture another Hoverer, Merodon equestris., Fab., a füll mile from a keeper's cottage westward and the Wood Fidley signalman's eastward. For the Merodon is always supposed to be merely accidentally introduced into Britain in JVarctMiM-bulbs, and to be never indigenous ; so, in the present case, one can but expect it bred from those of Wild Hyacinth. At the same period I swept the very rare Microdon latifrons, Lw., a mile away in Denny Wood.

0BSERVAT10NS.

211

N E W FOREST F I . Y I N SUFFOLK.—Recently a quite distinct male Fly was detected, standing in my collection among a lot of the Cordylurid Leptopa filiformis, Zett., from M o n k s Soham, Brandon, H o r n i n g in Norfolk and Millers Dale in Derby.

Examination showed it to be Clusia flava, Mg., a superficially similar Fly, belonging to the family Clusiidae, that has occurred to me in only the New Forest, at dead Beech-trees and on stools of felled Oaks in 1936-8. T h e male in question was captured on a window of M o n k s Soham house on 25 August 1928 ; and a female came in here on 7th this year.

WHAT F A S C I N A T I O N ? — S O rarely do Honey Bees seem to come to a bad end that it is a notable fact that Col. Hawley, Mr. Stanley and I found a worker Apis mellifica, L., dead in the clutches of a Spider, an immature Misumena vatia, Clk., on a flower growing u p o n the edge of a plough-patch amid tall trees just at the north-west corner of the N e w Forest in Hants, in hot sunshine at 2 p.m. on 9 June last. T h e aggressor had the Bee securely by the vulnerable point of all Hymenoptera, the soft skin on the top of the neck, between head and thorax.

But the curious circumstance is that around the two were swarming in great numbers, perhaps a h u n d r e d specimens, a small Milichiid Fly Desmometopa sordidum, Fall., which the Brit. M u s . did not possess.

W h a t on earth could be the fascination emitted by a dead Bee and live Spider for these little chaps ? T h e Bee was particularly clean, its legs, &c., showing no traces of pollen.— CLAUDE

MORLEY.

A F E N S F L Y . — I found in my sweep-net, while working for Lepidopterous larvae in a very swampy part of Blythburgh Wood about 2 p . m . on 15 September last, a pair of very beauliful little Flies in cop., which our H o n . Secretary teils me belong to the rare Sciomyza glabricula, Fln., quite worthy to be placed upon record.—P. J . B U R T O N , Lowestoft. [Less than a half-dozen examples have turned u p in our County, and none in its wellworked N E . area. A 2 was grubbed f r o m the roots of Junci in the Kirton Creek valley at Foxhall pond on 21 July 1904 ; a <J sitting on a Reed in the Brandon fens by the staunch on 8 Aug. 1913 ; and it is certainly an autumn kind, for a halfdozen 3 <? flew to a brilliant m o t h - l a m p in the marshes near Horning Ferry on 6 Aug. 1933 in Norfolk, to which County it is a new species. It is very like the spring kind, the even rarer S. brevipennis, Zett., b u t its dull frons is not laterally impressed, the cross-vein is not infumate, nor hind femoral apex black ; the latter has occurred here only at Mildenhall on 8 J u n e 1910 and, we believe, several were swept at Newby Bridge at the south end of Lake Windermere on 9 June 1937.—Ed. ]

212

OBSERVATIONS.

H A B I T S OF AN A N T ' S PARASITE.—The Braconid-fly Pachylomma buccata, Breb., is rarely seen and then nearly always singly ; it has not been found in Suffolk since 1905 (Trans, iii, p. 230) md is known elsewhere in Britain from only Kent, Surrey, Hants (recently at Southsea ; Ingpen's 1839 record from New Forest is a mistake, founded on a record in Entom. Mag. 1837 trom I. Wight where Mr. Donisthorpe recently also found it), Somerset (Cannington on 23 June 1925 bv our late Member Mr. Slater), Cornwall (Whitsands Bay in July 1897 by Bigneil, and July 1911 by Donisthorpe) and Pembroke. It was first noticed in the New Forest by me on 30 June 1930, when many females were hovering gently round a dead beech-trunk just outside Rushpool Wood, a sultry, thundery and windless evening, slightly before dusk. Upon Stripping off the bark I found the rotten wood füll of the Ant Lasius niger, L., upon the puparia of which these parasites were doubtless ovipositing. But so small were the fairy-like flies that they were invisible tili they came to rest in a hovering position, always about half-inch away from the trunk, against which I was able to box eight out of perhaps twice as many. In this position they continued tili well after dark had fallen, and the golden sunset faded from the sky. Nor have I seen the female there later; but a male was taken, similarlv hovering along with a female of the longicorn-beetles' parasite Histeromerus mystacinus, Wsm., at the sawn-off end of a fallen beech-log in Denny Wood at the very distinctive hour of noon on 23 June 1938. At E M M . 1909, p. 209, I summed up what is known of this species and described an allied one, new to Science, from Somerset that is parasitic upon a different Ant. PARASITIC F I . Y N E W TO SUFFOLK-—Among the multitudinous relerences quoted, I quite forgot the fact that the Hymenopteron, Liophron muricatus, Hai. (Trans, iii, p. 231), actually had already been recorded from our County. Two females were bred trom imagines of the ubiquitous Weevil Sitones lineatus, L., on 15 Sept. and 12 Oct. 1920, that had been taken at Sudbury

by Harwood (Entom. lix, 102). Many kinds of Sitones, such as hispidus, Fab. and sulcifrons, T h n b . , are profuse upon Vetches evervwhere, to which thev work great destruction by eating the foliage. Upon all three L. muricatus has been found to prey and slav them (D. Jackson, Ann. Applied Biol. vii, Dec.), so hitherto it seems to have been merely overlooked on account of its small size and probably retiring habits, for only three British specimens had been c a p t u r e d at large in t h e c o u r s e o f a c e n t u r y .

HONEY-BEES' PARASITE.—Monodontomerus obscurus, Westw., is a Chalcid-fiy of the subfamily Toryminse that is widelv distributed through at least Suffolk, Gloucester, Middlesex and Kent whence I possess it, to southern France (Ent. Mag. 1833.

OBSERVATIONS.

213

138); where m y friend M . de Gaulle's 1908 Catalogue records it as parasitic on the fly Odontomyia viridula and gallfly Rhodites rosa, doubtless erroneously. A half-dozen of this Chalcid, of which b u t one was a male, emerged on both the following 25 July and 5 August from four cocoons, found on 29 April 1938 in the top of an Apis mtllifica hive at Glemham Parva in SuiTolk by our Member, Lord Cranbrook. T h e cocoons areexactly oval, not ovate, unicolorous pale brown in- and out-side, with external white interwoven strands of silk and internally very smooth, showing shrivelled larval-skins, the whole mm. long by 5 m m . broad, so too large for though similar to those of the Ichneumon Sphecophaga vesparum, Ct. (lehn. Brit. iv, 133, known to prey on Osmia rufa) ; each cocoon is punetured by a roughly circular hole, through which the Monodontomeri emerged. W h a t the cocoons belonged to I can not imagine, for none of their makers survived the Chalcids' parasitism to emerge themselves : Lord Cranbrook hoped to look for more in the same place the following April, b u t subsequent events have necessarily diverted his attention. Another species of the genus, M. areus, Walk., was found to devour pupa: of three kinds of wild Bees, Colletes Daviesana, Sm., Osmia rufa, L. and Anthophora pilipes, Fab., in 1853 and 1860 (Smith, Cat. Bees 1855, 201 & Ent. Ann. 1861, 41); but none of t h e m is likely to be present in a Honey-bees' nest. T h i s Chalcid is a garden insect f r o m April to only July in Germany, Geneva (Nees), and frequent in central and southern Sweden ( T h o m s o n ) ; upon it a smaller Chalcid, Melittobia Acasta, Walk., is said to be hyperparasitic (Trans. Linn. Soc. xxi, 63), though in the present case presumably the Bee was preyed u p o n by the cocoon-maker that was slain by Monodontomerus, which makes Melittobia a parasite of the third degree !—CLAUDE MORLEY ; 10 Sept. 1940.

INSECTS ATTRACTED BY SAP.—Searching the sap (Latin, succus) of tiees, that has been caused to exude by depredations of Goat M o t h (Trypanus Cossus, L.) caterpillars upon the internal wood, is a well-known form of Beetle-collecting and has been referied to at our Trans, ii, 286, See. T h e Stag Beetles' (Lucanus, Dorcus, Sinodendron) larvae set up similar exudation by the same kind of tunnellings; and I believe Dorcus to be the originator in the case of an oak of about two hundred years' growth, with several dead branches, that I found throughout last June and July so attractive to numerous Insects that I sunk a small, one pound, glass jam-jar in the earth at its base to entrap any that might unwarily walk that way to the sap. Such a high proportion of those taken at trunk and trap were uncommon as to make the whole worth enumeration, especially as I recall no similar collection recorded at this kind of bait. BEETI.ES : — Carabus violaceus, always common, and C. catenulatus on 1 Aug. ; Pterostichus vulgaris and P. tiiger, both always common in trap ;

214

OBSERVATIONS.

Calathus piceus, Agonum angusticolle, several A. oblongum and Bembidium 5-striatum, singly on 18 and 25 J u l y ; Astilbus canaliculatus and Ilyobates nigricollis, singly on 17 June and 4 July ; Oralea picata, Ste. (castanea, Er), half-dozen 20 June to 15 July ; Atheta, two species on 20 June and 1 Aug. ; A. Huridipennis, Autalia impressa, Oligota sp. and Tachinus bipustulatus, all singly in late June ; Philonthus decorus, common 20 June to 19 July ; P. chalceus, Ste. (succicola, Th.) one on 29 J u l y ; Neuraphes elongatus, one on 10 June ; Silpha thoracica ; Hister succicola, common in June, rare J u l y ; Acritus atomarius Aub., one on 14 J u n e : all in the trap. Several Soronia grisea, Cryptarcha imperialis and strigata were seen on the sap on trunk, but no Epureae ; and only one Cryptophagus dentatus on 1 Aug. Dorcus parallelopipedus was constantly in trap and, especially after dark, often on trunk with a few Lucanus cervus; Geotrypes stercorarius and G. vernalis, rare in trap. Single Melanotus castaneipes, on sap 18 June-25 J u l y ; Anobium domesticum in trap ; and Callidium variabile, both in trap on 3rd and taken

by Mr. Stanley on trunk after dark on 13th. One Pachyta collaris, at sap in large hole seven feet up trunk on 29 June.

BUGS :—Calocoris striatus and Psallus varians, singly, perhaps accidentally, in trap. NEUROPTERA :—Orchesella cincta, L. and other Springtails, usually present in trap. LEPIDOPTERA : — Catocala sponsa, a half-dozen sitting on trunk at six feet soon after dusk on 13 July, and later one Aying round sap in bright sunshine ; Thyatira batis, one Aying at trunk at 11 p.m. on 13 July with Amphipyra pyramidea sitting on sap. Vanessa Atalanta, not seen elsewhere tili August, and V. c-album, a few of both on 29 June ; Pararge AEgeria, several on 19 July. Batodes angustiorana at sap on 29 June ; Caccecia Lecheana, Aying numerously round and settling on sap, 18 June. HYMENOPTERA :—Hornets and Wasps, Vespa crabro et vulgaris, always present in force; Ichneumons, Phthorimus compressus, Desv., on 17th and Sphecophaga vesparum, Ct., several on 7 June, males Aying round s a p ; Loxotropa dispar, Nees, one 2 in trap on 25 July. DIPTERA* : — Many Mycetobia pallidipes (as T r . Ent. Soc. 1940, p. 52) gnats on 13th and several Limnobiid daddies on 4 June, Aying at sap ; Chilosia sparsa, one at sap on 7 June ; Brachypoda bicolor, very common on sap, only before 4 June ; Volucella inflata, almost constantly present at sap through June, rarer in July; Chrysochlamys cuprea, one on 19 July ; Pollenia rudis, Calliphora vomitoria and C. erythrocephala, a few occasionally ; Hyetodesia pallida and Allceostylus sitnplex, invariably numerous ; Phorbia * F r o m great l u m p s of coagulated oak sap, or " slime flux, flowing f r o m w o u n d s in trees " ( T r . E n t . Soc. 1940, p. 45), f r o m the Clay Hill ' Cossus tree,' b r o u g h t in an old tin and kept on a shelf in m y Crowna n d - S t i r r u p garage at L y n d h u r s t for a m o n t h , I bred very great n u m b e r s of Rhyphus (Anisopus) fenestralis, Scop., during July 1 9 3 6 . — C . M

215

OBSERVATIONS.

histrio, a few on sap 13 June to 19 July ; Sapromyza sordida, noted on 18 July ; three small species of Ephydridce were hovering at sap commonly, 13 June to 29 July ; Limosina sp., 14 June et seqq. in trap. CRUSTACEA :—Oniscus asellus, L., in trap on 14 June, &c; MYRIAPODA :—Polydesmus complanatus, L., a couple in trap on 11 J u l y ; ARACHNIDA :—Phalangium parietinum, DeG., several in trap on 14 June et seqq. This gives a total of some 70 species taken at Denny Wood in the New Forest, thus:—Beetles 35 ; Bugs 2 ; Springtails 3 ; Lepidoptera 7 ; Hymenoptera 5 ; Flies 15 ; Woodlice, Centipeds and Spiders 3.—CLAUDE M O R L E Y .

A MUCH-TRAVELLED SHELL.—Jaws were jarred in the midst of Suffolk when a calcareous substance was champed in a pudding of Dates, Phoenix dactylifera, L., this autumn. Investigation showed that a f-inch Shell had become mixed with the fruit, presumably from north Africa. It is a specimen, with mutilated mouth, of Bittilm (Cerithium) reticulata, Cost. (Trans, iv, 19), a species that is common throughout the Mediterranean, according to Gwyn Jeffreys.—ARTHUR M A Y F I R L D ; 15 Nov. MOLLUSC POSSIBLY NEW TO SUFFOLK.—Among a great variety of the Revd. Graves Lombard's specimens, most kindly presented by his widow to my collection in May 1934, is a small and water-worn example of the marine Fissurella Grceca, L., named by Mr. Doughty. Unluckily, like too many of the former's Molluscs, this one bears no locality label and so may be of even Continental origin (cf. Trans, ii, p. cc). [I see no reason why a stray specimen of this species should not be washed up on the Suffolk coast: the unexpected happens sometimes. But I have never heard of its occurrence on the East Coast farther north than Kent.—A.M.] Hence it is worthy of record here solely for the purpose of drawing attention of collectors on our shore, whence it has not been noticed (next after Patellidse at Trans, iv, p. 16) since Pliocene times when it was fairly frequent in Suffolk crag (I.e. ii, p. xx). Also Mr. Lombard had taken two unlocalised Cerithium reticulatum, Cost., known with us at only Gorleston, where Mr. Doughty never saw it through a quarter-century's collecting there.

SUFFOLK MOLLUSCA : ADDITIONAL

LOCALITIES.—Among

odd

shells from Cumberland, the Lakes, Derby, Wales, Somerset and the New Forest in my small collection, Mr. Mayfield has found very young Musculus discors (Trans, iv, pp. 2-22) taken in Easton Broad during 1935 ; Abra tenuis, commoner along with Leucopepla bidentata than A. alba on Ramsholt shore; Ancylus lacustris I have seen in Fritton Lake : it is frequent at Catfield in the Norfolk Broads. [68. Ancylastrum: omit the intrusive t from Sudbury. 107. Vitrea crystallina: omit

216

OBSERV ATIONS.

the terminal s.] Vertigo angustior was beaten f r o m ivy, eight feet f r o m the ground, with Ena obscura at Frostenden in 1938.

M r . Mayfield has very generouslv added to m y collection several Pleistocene fossil Acicula lineata, taken f r o m the infilling of one of the Grimes Graves pits just over our north border in 1914 ; live specimens, he adds, are " hard to come by, perhaps a matter of b u t once in a life-time," like his solitaire at Oulton.

Rissoa membranacea is washed u p dead in great profusion, along with Pernigia ulvce, on the Ramsholt shore of the D e b e n ; there Hydrobia ventrosa is of m u c h rarer occurrence ; and in 1932 I found, among them, a single Cirsotrema commutata, which seems quite rare or m u c h overlooked with u s . — C L A U D E M O R L E Y ; M a r c h 1940.

E D I B L E F R O G IN OUR W E S T E R N F E N S . — ' I can vouch for the f r e q u e n t occurrence of Rana esculenta [L.] in the fens round here ; more especially in Wicken they seem very numerous, though perhaps this is due to m y more particular acquaintance with this fen. I have not had leisure to observe t h e m during the present year, b u t hope to visit their haunts soon. Their local names are : Cambridgeshire Nightingales and W h a d d o n Organs.—F. A. HORT' ( N a t u r a l i s t s ' Gazette 1891, p. 40).

H I B E R N A T I O N OF Molge cristata, LAUR.—Crested N e w t s are doubtless quite c o m m o n in all the clay moats and ponds of High Suffolk, as stated at Trans, ii, 223, though rarely seen unless especially sought. Bell says they usually hibernate at the b o t t o m of the water, though he had found t h e m u n d e r stones during winter ; b u t he gives one no idea how early in the autumn they begin to do so. Hence I was surprised to find a female of füll size already tucked u p beneath a loose board in an outhouse at M o n k s Soham so early as 25 September this year, long before any frosts though a few nights had been chilly f r o m the presence of northerly winds.—CLAUDE M O R L E Y .

O R N I T H O L O G I C A L O B S E R V A T I O N S . — A n extraordinary Visitation of Glaucous Gulls in various stages of immaturity took place at Lowestoft during m i d - N o v e m b e r 1939 ; at one time seven were counted in the harbour, where some remained for several weeks ; occasionally an odd bird was seen also along t h e coast during the winter.—A beautiful drake Smezv in füll adult plumage which had been shot at Easton Broad, was brought to m e on 13 January ; its stomach was filled entirely with shrimps ; its companion, more sombrely plumaged, fortunately escaped the g u n . — T h i n g s went badly with Birds during the great " frost " of January, and the open water of our harbours at Lowestoft attracted an interesting variety of species :—Shag.

Cormorant, Common Pochard, Tufted Duck, Scaup (up to about

0BSERVAT10NS.

217

sixty at one time), Scoter (common), Mallard, Great Crested andLittle Grebes, Mute Swan, Glaucous Gull (and, of course, all the common species), Merganser, Oyster Catcher, Redshank, Dunlin, Sanderling, Ringed Plover, Turnstone, and Coot. Dunlins became so emaciated and weak that they could be easily taken in the hand. A Turnstone was seen pecking bits off a hard lump of fat, thrown overboard from a fishing-boat. A Bittern was picked up at Oulton Broad in a dying condition and brought to me ; I tried unsuccessfully to save it by forcibly feeding i t ; its body, when taken from the skin weighed less than one pound in all.—A pair of Corncrakes undoubtedly nested at Pakefield near Lowestoft this spring, and I have good reasons to believe they have done so for two seasons.—The Magpie is spreading into North [and Central, where several were observed at Saxstead and Monks Soham on 26 Oct.—Ed.] Suffolk, although this is a slow process.—On Breydon, one of the few places left where one can go " birding " in 1940 unmolested, a number of interesting waders have been seen this autumn. On 25 August there were two Green Sandpipers, two Curlew Sandpipers with Dunlins, four Greenshanks, besides several Common Sandpipers, Whimbrel and Curlews. By 15 September a large number of Bar-tailed Godwits had arrived, and several small groups of Greenshanks were seen. On 3 October, the wind having been from the East for several days, waders were numerous and of good variety : we were fortunate in seeing six Black-tailed Godwits, besides some dozens of the commoner Bar-tails; Grey Plovers numbered at least a h u n d r e d ; Ruf/, Greenshank, and Turnstone were also seen. Along the wall were Snow Bunting, the first arrived on 21 September, and several Rock Pipits. Two Redwings came over, Aying high, from the north-east; this is an early date for the species.—Few birds of note were seen on autumn passage at Lowestoft : two Black Redstarts were at the Ness Point on 16 October ; about the 20th a considerable influx of Robins took place, and at least four of the Continental race were skulking about barbed-wire at the Ness Point on that date.—F. C. C O O K .

T I D E - M A R K B I R D S . — T h i s is a list of Birds found dead or dying on the tide-mark from Gorleston pier to Benacre sluice, between 21 January and 12 March 1940, by Mr. Harold E. Jenner of Lowestoft, helped by Mr. E. W. C. Jenner and me.

Each specimen was marked as söon as found, to avoid errors in counting :—1 specimen of Song Thrush ; 1 Fieldfare ; 1 Roughlegged Buzzard ; 1 Kestrel; 2 Shag ; 5 Gannets ; 3 Bean Geese ; 1 Whooper Swan ; 1 Bewicks Swan ; 1 Mute Swan ; 1 common Sheld-duck; 1 Mallard-, 4 Tufted Duck-, 14 Scaup Duck-, 33 common Scoter Ducks ; 3 Velvet Scoters ; 2 Goosanders ; 6 Coots ; 1 Oystercatcher ; 1 Dunlin ; 4 Redshanks ; 9 Curlews ; 14 Blackheaded Gulls; 31 Common Gulls; 4 Herring Gulls-, 4 great er

218

OBSERVATIONS.

Black-backed Gulls ; 1 Glaucous Gull; 3 Kittiwakes ; 3 51 common Guillemots; 5 Puffins; 1 Black-throated Div Red-throated Divers ; 1 great Crested Grebe ; 3 Red-ne 1 Storm Petrel; and 6 Fulmar Petrels. Thus the total am to 259 specimens of thirty-seven distinct species. One of the Puffins was alive when found and lived two days in captivity, though a very sick bird. Every care was taken to avoid errors of identification and, where necessary the tape-measure was used or the example brought home for further examination and verification. In addition to the above, a great quantity of old wings-debris, especialy of Kittiwakes, was noted and not included above. Some amount of oil-pollution was present, but not more than has been the case in previous years.—On 25 March a walk along the tide-mark between Benacre and Southwold, previously treated as outside the above territory searched, provided :—5 Guilemots ; 3 Razorbils ; 2 Blackthroated Divers ; one Red-throated Diver ; 1 Red-necked Grebe, with unusually red neck ; 3 Kittiwakes ; single Common and Herring Gulls ; three Scoters and a Fieldfare ; totalling no less than twenty-one birds. We are much indebted to Mr. Jenner for these interesting and valuable details.—F. C. COOK ; 26 March.

These species are in the spring number of ' Bird Notes and News,' which has much to teil of the exceptional winter and effect of the prolonged frost: one observer writes of a walk along the Norfolk sea-shore, where for long stretches the tide-mark seemed littered with dead Birds, many of which feil victims of the oil menace, apparently in trying to secure a scanty meal amongflotsamand jetsam. Numerous Gulls, Guilemots and Razorbills' plumage was found to be absolutely clogged with thick crude oil of the kind usually discharged by ships : ' they were beyond human aid, and could but die miserably.'—HAROLD R. LINGWOOD ; 7 May. AN EFFECT OF THE SEVERE WINTER.—As a result of unusual frost, there appears to be a great scarcity of Thrushes : I have seen only one in Christchurch-park at Ipswich, and a friend of mine says he has heard no thrush-song at Copdock. On the other hand, Blackbirds seem as plentiful as ever. I have seen a white Sparrow in Christchurch park,firstin January and again in April ; atfirstI wondered if it were a much-marked Chaffinch, but it picks and feeds with other Sparrows.—W. ROWLEY ELLISTON ; 30 April. [No Thrush was noticed at Monks Soham by us tili 4 May ; and only two or three were seen at Needham Market up to 26 May.—Ed.] DEPLETION OF Panurus biarmicus, L.—Do your Members happen to know whether any Bearded Tits survived last winter in Suffolk, and bred this year ? In these parts around Horsey in Norfolk the hard weather seems to have knocked out the

219

OBSERVATION.

stock which was already very small, owing to the sea-flood destroying their food, and I am afraid these Birds are in danger of

extinction.—(Major)

Soc. ; 9 Oct. 1940.

A.

BUXTON,

Hon.

See.

Norfolk

Nat.

M e m b e r s will kindly reply.

EARLY B I R D S . — I did not hear the Cuckoo until 24 April [on which day our M e m b e r the Revd. J. R. CHAPMAN at Monks Soham, and I in Letheringham Old Park, also first heard its call this year : its usual day of advent. T h e migrants must have come with a rush for they were numerous at both villages on 25-6.—Ed.] Willow-wrens and Chiff-chaffs were m u c h in evidence when my wife and I visited Barking on 11 April, and met Genepteryx rhamni in the churchyard ; m y Barningham cousins reported the Chiff-chaffs' arrival there in 24 March.

W e were then at Cromer, where there was a grand display of Northern Lights, Aurora

borealis.—H.

R.

LINGWOOD,

Ipswich.

T h e Chiff-chaff was heard at Coddenham and Mickfield on 15 April last. T h e r e is no country here ; I have seen only several Brent Geese and a proliferous Rye Grass.—F. W .

SIMPSON, L i v e r p o o l ;

15

Oct.

SWALLOWS' A R R I V A L . — A single Bird was seen on 28 March, sitting on a window-sill near the village green in T u d d e n h a m St. M a r y ; and I saw four near the water-mill there on 4 April 1940, which is the earliest date on which I have seen the species during fifty years' experience. I pointed t h e m out to a halfdozen labourers there.—FRANK BURRELL, F o r n h a m ; 6 April.

[The Revd. R. B. Caton's earliest date is 3 April in 1897 at Euston, which seems to hold for all Suffolk (Hirundo rustica, L., on 19 March 1933 at Trans, ii, p. lxxx, was not confirmed). Excluding 1933, the Society's dates for the eight years 1930-7 are individually April 28, 26, late 12, 7, 12, 8.—Ed.]

Motacilla cinerea, T U N . — I saw a Grey Wagtail beside the River Gipping at Stowmarket on 23 December 1939. I have never noticed this bird in Suffolk before, although I may have been unobservant, of course ; however, I believe it is far more usually associated with the streams of the hilly districts of western England, and have f o u n d it to be common u p the Lyn Valley of north Devon.—H. E. CHIPPERFIELD, 2 April.

MAGPIES BECOMING G E N E R A L . — I t was good to find that the Magpie is a well known Bird to the very ignorant (upon such a subject) peasants of High Suffolk. A labourer at once told me that he saw one, on 6 December last, Aying across a pasture at Dial-farm in Earls Soham, when I pointed out to him a nest there, twelve feet u p in a young Ash-tree on another pasture.

A second bird was seen by Saxstead church on 21 December.

z

220

OBSERVATIONS.

Ciconia nigra, L I N N . , IN H I G H S U F F O L K . — F o r a month or so preceding 25 October last, a Stork visited the moat at Thorndon rectory, at a time when the autumnal drought had left little water in that moat and it became, consequently, easy for it to prey upon the contained Crucian Carp, Carassius vulgaris, Nil. After such breakfast the Stork habitually stood to digest in the middle of an adjacent pightle, where so unusual a visitor attracted Rooks and other Birds to settle near. It was tamer and less wary than Herons, Ardea cinerea, L., that came for the same diet; and left as soon as the heavy rainfall of early November swelled the moat-water (Local Paper, 20 Nov.) [One regrets that our Member, the Revd. H. A. Harris gives no more exact dates, &c. Black Storks are such rare visitors here that Babington knew but four or five from earliest times (1886, p. 241) and Ticehurst makes only one addition (1932, p. 317) ; we have heard of none since Trans, i, 171, nota.—Ed.] BITTERNS' RANGE S P R E A D I N G . — T h i s morning I flushed a Bittern in the marshes near Hollesley. It rose out of a small reed-bed, within a few yards of my keeper and myself. Its colour seemed to be a somewhat lighter brown than most of the stuffed specimens I have seen. The yellow-green of its legs showed very plainly as it flew away.—[The Hon.] Bernard Barrington, Poplar-farm, Hollesley; undated (local paper, 12 Nov. 1940). [We recall no recent records south of Dunwich (p. 89 supra) ; the extension of Botaurus stellaris, L., to both Eye (p. 141 supra) and Hollesley augurs well for permanent propagation here.—Ed.] SPOTTED WOODPECKERS

AT

WALDRINGFIELD.—Yesterday

was

brought me a specimen of Dryobates major, L., that had been picked up dead in a meadow near here. Its smaller and rarer relative, D. minor, L., I have noted occasionally and some years since it undoubtedly nested here ; but D. (or Picus) major has never occurred in the flesh before in this district as far as my own Observation extends. I found the benefit of our Transactions' delightful Index when looking up the Suffolk data for this bird : somebody has to be congratulated upon its compilation.— (CANON) A . P. WALLER, 4 April 1 9 4 0 .

ICELAND G U L L AT H A R W I C H . — O n 3 December I shot a Larus leucopterus, [Vieill.] in the harbour here. I think it has attained its second year's plumage, as it has a few pearl-grey feathers on its back. I think this is the second specimen recorded for Essex, the other having been shot on the River Colne on 1 January 1887 ; the latter was also in my possession, see Birds of Essex, p. 262.— F. KERRY, Harwich * (The Essex Naturalist vi, 1892, p. 207).

OBSERVATIONS.

221

Larus fuscus, LINN., FAR INLAND.—For the first time near S u d b u r y in at least five years, I saw a Lesser Black-backed Gull on 12 N o v e m b e r last ; it was Aying, with some Black-headed Gulls L. ridibundus, L., over arable fields at Newton G r e e n in a strong south-west wind. O n 14 Nov. I saw about twelve Herring Gulls, L. argentatus, Pont., also here.—BRIAN M .

WARNER, N e w t o n ; 24 Nov. 1940.

RINGED

GULL

AT

HADLEIGH.—A

Sea-gull

was

found

at

Hadleigh on 29 January 1940, ringed with the inscription " M u s e u m , Goteborg, Sweden : C. 33 and 403."—J. T . GRAY, Place-farm, Hadleigh, in local paper of 2 Feb. Doubtless the M u s e u m authorities in question will be glad to know their Gull's terminus.

SEROTINE BAT (Vespertilio serotinus, SCH.).—While patrolling in S e p t e m b e r last I frequently saw Serotines abroad at dusk at a spot two miles north of Lowestoft, about t h e main Y a r m o u t h Road. It was near this spot that M r . H . Jenner picked u p a specimen in the roadway in J u n e 1939. T h i s colony is a fresh discovery and is, I believe, the farthest north so far recorded in Britain. T h e colony at N o r m a n s t o n to the west of Lowestoft (Trans, i, 152), whose existence was confirmed in 1926, still flourishes.—F.

C.

COOK.

ALBINO Talpa Europaa, LINN.—' I have only one white specimen of the Mole by me at present, which is a male and was caught on the marshes close to the t o w n in October 1890.

Another was caught about 19 F e b r u a r y 1891 at Ellingham in Norfolk, whose colour is a sort of dirty white. T h e r e are generally two or three caught every year in Worlingham Hall Park.—Mr. Tilney, Taxidermist, Beccles' (Naturalists' Gazette, iii, p. 37).

STOAT AMONG MOLES.—We were surprised, while going the r o u n d of our mole-traps on 4 M a y last, to find red f ü r caught by one of t h e m . W i t h beating heart and anticipation of the ignominy of having slain Reynard unsportingly, both t r a p and contents were gingerly drawn f r o m the M o l e - r u n which was but just below the earth's surface. T h e r e came to light a Stoat, nipped to death in two places across the central body. T h i s was at 3.30 p.m. in our M o n k s S o h a m paddock, where the trap had been set so recently as 10 a.m. : and Stoats are mainly nocturnal. Putorius ermineus, L., was a perfectly normal female of nine inches long, plus the tail and its hairs of five ; the eight nipples, were conspicuous, t h o u g h the usual litter is b u t five or six young. I regret her untimely decease, for we had recently noticed a most welcome decline in t h e stupid Robbits that have not the sense to leave well alone, after one has done

222

OBSERVATIONS.

a good day's gardening. The point of interest lies in the little beast's presence among Moles, upon which it is not supposed to prey and whose runs one would regard as too strait to allow of entry by it.

SUFFOLK'S FOURTH Delphinus tursio, FAB.—On 2 2 February 1940 the carcase of an eleven-foot Bottle-nosed Dolphin was stranded on Gunton beach. It was an aged male, arthritic and toothless.—F. C . COOK.

A FELINE AUXILIARY.—The Suffolk Society is, in very many directions, far ahead of the Hampshire Field Club here. But you are all Naturalists ! One of our Cats is a great stand-by in Mammal recording, as she catches everything and, by bringing them home, demonstrates that we have all three British Voles (.Evotomys glareolus, Microtus agrestis and amphibius), all three British Shrews (Crossopus fodiens, Sorex vulgaris and minutus), &c., in our wild garden.—DR. F. H. HAINES, Linwood, Ringwood; 23 October. [Hardly an hour after the above interesting Observation's reception, our Cat brought in a three-quarters-grown Weasel, Putorius vulgaris, with never a black hair in his tail. They are much rarer than Stoats at Monks Soham, and three litters in one year are very infrequent with them : probably accounted for by the exceptionally genial summer. They are usually born in April and July, and this little fellow appeared much less than three months old.—Ed.] A. BLACK HARE (Lepus Europceus, Pall.)—" This extraordinary animal has lately been shot by the gamekeeper of LieutenantGeneral Sir Edward Kerrison, Bart., of Oakley Park, Suffolk.

It was started from a wood, while a party of gentlemen were shooting, and was first seen by Edward Clarence Kerrison, Esq. Next day the animal was shot in the parish of Denham, three miles from the place where it was first seen. It is now stuffed, and is in the possession of E. C. Kerrison, Esq., of Brome hall, SufTolk. It is a full-grown hare. Every portion of the für is of the finest glossy black, and, saving the eye, there is not a spot cf colour to be seen. We have heard of white hares, and grey hares, tawny red, blue, and fawn-colour ; but never before heard of the existance of a black hare. Our acknowledgments are due to the Rev. Richard Cobbold, who has obligingly favoured us with the sketch, taken from the rare specimen at Brome H a l l " (The Illustrated London News, 16 J a n . 1847).—F. C. COOK, 1940.