Observations 5 Part 4

OBSERVATIONS.

209

OBSERVATIONS. U n i m p o r t a n t dctails ? — N o n s e n s e , sir : there are n o n e such ! Givc me e n o u g h details, a n d I will explain the secret m e c h a n i s m of the stars.

—Jackson's Founders of the Royal Society.

T w o NOTABLE FOSSILS.—Three or f o u r years ago I scraped out of t h e s u r f a c e soil on C n x ' s Hill, just west of Icehouse Hill in H e v e n i n g h a m , a single bla . ;. v e r t e b r a [obviously of Ichthyosaurus and possibly t h e species I. communis, C o n y b . (cf. T r a n s , i, 151).—Ed], It is 3 | in. across and 4 | high, pierced dorsally for passage of t h e n e r v o u s spinal cord ; weighs 1 lb. 151 oz. and is quite p e r f e c t . Its site is j u s t w h e r e t h e Valley Gravel of t h e Blyth Valley is c a p p e d b y Chalky B o u l d e r C l a v . — A b o u t t h e same t i m e was f o u n d on N e a v e s F a r m in W e s t h a l l and kindly given m e a n almost equally heavy t o o t h [of Mastoden, a p p a r e n t l y M. angustidens, Owen, f r o m the double-ridged molars.—Ed].

Its e n a m e l is entire, g u m - l i n e well s h o w n and outline perfect, e x c e p t i n g t h e final f a n g s at t h e n a r r o w e r e x t r e m i t y . T h e whole weighs 1 lb. 13 oz. ; it is t w o inches b r o a d and six long on t h e crown, a n d has a n o t h e r six in length of fang at longer extremity.— (DR.)

MELVILLE

HOCKEN.

A GENIAL SPRING.—What a w o n d e r f u l year this is for W i l d Flora : t h e roadsides, on m y way f r o m Waldringfield to T h o r p e N e s s in J u l y , r e m i n d e d m e of D e v o n s h i r e lanes with their luxuriant a b u n d a n c e of b l o o m . O n e reason for s u c h wealth is, I s u p p o s e that h e d g e s i d e s have b e e n left u n t r i m m e d and p l a n t - h f e has h a d a chance of s p r e a d i n g itself. I wish it could always b e so Rosebay has p r o p a g a t e d e v e r y w h e r e in t h e w o o d s b o r d e r i n g Foxhall H e a t h " [and t h e j u s t - f e l l e d B r o o m C o v e r t in H e n h a m . — E d . J , especially w h e r e t h e P i n e s have been c u t away a n d , a t h w a r t the evening s u n l i g h t , has b e e n a really marvellous sight : we m u s t be t h a n k f u l s o m e b e a u t i f u l t h i n g s are l e f t ! T h e T o w e r M u s t a r d , T u r r i t i s glabra [ n o w Arabis perfoliata, L a m . ] , also seems on t h e increase : I have seen s o m e very fine patches by t h e roadside in W a l d r i n g f i e l d . O n l y for t h e last m o n t h have I feit really fit since C h r i s t m a s ; n o w t h e j o y of y o u t h is u p o n m e a g a i n . — ( C a n o n ) A . P . WALLER ; 21 J u l y .

AN INTERESTING COMPOSITE.—VYhile traversing a virgin and very Sandy p a r t of B l y t h b u r g h H e a t h near F o x b u r r o w W o o d on the m o r n i n g of 27 M a y last, m y eye was attracted by a conspicuous blue flower, q u i t e u n k n o w n to o u r H o n . Secretary and me. bubsequently D r . H o c k e n was so good as to n a m e it Engeron acre which c u r i o u s F l e a - b a n e does not normally blossom Uli J u l y A u g u s t , so o u r fine c l u m p of s o m e score of s p e c i m e n s was c u n o u s l y

210

OBSERVATIONS.

early : but so has been a large proportion of this spring's plants.— P. J. BURTON ; 8 June 1945. [Both Ramsons Allium ursinum, L., and Cross-wort were in füll flower at Chedeston Hall by 28 April.

—Ed.] T H E NEGLECTED B L A D D E R W O R T . — I have discovered a specimen of Utricalaria major, Smid. ( = neglecta, Lehm.) in a small collection of only some 75 plants that was made about 1882 by Miss Julia Grubbe of Southwold. It was kindly given me in 1944 by her niece who had been sorting family documents, &c ; and I took it to Kew when returning to my volunteer work there in the autumn. M M . Blakelock & Sandwith compared it with other English examples and agree with my identification ; Mr. Wilmott of ßrit. Mus. has contributed a note on its occurrence to the Botanical Society's record lists, which will be published this year. This U. major was found at Blythburgli Lodge [cf Hind 1889, 280 ; Trans. SNS. iv, 175] ; but Miss Margaret Grubbe and I failed to discover it there, where we made an especial but quite short search for it in 1944 ; the old causeway of 1882, thence towards Dunwich, is now broken and may later have allowed the penetration of sah water. I have never found Utricularice in England ; but species of it and Stylidium were studied by me in southern China during 1934.—(Miss) M . M U R I E L W H I T I N G , Blythburgh ; 24 July.

A T U R K E Y OAK.—In a small pightle, between the lane and Willow Farmhouse at Chedeston Green on 7th December last, our Hon. Secretary and I were delighted by the sight of a peculiarly symmetrical, tall and fully green-leaved Oak-tree, measuring 7 ft. 10 in. at five feet from the ground, a most pleasing object in the bare boreal landscape. It proved to be a fine specimen of Quercus cerris, auct., which is a south-European species that was introduced to Britain about 1735-45, and is still very rarely seen outside ornamental gardens. Mr. Mayfield kindly named it, and points out that the leaves, very generally injured by a patch of feit below, were attacked by what used to be considered the fungus Erineum quercinum, auct., but is now found to be the gall of Eriophyes quercinum, Nat., NEW to Suffolk.—MELVILLE H O C K E N ; 12 Dec. 1945.

[Respecting the Huntingfield Oak of 27 ft. in girth and that in Heveningham Park of over 21 (Trans, supra, p. 29, it is interesting to find that the Newland Oak is Glos, was 4 7 i feet at five feet high ; and the now ruinous Cowthorp Oak near Wetherby in Yorks 38i feet. These and probablv all Britain's giant Oaks pertain to the variety pedunculata, of Quercus robur, L.—Ed], T H E BOTANY OF H I T C H A M . — I have begun to list the local fiora and M r . H. R. Lingwood has kindly named for me such obscure kinds as Viscid Groutidsel, at the former searchlight gateway, Cudweed [Gnaphalium idiginosum, L., is frequent near woods in Cretingham this year.—A. M.] and Yellow Star Thistle. I am glad

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211

to say the Greater Cclandinc, Wild Mignonette and Lesser Tcasel are spreäding. I have observed Mnsk Mallow, Centtiary, Spindle and the Orchids: Bee, Pvramid, Fragrant, Marsh, Spotted, Frog, Greater Butterfly and Twayblade, with Man Orchid in Semer and Rock Rose at Thorp Morieux. I am grateful to the Society for obtaining my permit to explore Brettenham park.—ALWYN BULL, Hitcham ; 6 Aug. THE MARSH HELLEBORINE.—Though Hind shows this Epipactis palustris, Crntz., to grow pretty continuously along the Little Ouse, he does not point out that it actually abounds close to the source of the Waveney, as I found to be the case early last July.

Xor does he record it from anywhere near Heveningham Park, where I found it this year but by no means plentifully.—P. J. BURTON, 7 July. [It may well be here more permanently placed on record than, in the newspaper to which he sent the discovery, that Mr. Mayfield saw five piants of the closely allied but far rarer Liparis (olimSturmia) LOMC/M, Rieh., on 27 July 1935 " on one of the Suftolk fens in the Waveney Valley". Hind had but four Suffolk localities.—Ed.] PLANTS ROUND L O W E S T O F T . — M u c h of the best Botanical grounds here have been used during the last six years by naval and military men for trenches, earthworks and mining, over great stretches of foreshore and sand-dunes ; I fancy years will elapse before they can be cleared. When such soil is brought from a depth of several feet to the surface, unusual Plants sometimes appear on i t : after trenches were dug during 1915 in the Lowestoft Yacht Club garden, the excavated earth was covered the next summer with Cahile maritima, Scp., previously unknown here for at least a half-century. Now waste spaces, but partially cleared after enemy bombing, are gay with masses of Epilobium angnstifolium, L., and Scnecio squalidus, L., both unknown in the town hve-and-twenty years ago, and the latter is so profuse that, though not truly indigenous, it will persist. Another interloper, Erigeron Canadcnse, L., is become a pest all over the town and should be uprooted, for it can be hardly considered decorative though a finely shaped Plant. I was glad to notice the other day that the Broads' Sonchus palustris, L., confined in Suffolk to Lothingland, Palgrave and formerly perhaps Felixstow, is holding its own in Oulton Broad, where I counted fourteen Plants varying from three to nine feet high, about the same number as a good many years ago : but I fear it will altogether disappear a few years hence, owing to the sale of its sites for waterside buildings. At another spot i found great increase in the numbers of a Moss, Lecuobryum glaucutn, Schp. (pyriforme, Wils.), in the onlv place I have Seen it ; occasional loose tufts of it will put out new leaves upon what was the underside, and may eventually become a more or less globular green ball by being moved about by the wind or other agency.

212

OBSERVATIONS.

M y garden still retains a few Plants of Senebiera didyma, Pers. [confirming H i n d . — E d . ] and Chenopodium Vulvaria, L., which are not very common so I cannot dispense with them, though neither adds to the sweetness of their environment when touched. H o w ever, with t h e m grows the very fragrant Plant, Silcne noctiflora, L., which miraculously appeared in the same ground and has never been seen elsewhere by me it must have known I should treat it kindly. Perhaps a specimen of Atriplex pedunculata will pay me a similar visit, but I ha' me doots ! — E R N E S T R. L O N G ; 4 Oct. T w o RARE PLANTS.—On 3 J u n e last I f o u n d the Grass Vetchling, Lathyrus Nissolia, L., growing profusely for about two hundred yards along the Grass-verge of the lane leading f r o m Huntingfield to Cratfield, in the former parish ; its crimson flowers made a goodly show among the verdant background. [For another occurrence ' near Haiesworth', cf. Trans, iv, p. 242.—Ed.] On 4 June the Trefoil Trifolium suffocatum, L., was in füll flower on a small green in Wenhaston village, between the Back Road and Coles H i l l ; in fact, the whole green was composed mainly by this Clover. [Hind knew less than a dozen localities for this rare species, which is particularly recorded f r o m Yarmouth & Aldeburgh in 1 7 9 3 - 4 at Proc. Suff. Archaeol. Inst, xii, 2 2 5 . — E d . ] Viola canina, L., were in füll flower by the roadside at Wissett on 26 J u l y . — M . H O C K E N .

O T H E R U N C O M M O N P L A N T S . — A single strong bush of Berberis communis, L., was noted on 26 M a y last, growing in a very ordinary mixed road-hedge at Valley-farm in Linstead Parva (M. H O C K E N ) .

—Petty Whin, fast becoming exstirpated by the plough in our County, was observed upon its northern limit on 7 July, in an unusually d a m p Situation in Redgrave Fen, close to the Waveney's source (MLY).—On 17 Sept. I found the enclosed plant growing close to the road, where it has been recently repaired, in north H o p t o n . Can vou teil me what itis ? (C. C. R. T . GILES. Soapwort Saponaria officionalis, L., probably imported there b u t freq u e n t near the Creeting gravel-pits.—A. M.).

LARGE TREES.—Very many fine T r e e s are preserved all round Martlesham rectory ; Elms were particularly well-grown, but the best Beeches and Horse Chestnuts seemed little over a Century old ; just below the Hall on 22 Sept. I measured an outstanding Oak that rivalled the larger Barking one (Trans, iv, 244) with a girth of 18 feet 5 inches at five feet f r o m the ground. T h e broadest of several old Limes, close to Heveningham Lake, was f o u n d on 27 April to be 13 ft. 8 inches at the same height. M a n y old Boxbushes, left when Broom Covert in H e n h a m was felled last winter, stand fully 16 feet in height. A large-leaved Elm-tree, that stood in front of the 16th Century house in Haughlev Park, was felled last September, when (Local Paper, 26th) it stood 94 feet high, contained circa 420 feet or fifteen tons of timber, measured 17 feet

OBSERVATIONS.

213

in circumference at four feet from the ground, and yet a count of its annual rings is stated to show it no more than 185 years old.

Mr. Lingwood points out, in commenting upon the last, that variability of the seasons' growth is deducible from these rings' relative breadth.—CLAUDE MORLEY. T H E W H I T E WOODLOUSE.—Platyarthrus Hoffmannseggi, Bdt.. hitherto unrecorded from ' High Suffolk', occurs in the nests of the red Ant Myrmica ruginodis, Nyl., in Glemham Magna park as I discovered today.—CRANBROOK ; 15 April.

A HANDSOME PHALANGID.—It is regrettable that none of our Members seem inclined to work out the Suffolk Spiders more thoroughly. A very conspicuous, black and white Harvestman, Oligolophns tridens, Koch, was common among tangled undergrowth in Cretingham marshes on 20 August last and is probably ubiquitous in such situations throughout the County, yet has not been noticed here since 1 9 0 3 (Trans, iv, 1 6 6 ) . — C L A U D E MORLEY. T H E N U T - B U D M I T E , NEW TO S U F F O L K . — I do not find Eriopkyes avcllana, Nalepa, the Hazel ' big bud ' maker, recorded from our County yet. It seems to be rather abundant round Mendlesham this winter ; and the bush, from which I gathered the enclosed specimens yesterday, was covered with it.—ARTHUR MAYFIELD ; 18 March 1945. [They pass the winter as eggs, which are laid late in the year and at first quite oval but become irregulär before the growing Mites hatch ; after emergence, the young Mites cast their skins which are found in the galls, themselves formed by Hazel-buds' folded leaves distorted by the enclosed parasites' irritation. T h e unicellular Galls in early spring are 10 mm. in length and 21 in girth, growing singly, subconical, pubescent and brownish green. Each contains a multitude of the very minute Mite, whose body is subcylindrical, elongate and trans-striate, with but two pairs of legs that rise adjacently below the fore-part of the cephalothorax, which ends in a conical projection containing the simple mouth : very slender sword-shaped jaws, Atting inter se like scissor-blades and including other apparatus, used to masticate the hairs that line the gall. In July-August the Mites desert old buds for new, utterly destroying the leafage and catkins of each. Hundreds have been observed to fall from buds to foliage below, whence they are dispersed by the breeze or upon passing Insects' legs. These wretches have ruined most of the planted Hazels in my New Forest garden, over half their buds being affected.—DR. F. H . HAINES].

GALL-MITE NEW TO SUFFOLK.—Enclosed is a kind of Witches Broom that every year occurs on a Crack.Willow, Salix jragilis, near my house in Mendlesham. I am sorry it is in such an advanced State : in summer it is a beautiful green. Cari you kindly place it for me ? [The specimen is a gall caused by an attack of the MiteEriophyes (Trans, iv, 173) triradiatus, Nal., upon

214

OBSERVATIONS.

the catkins, which causes their leafy development and persists on the Crack, and other, Willows throughout the year, doing only negligible damage.—Ed., sec. Kew.] T h e time for publication of a S u m m a r y of Suffolk Flora, like that of Fauna at T r a n s , v, 74, is not yet ripe because I have notes of h u n d r e d s of Fungi-species, the majority of microscopic dimensions, not yet placed upon record.—ARTHUR M A Y F I E L D ; 6 March.

RARE COPROPHAGOUS BEETLE.—Two liviag Beetles and two pupal Chambers of m u d & dung, oval, one inch long and | broad, of Copris lunaris, L., out of several Clusters of the latter that had been dug u p four inches underground, 16 July in General Sir Archibald H o m e ' s garden at Cavenham Park, have been received

by Norwich M u s e u m . T h e last notice of this species in Suffolk appears to be that of Dixon Hewit at T h e t f o r d about 1905.—E. A. ELLIS, Norwich M u s e u m ; 13 Aug. [It was first taken here, occasionally in plenty, at Bungay before 1840 ; and we f o u n d one male in a street gas-lamp at Ipswich in August 1895.—Ed.] BEETLES I N Cortinarius violaceus, FR.—In the course of Clearing an overgrown circular flower-bed about ten feet in diameter on a M o n k s Soham Iawn, backed by a shrubbery of Scots Pines &c, on 18 April last, I discovered this edible F u n g u s close to the ground. Its peculiar shape and basal ramifications suggested Coleopterous inhabitants ; and examination revealed four species of no small interest. Largest was the common Oxytelus scvlpturatus, Gr., smallest was Acrotrichis atomaria, D e G . , besides which were several of the u n c o m m o n Rhizophagus perforatus, Er. and a single larger darker individual that proves to be Rhizophagus parallelicollis, Er.—CLAUDE M O R L E Y .

L A D Y B I R D S DESTROYING CABBAGE WHITES.—Butterflies have been very numerous here this s u m m e r : Polychloros in m u c h greater n u m b e r s than on its first local appearance which was in 1944 ; Edusa, &c. Also we had the greatest invasion of Ladybirds that I ever expect to see ; they literally covered the ground along the coast for over a mile on 19 July, and stayed scattered over the district tili every Aphis was consumed, when I especially noticed that they were feeding on larvae of Pieris brassices as the latter emerged f r o m their egg-shells, so preventing great damage (NOEL BLYTH, Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex).—There was a great hatch of Ladybirds on the shore and denes near Leiston on 23 July, when they were of every conceivable size, colour and n u m b e r of spots ( D R . G A R N E T T there, 1 August).

[Coccinella 7-punctata, and Synharmonia conglobata, L., have been in unusual plenty over all Suffolk throughout the summer, down to at least 29 Sept.—Ed.] O U R CELLAR B E E T L E S — I got a Beetle in Eye on 20 Feb. 1945 which I thought was B. mucronata [Ltr., quite correctly]. N o w I get one f r o m f a r m stables among üebris of chaff, &c, fallen from

OBSERVATIONS

215

the manger here at Mellis on 24 May, which seems to be that species and the Eye one to be B. mortisaga, L. All books say the latter is rare in England ; so I am taking the liberty of sending both to you for your decision.—(The Revd.) H. E. J. BIGGS, Mellis Rectory, near Eye ; 14July. [The Mellis specimen is B. lethifera, Msh., not noted in the County since Ernest Baylis took one in Ipswich 1896-7 and Tuck two or three in a Bury cellar during 1898-1903. There the latter also discovered the sole British example of B. Gages, L., an abundant Insect in Grand Canarv.

But B. mortisaga remains unknown in Suffolk.—Ed.] INTERESTING BEETLES OF 1945.—Compared with the numerous Hymenoptera and Diptera of the present summer, Coleoptera have been distinctly scarce though such is partly owing to lack of any particular attention accorded their Order. Half a dozen, however, merit especial notice on account of their specific general rarity in our County :—Ophonus azureus, Fab., of which few Suffolk records exist, happened to be running in vii's at Brandeston on 11 May. Xantholinus glaber, Nord., was described in M S . bv William Kirby as Gyrohypnus (Kirby) rotundicollis, under which name it became published by Stephens (Illust. Mand. v, 1832, 259), who terms it ' rare : taken near Bristol and in Suffolk'. T o this he adds (Manual, 403) that it occurred under ' stones in June ', probably taken by Kirby in the Gipping marshes at Barham.

Such has been the sole Suffolk record for over a füll Century, tili I chanced to sweep a specimen in the Deben marshes at Brandeston on 12 July last. Labrodor (Ips) hortensis, Fourc., was found singly, perambulating the broad stool of a recently felled Spruce in Bentley Woods on 12th, and swept from long grasses in Blythb u r g h W o o d o n 18th, May. Malachim ceneus (Trans, v, 35) again turned up, but only singly, on Chcerophyllum flowers in Monks Soham paddock on 30 May 1944 and 14 May 1945, though none were seen during 1943. Agrilus laticornis, 111., was swept along with Anthribus variegatus, Gf., in a marshv wood at Shipmeadow on 20 May, far from any Spruces. Scymnus arcuatus (Trans, i, 124) again appeared upon the ivyed windows of Monks Soham House, this time on the unusually sultry afternoon of 15 Julv.

Coccinella 4-punctata was beaten from its Heveningham Spruce fir on 22 A p r i l ; Rhagonycha fulva, Scop., appeared, a füll week early, 26 June on umbells at Brandeston ; and Mr. Jim Burton found a fine 9 Prionus coriarius, L., sitting upon a very old Oak-stool in Heveningham Park 17 August (Mly). A Single example of Longitarsus parvulus, Payk. (Trans, iii, 127), was bottled at Ipswich, close to the railway-station, on 18 June (REVD. HERBERT BIGGS).

M I T R E - B U G S ON H O N E Y - D E W . — A score of tall Mullein-spikes, half flower and half seed on 4 August last, were growing on the broken Pleistocene Loam above a Chalk pit on Portman Hill in Eriswell: on them were their usually attendant Beetles, Meligeth.es

216

OBSERVATIONS.

murinus, Er. and Longitarsus thapsi, Msh. But much more conspicuous were the Mitre-bug Pentatoma baccarum, L. and Coreid bug Corizus parumpunctatus, Schi., of which the former generally occurs on Sloe and is so rare that I have not found a half-dozen specimens in such sandy places as this Breck and about Southwold during fifty years ; the latter is attached to only Vipers Bugloss and known in Suffolk nowhere but about Brandon, Barton Mills and Tuddenham next it. But on each of these Mulleins both were literally in dozens ; so I sat myself down among the rough herbage (including seeding Houndstongue, unluckily!) and tubed füll series with no small satisfaction, noting that both were alert in a temperature of some 85°, dropped very readily and the latter were prone to fly at the least alarm.

I can think of nothing but honeydew to attract such incongruous Bugs to this unpalatable plant ; but my closest search showed no Aphid.es, nor is any given

by Buckton as attacking Verbascum Thapsus, L. A F T E R F O R T Y YEARS.—In the course of searching Ragwortstems in Monks Soham paddock for Diptera on 22 Sept., I saw a large brown object that dropped (into my expectant hand) as soon as the plant was touched : a Q Syromastes marginatas, L., never seen here before ! The last taken was a actually feeding on Ivy-blossom upon the summit of the close-cut, four-feet Whitethorn-hedge fencing a garden to the west of Haiesworth, just before dusk on the warm 29 Sept. 1943. It is much rarer with us than in west England, always occurring solus.—Many Heterogaster urticee, Fab., were sent from Boyton (with the suggestion that they had been boring timber !) to Ipswich Museum, who forwarded them to us for determination on 8 Sept. ; they were all still alive in their tube tjiere, when I found another specimen running outside a Haiesworth window of Dr. Hocken's house on 12th.—The Aphis Pterocallisjuglandicola, Kalt. (Trans, ii, 146), was bladdering Walnut leaves in the same Haiesworth garden on 10 Sept.

Hoplomachus Thunbergi, F A L L . , V E R Y GENERAL.—This Plantbug was less profuse than at Trans. 1943, p. 103, on 9 June last; but two nets swept over the same hill side produced some forty examples, after the closest search at roots of the Hieracium on both 12 & 21 May had revealed no trace of them or any larva that could be theirs. A series was presented to the British Museum, which possesses the species from Weybridge, Shere and Chobham in Surrey, Wolvercote in Oxford and Colesborne in Glos. It is recorded by Butler from also Cornwall, Somerset, Essex, Leicester and perhaps Derby. I was not surprised, then, to sweep it, from the same kind of food-plant, on Stuston Common ten days later, giving it a ränge through all east Suffolk ; nor to find recently (EMM. 1945, p. 266) that it has turned up so near London as Finchley in Middlesex, this time on flowers of both II. aurantiacum Sc Leontodon.

217

OBSERVATIONS. T w o O L D STONE-FLIES NEW TO SUFFOLK.—A r e v i s i o n of

Ple-

coptera in the late M r . Dale's Dorset collection ( E M M . 1944, p.

273) brings forward two species that are not in our Suffolk List (Trans, i, 185). These are Leuctria hippopus, Kmp., of which a pair is labelled ' Suffolk 1861 ', and a solitaire male of Nemoura avicularis, Morton, with a similar origin ; the only other specimens hence are both sexes of the ubiquitous N. variegata, Ol. One rather naturally wonders who can have been collecting Stone-flies here in that long-dead year. Prof. Henslow j u m p s to mind ; but his Insects were nearly confined to the more conspicuous Lepidoptera. T h e sole periodicals on the subject then were Stainton's scientific Entomologist's Annual, and his more populär Weekly Intelligencer. In the former the great McLachlan, just beginning to work Water-flies, refers to Aldeby where the local schoolmasterdealer, William Winter, was at that time very active in capturing all Orders of Insects. In the latter (page 186), Winter actually prints a list of ' Neuroptera ' recently taken by him round Beccles, whence we may safely believe to have come Mr. Dale's specimens, bought of Winter. It is rather a slur upon our Society that the splendid Waveney marshes have never been adequately worked for these Perlidse in recent years.

A

SECOND SUFFOLK M A Y F L Y . — A l l T r o u t - f i s h e r s l o o k

keenty

forward to the ' rise of the fly ' ; they term our own first species The Mayfly because it emerges from its pupal stage about 7 May (at least, in the Cotswolds) and, apparently, but little later in the Norse hill-streams near Sta'vanger. From that our second kind is more or less differentiated under the names Black Drake for male, Grey Drake for female, Green Drake for the pseudimago and Spent Gnat when they are seen floating on the vrater after laying their eggs ; no more than a score, out of the 47 British species of Ephemeridae, bear these generally recognised ' fishermen's names'.

Of the genus Ephemera, only one is recorded from Suffolk at Trans, i, p. 186 ; and t h i s E . vulgata, Linn., is much our commonest kind though confined to such running water as the River Gipping at Ipswich and Blakenham Magna, the Deben at Wickham Market, the Dove at Braiseworth, and Little Ouse at Brandon staunch ; but the sole spot at which I have noticed it in profusion is over the Waveney at Shipmeadow lock, where it annualiy swarms with its peculiar dipping flight during 3-27 June (1935-42) ; in Suffolk I have no note of its emergence before 24 May (1895 & 1923).— E. Danica, Müll., was omitted from the 1931 List on account of its uncertain occurrence here, though I have it from the Westmorland lakes, the partly subterranean Derbyshire trout-streams, Gloucester, Berks and both the New Forest and Otterburn in Hants, as well as Limerick and Killarney. Actually it is not rare over the Deben at Brandeston during only 15 May to 8 June ; but the third British kind, E. lineatus, Eat., is still unknown here, though any Thames insect should occur in our waters. As has been sung :

218

OBSERVATIONS.

" T h e Fly that is born with the sinking sun, to die ere the midnight hour, May have deeper joy ere his course is run than Man in his pride and power; And the Insect's minutes be spared the fears and the anxious doubts of our three score years. " —CLAUDE MORLEY ; 5 F e b . 1945.

DRAGONFLY NEW TO SUFFOLK.—The beautiful little scarletbodied Pyrrhosoma tenellum, Vill., is a south-European species and, consequently, ought not to ränge so far north as Britain ; but, as it does so and extends here to Cambs. commonlv and even perhaps Lancs., I have been looking for it in Suffolk (Trans, i, 23). On 7 July last a few of both sexes occurred in a restricted corner of Redgrave Fen at 2 p.m. in hot sunshine. It used to be found in Essex, whence it extends through Surrey and Sussex to only Hants : frequent all over the New Forest and on 23 June 1936 especially profuse on Ramsdown Hill.—P. J. BURTON.

At Old Newton on 19 July my father saw JEschna cyanea carrying a male moth, Potatoria ; he followed it tili settled and secured the latter when dropped. Its head had been amputated, but the wings were still flapping.—GEOFFRY BURTON, 10 Sept.

DRAGON-FLIES OF 1 9 4 5 . — O d o n a t a were on the wing in rather more than their usual numbers during the genial weather of late May. Scores of Calopteryx splendens, Harr. (Trans, i, 22), were Aying ncar the river at Semer about 5 June. ALWYN BULL, 19 June. Also at Norwich at 1 p.m. on 28 June. NORTON B . GARRARD, 381 Dereham-road, Norwich ; 28 June.—Virgo, L., was the sole Calopteryx I saw, and that commonly, at North Towton in midDevon last year. D. W . COLLINGS, 28 June.—JEschna cyanea, Müll., emerged unusually early this year ; the first was Aying on 21 June in Monks Soham garden, where were at least two on 24th, and on 23rd fully as rnany were noted in Blythburgh Wood.

CLAUDE MORLEY.—It was Aying in Thorndon Fen on 2 Sept. ; but the only JE. grandis I have seen this year was in Blythburgh Wood on 15 August. By 20 May the very local Libelhila fulva, Müll. (Trans, ii, 186), was somewhat numerous, and on 23rd quite profuse, at the Shipmeadow marshes with a few Brachytron pratense, Müll., which latter occurred also sparingly in Blythburgh and vv angford woods, and at Latimer Dam, &c, up to at least 3 June.

All the larger species were very scarce in June at Heveningham Lake, where I took the second Suffolk Orthetrum cancellatum, L. (Trans, iii, 95), on 17th but then saw no sign of Anax Imperator, Lch., males of which began to emerge there on 22nd.—P. J. BURTON, 3 Sept.

FURTHER Anax imperator.—On 25 August 1 9 4 4 my daughter caught a fully grown nymph in the same pond as at Trans, supra 158. This we kept in an aquarium through the winter, feeding it on Blood-worms and small Earth-worms. On 22 May 1945 the $ dragon-Ay emerged and was released in the neighbourhood

OBSERVATIONS.

219

of the pond, hoping she would find a mate. In July I noticed a large Dragon-fly laying eggs among weeds in the pond's middle ; its general coloiiring was similar to that of Anax imperator but, as it was some way away, I was unable to identify it certainly.

On 10 Sept. I caught another nymph at the same pond, only about | in. long, but it looks very much like a young A. imperator, though rather too small to be sure yet. I am keeping it in the aquarium, where it is feeding on Blood-worms.—S. BEAUFOY. RARITIES IN THE " W I L D E R N E S S . " — N e a r l y the last five years have been passed by me in the wilderness, at Aberhafesp in Monmouth ; but this luckily proved to be such a Garden of Eden as supplied me with the Dragonfly Gomphus vulgatissimus, L. (Trans, i, 21) and local Hoverer-fly Criorrhina ranunculi, Pz., both at the surprising altitude of no less than eight hundred feet above ordnance datum. Now I am back at the Bishops Stortford address, and must see about attending some Suffolk meetings.— P. B. M .

ALLAN ;

5

Nov.

DESTRUCTIVE G R A S S H O P P E R S . — W h e n petrol for lawn-mowers was banned in the recent war, I had recourse to burning my long Grass in the hot days of early summer. The lawn did very well, excepting ultra-green patches of weeds, young Grass soon sprouted and looked quite promising. Then came a plague of Grasshoppers that ate every new blade, p r o p a g a t e d a n d bred appallingly, without abatement tili late September when cold nights feil upon them.

My gardener accuses the Grasshoppers' larvae of the damage, but I fancy the imagines to be the culprits. Is this likely ?—N. BURROUGHS GARRARD, Woodlands, Dereham Road, Norwich; 23 Sept. [Our commonest Grasshopper is Stenobothnis bicolor, Chp. ; but none of the genus is regarded as seriously injurious to Vegetation. We should, rather, suspect the Grass-roots attacked by some such Daddy-longlegs as Pales cornicina, L., found by Curtis to be a pest to pastures. Heather is annuallv fired in north England to provide succulent shoots for Grouse.—Ed.] S P H I N X PINASTRI, L.—On or shortly before 10 June a Pine Hawk emerged from chrysalis which I uncovered some time ago while gardening. So I inspected my Pine-trees here, and another moth was discovered on the trunk about five feet from the ground. A second chrysalis seems to be this species, but I doubt whether it be alive. On 6 July my wife found two mating on the trunk of a Pine-trec and I transferred them, still mating, to a cage with some pine leaves ; this morning there are six eggs. Has this Hawk been reported from so far north before ? I know Suffolk is one of its chier English haunts, but think it is usually found furtiier to the south. M A J O R F . H . W. R O S S - L E W I N , T h e White House, St. Olaves; 7 July.—I took one fine specimen sitting, almost invisibly, on a Pine-trunk at Wisse« Hall on 24th June (M. H O C K E N ) .

220

OBSERVATIONS.

[Wisset* is on the latitude of Easton Broad, its n o r t h e r n limit hitherto (Memoir, 1937, 92) ; St. Olaves is just thirteen miles f u r t h e r north, on the Norfolk border, and an extension of its ränge to that distance.—Ed.] T w o specimens were found on Scots Pines near Aldeburgh on 20 M a y & 8 June, and a third on a telegraph-pole in Yoxford on 12 June ; indeed, this seems the commonest H a w k - m o t h of its district (GARNETT). F u r t h e r south such can hardly be the case, for a four hours' scrutiny of fullv a h u n d r e d Pines, over a very wide area in and around Iken and Hollesley and T a n g h a m Forest, gave our H o n . Secretary and me b u t three specimens, of which two were in cop., on 1 July (BTN).

A single example occurred alongside the Hadleigh-road in Ipswich during the same month (PIGOT, V.V. 3Ist). [ T h u s the species' ränge is extended both northerly and to the south-west in the course of 1945.—Ed.] A N ESSEX Catocala fraxini, L . — A small boy teils me that he saw a Clifden Nonpareil in the window of a shop in Ingatestone on 17th Sept. H e says it was alive at the time ; and is very definite that it was that species, so I must accept his word.—R. M . PIGOT. SOME N E W L O C A L I T I E S . — N o t h i n g of particular interest occurred to me during 1944, though the following may be worth recording, their numerals are those of the Society's 1937 Lepidopterous ' M e m o i r . ' 16, Fuliginosa on 29 April at Stowmarket, where a half-dozen 467, Parthenias were netted in Northfield W o o d early that m o n t h . In that wood 598, Paphia has become fairly common and on 13 August I caught there a feciale that has an orange spot on both forewings between the second and third veins ; also a normal male t u r n e d u p on 6 July at Lodge Wood in Framlingham with one 614Sibylla, two of which species I saw in the above N o r t h field Wood on 3 August. At Framlingham I took 272 Luctuosa on 4 June, on 11 M a y a female 579 Pavonia emerged f r o m 1943 pupa', and on 21 July a couple of 607 C-album formpallidior occurred in the Lodge Wood there. 102, Ochroleuca was common in August u p o n Knapweed flowers. Best wishes to the Societv for a prosperous 1945.—A. E. ASTON, S t o w m a r k e t ; 13 Jan. PARADISE LOST ( T E M P O R A R I L Y ) . — B e n t l e y Woods, celebrated locality since at least 1836 (Trans, iii, 194) where once a füll series of G r a p h i p h o r a Dahli came to an evening's treacle and E n n o m o s fuscantaria swarmed at light, is not what it was. At the least, it feil far short of expectation on 1 September last, a dark and balmv night with not the faintest breeze. T h e whole of 1945 was an exceptionally bad season for M o t h s in Suffolk ; b u t its nadir seemed reached on that evening, when a powerful paraffin lamp, radiating luminance f r o m an oak-stool in a recent Clearing of the trees, attracted nothing b u t a solitaire Noctua c-nigrum, while one Calothysanis amata was netted drifting by, in the course of two solid hours f r o m 8 p.m. Some fifteen trees had been sugared and,

OBSERVATIONS.

221

during the same period, yielded the (?) delectable total bag of one Meticulosa, a füll half-dozen Pyramidea and a brace each of Pollens, Promiba, C-nigrum and Brassica : can you beat i t ! Nor did an hour's vigorous larva-beating in the afternoon show to greater advantage : from Oak feil one Noctuid Caterpillar ; from Aspen Single ones of Megacephala, Notha and Or. Indeed, rarely was an eaten leaf of any sort detectable, where every tree and shrub is usually half defoliated by their ravages.—P. J. BURTON. SUFFOLK LEPIDOPTERA IN 1945.—In general this has been a poor year, though there have been many conspicuous exceptions, more (.'specially among the migratory species. Germany's lunatic war ceased in May, and that in the Far East during mid-August, resulting in progressive liberty to personal transit in Britain, though petrol remained restricted and railroads congested. Spring was phenomenally early and genial ; summer variable ; and autumn normal. All dates are very early. 11 (of our 1937 Memoir) Senex : at Barking Wood light 7 July (Mly) ; 16. Fuliginosa : ditto (Burton), Hitcham (Bull), common at Thorndon (Rev. H. A. Harris); 21. Russula : males alone not infrequent on Blythbro Heath 23 June (Btn); 31. Bicolorana : bred from Bentley Woods larva, 2 vi (Beaufoy) ; 46. Orion : Bentley Wood 4 vi' 1891 & 7 vi 1895 (in coli. Revd. J. H. Hocking, jam penes Dr. Melville Hocken), one on trank there on 3 vi 1945 (S. Beaufoy); 65. Subtusa : beaten Aspen in Brandeston marshes 14 Aug. (Mly) ; 83.

Trigrammica, var. bilinea, Hb. : on sugar in Cretingham watery wood 8 vi (Btn) ; 102. Ochroleuca : singly at Brandeston 21 vii (Mly), Badley 22 vii (Platten), Walpole on 2nd, Monks Soham lanes at light on 3rd and Brandon on 4th Aug. (Btn) ; on Buddleia fiower at Reydon 4 viii (Baker) and Barking Woods 4 8c 8 viii (Geoff.

Burton); 122. Vestigialis : at Brandon light 4 Aug.; 136. Acurious, exstigmatical form of Ditripezium at Thistle-flower & sugar in Blythbro Wood 28 vii (Btn) ; 145.Stigmatica : profuse on Brandon sugar 4 viii (Mly); 158. Prasina : one on sugar in Cretingham watery wood 8 vi. (Btn); 159. Sphinx ; taken in " Ipswich 1897 Sc Copdock at light Dec. 1901 " (Hocking coli.) ; 162. Lunosa : at Monks Soham light at 12-30 a.m. 17 ix (Mly) ; 183. Chamomillce: " Copdock May 1903 " (Hocking coli.) ; 194.' Viminalis : singly at Barking Wood light 7 vii (Mly) & 14 vii (GBtn) ; 252. Cribralis : common at Latimer Dam in Kessingland, early July 1941 (Gd & Btn), one in Hoxne osier-carr 26 vi 1944 ; 266. Nupta : first seen at Haiesworth 26 vii (Hkn), Brandeston by Deben 2 viii and Brandon on sugar 4 viii (Mly); 271. Fasciana : one taken at " Bentley June 1904, M. Hocking " (now in coli. Hocken); 281.

Festucce : Reydon 28 vii Sc 8 viii, Sc 294. Phceorrhoea : at light in Reydon 12 vii (Baker); 296. Muricata : Thelnetham Fen, not uncommon 15 vii 42 ; Redgrave Fen, singly 7 vii 45 (Mly); larvae on Comarum palustre in Suffolk, May 1917 (Entom. 1918, 111) ;

222

OBSERVATIONS.

317.Rubiginata: Eriswell roadside 4 viii (Mly) ; 319 & 373. Pendularia et Nanata : at Blythbro Wood 29 iv ( l i t n ) ; 386. Unduiata : Blythbro Wood 23 v i ; 433. Procellata : Barking Wood light frequent 7 vii ; MX.Liturata : Tangham Forest 1 vii; 479.Punctaria: Blythbro Wood 29 iv ; 485. Piniarius : Blaxhall junetion wood in v i ; 528. Fuscantaria : Monks Soham 6 ix (Mly).—544. SUllaiar-um : singly at Easter & on 16 ix at Herringfieet (R.-Lewin); one at Barking 15 July and frequent in Needham garden 17 vii to 2 Sept. (GBtn), many larvae on Phlox in Ipswich viii (Beaufoy), three in my Gorleston garden this summer, the first for severai years (Mrs. J. L. Moore, in lit. 12 Aug.), one at Leiston in late July (Dr. Garnett), Framlingham & Stowmarket (Aston), singly at Chedeston on 30th, Spexhall on 29 July, & in Haiesworth garden 7 Aug. & 13 Sept. (Hocken) ; very prevalent in Ipswich gardens (Pigot & General Marriott). 553. Ligustri : two larvae 27 vii & one 27 viii at Needham (GBtn), larva 9 viii and pair in cop. 23rd at Reydon (Baker) ; 554. Convolvuli : singly at Honeysuckle fiower, in temp. of only 45°, Walpole garden 19 May (Btnj ; at Nicotiana flower in Leiston garden 8.30 p.m. 28 & 31 July (Garnett), Wenhaston in early Aug. (Legg), Reydon 28 & 31 Aug. (Baker), Haiesworth garden 4 Sept. (Hocken), Needham iOth (GBtn) and Lowestoft on 20th (Btn). 555. Atropos: one Haiesworth larva went down 17 viii, and one captured on the wing at Chedeston 20 June (Hkn), a pupa at Thorndon 5 Sept. (Harris). 569. Fagi larva, beaten from Oak in Northfield Wood 16 August, pupated 28th (Aston). 572a. Ptilphora plumigera : one egg only, found on Maple-twig in Barking Woods 3 May (GBtn) ; 115. Dipsaceus: in some numbers at Yarmouth in 1890 (Naturalists' Gazette in, 1891, 13), one of typical form on Blythbro Common, Aying on the dull 30 Julv (Btn) ; 579. Paionia : Hitcham 30 iii (Bull), larva in viis at Buxhall, spun 10 Aug. (Revd. H. Copinger Hill, in lit.) ; 596. Quercifolia : common at Thorndon light this year (Harris, in lit. 5 ix 1945).—A. P. W A L L E R .

598. Paphia : common in Northfield Wood at Stowmarket, where on 3 viii was one 599. Adippe (Aston), which was first seen at Henham Park 23 vi, later that day in Blythbro Wood, & 7 vn in Redgrave Fen (Btn) ; 602. Euphrosyne in Bentley Woods on 12 May (Mly) ; 607. C-album : only occasional this year at Waldnngfield (Canon Waller), only two at Herringfleet (Ross-Lewin), one in Thorndon Fen 2 ix (Btn), very few at Monks Soham (Mly). the first year for severai that it failed in my Dedham garden, where has been a perfect invasion of 612. Atalanta on Buddleia flowers (Vinter), which I was pleased to see on 19 iv the earliest date I have noted it, and many were in Waldringfield and Hemley during Mav (Waller), in which month it was first seen on 9th at V. esthall (Hkn) and persisted fairly commonly at Herringfleet, though rarer than in 1944 (R.-Lewin). 613. Cardui: unrecorded here throughout last year, has abounded everywhere and first appeared on 9 May at

OBSERVATIONS.

223

both Cutlers Wood in Freston with the last species (Beaufov) and Westhall (Hkn), 1 Ith at Waldringfield (Waller). 12th in Hinton Wood (Btn), 13th at Hitcham (Bull) ; later in May it was Coming in from sea at Bulcamp (Mly), common at Leiston in May and July (Garnett) ; numerous on Vipers Bugloss flowers in Tangham Forest on 1 vii, some very faded (Mly), occurred in Gorleston garden (Mrs. Moore), on 4 Aug. in Eriswell chalk-pit (Btn) and persisted singly, not in earlier profusion of six on a flower-bed there, at Herringfleet in Aug. (R.-Lewin). 609. Polychloros : at Beccles were five together 1942, several together 1943, one in the town 23 vii 45 (E. Daily Press, 1 viii) ; singly at Bentley on 16 March (Blaxill), in Herringfleet garden in May (R. Lewin), Haiesworth garden in July (Hkn), Leiston up to Aug. (Garnett), Northfield Wood 3 viii (Aston), Brandeston marshes 2 viii & Henham Broom Covert 13 ix (Mly). 610. Io : first seen, with Rhamni, at Hitcham 14 March ; Urtica 15th (Bull) ; 599. Sibylla : peculiarly early, on 21 vi at Hintlesham (Beaufoy), several in Blythbro Wood on 23rd, and Redgrave Fen on 7 vii (Btn), Lodge Wood in Framlingham on 3rd and Northfield Wood in Stowmarket 4 viii (Aston). 619. Semele was on blackberry flowers singly at Brandeston and Cretingham 5 Aug. (Btn), in which month the first ever seen there visited Buddleia in Thorndon garden (Harris) ; 620.

Tithonus, first seen in Redgrave Fen 7 vii & 622. final Hyperanthus was Aying on Blythbro Heath 18 viii; 627. W-album : first seen 15 June at Brandeston ; wide spread, and many in Blythbro Wood 23rd (Mly). 636. Argiolus ' has been very plentiful since first week in A p r i l ' at Waldringfield (Waller) and generally ; second brood appeared on 5 July at Walpole (Btn), common in gardens at Herringfleet (R. Lewin) & Monks Soham ; ' lots of Holly Blues & (643) Rhamni are on view in my Thorndon garden, but up to 13 April I have seen no Commas, though more plentiful than any other Butterfly for the last few years ' (Harris). 641 .Edusa: very sparse & scattered, singly at both Barking and Needham garden on 15 vii (G. Btn), Framlingham clover-field 29 vii (Aston), two or three in Hitcham clover-field 6 viii (Bull), several in Monks Soham lanes 1 ix, one 28 and a rather pale <j 18 viii at Walpole (Btn); none around Waldringfield (Waller) or Leiston (Garnett).

648. First Rapce seen at Hitcham on 21 M a r c h ; 656. Lineola : profuse in Hitcham clover-field, appearing first 14 July (Bull) ; 655. Thaumas : emerged first 23 June at Blythbro Heath (Btn). â&#x20AC;&#x201D; C . H . S . VINTER. T H E A N N U A L Vanessa Antiopa, L.â&#x20AC;&#x201D;We have seen a perfect speeimen of the Camberwell Beauty in this garden. T h e first occasion was on 20 August and the two days following ; and, after a spell of dull and windy weather, it was back again this morning, the 26th. It frequents a Cabbage-bed, surrounded by Plumtrees, and seems to enjoy rotten Greengages. (Mrs.) D O R O T H Y M . G R A Y [late Member SNS.], Stour Fields, Nayland (Local

224

OBSF.RVATIONS.

Daily Paper ; 29 Aug. 1945).—Hence this is a distinct specimen frorri that captured on a wheat-shock, at Binham near C r o m e r in Norfolk, on 13-August as reported (E. Daily Press, 15th).— Another V. Antiopa, a 2 in bad condition, was shown to me to-day that had been just taken, while fluttering about in a glass-house on top of the Kirkley Cliff, at Lowestoft. It was retained by the captor.

JACK GODDARD, 2 2 October 1945.

L A T E COMMAS.—Though Vanessa C-album had been much scarcer through 1945 than during the last three or four years in Suffolk, the end of Sept. brought out unprecedented numbers.

Four together were sipping Ivy-blossom at M o n k s Soham, with five other examples of the genus, on 23rd ; and the only common Butterfly at Chedeston Hall on that windy 23rd was dear oM Comma, of which over a dozen were on Blackberries : I don't think I have ever seen such a congregation of them before. P. J. BURTON.—V. Atalanta has been extraordinarily a b u n d a n t at Waidringfield ; it is a magnificent sight to see a carpet of t h e m on rotting fruit u n d e r my Pear-trees, literally dozens disporting themselves in the sunshine, and splashed here and there with the rieh bronzes of V. C-album.

T h e latter has not been in any considerable n u m b e r s locally this year : I saw one at D e b e n h a m on 24th. C A N O N W A L L E R ; 25 S e p t . — T h i s has been a great year for Butterflies in my garden here, where was quite a spate of Atalanta with C-album, Cardui and Urtica, as well as Stellatarum which is very fond of Valerian. (General) J O H N M A R R I O T T , Cläre Lodge, Henley-road, I pswich ; Sept. 20.

Pararge /Egcria, L., IN SUFFOLK.— A still live but m u c h battered s p e e i m t n of the Speckled W o o d Butterfly was picked u p by my daughter on 12 M a y this year in our garden of 98 T u d d e n h a m - r o a d in Ipswich. T h e occurrence is a puzzle to me, and I have heard of no one releasing extraneous Butterflies hereabouts.—SAM. BEAUFOY. [If any were locally bred about that period, we should like to hear of it. T h e apparently sudden extinetion of this dappled species, so mergeful with patchy sylvan sunshine, between 1879 & 1892 ( S N S . Memoir, 108) is as inexplicable as this odd example's presence. Can it yet persist in woods, such as L o r d Nelson's Red House Park, to the N E . of Ipswich ?—Ed.] LEPIDOPTERA ON Buddleia variabilis.—During the sultry and thunderous* course of 15 July last, I noted the following speeimens of Rhopalocera on blossoms of this lilac-or purple-flowered shrub in my N e e d h a m Market garden : 6 Vanessa c-album, very n u m e r o u s V. Urtica, 3 V. Atalanta (this is a real ' Red Admiral year'), 4 V. cardui, 4 Epinephele Tithonus and Janira, 2 Lycaena argiolus, and very many Pieris spp. It is to be remarked that no sylvan kinds occurred f r o m the adj acent woods. An American friend informs m e that, at his home, this plant is known as the Butterfly T r e e .

I have hitherto regarded moonlight nights as useless for mothing ;

225

OBSERVATXONS.

but on both 21-22 Julv, with clear sky and the very bright moon only four days from füll, absolute clouds of common Moths visited these Buddleia flowers.—E. W. P L A T T E N .

PHENOMENAL

IMMIGRATION

OF

WIIITES.—Thousands

of

the

White Cabbage Butterflies came, on a light south-westerly breeze, inland from the south-east at Aldeburgh (The Times), and Southwold from over the sea (Local Paper 27th), on 23 July ; in the latter case Pieris brassicce was distinctly the prevailing species (Dr. COLLINGS). There have fccen great swarms of White Butterflies moving inland during the last week or so and, especially on 23 July, enormous numbers were along the coast near Leiston ; but, as is frequently the case, - many seem to fly out to sea as comc inland (Dr. GARNETT, 1 August). A great cloud of P. brassicce passed over C'aydon from the dircction of Ipswich on 23rd and very many came on to Needham Market, where allotment-gardens were covered with them and my Buddleia flowers attracted such numbers that no other Butterfly was visible (PLATTEN). T h e next day both P. brassica and P. rapce, mixed with but fcwP. napi and those perhaps not immigrant, were in most unusual profusion, persistently passing against some slight west breeze from east to west across Stone Street, all the way north from Haiesworth to at least Ilketshall Laurence in sultry sunshine and a temperature of 79°, during the entire morning (Dr. HOCKEN).

AN

IMMIGRANT

NOCTUA.—Our

Member,

Master

Alasdair

E.

Aston of 37 Chilton Avenue in Stowmarket, now at Framlingham College, informs us that he 'nas captured Hcliothis scutosa, Schf., this year in SufTolk. One wonders that it has never been recorded hence before August 1938 (Trans, iv, p. xlix).—Ed. LEPIDOPTERA ABOUT D R I N K S T O N E . — I saw three nice A. Paphia and a few V. polychloros in a small wood at Icklingham in July ; and found on Calendula two Heliothis peltiger larvae here, which duly emerged on 1 Sept. ; also on Poplar last August one of A. leporina, that emerged this spring. Few strangers have visited my garden Honeysuckle, Valerian, Verbena, &c. ; V. cardui arrived in April and has been fairly plentiful; 5 . convolvuli came in early July and was present most evenings, in Sept. sometimes five together at Nicotiana flowers ; D. porcellus was frequent, but D. elpenor not seen at all.—F. G . BARCOCK, Drinkstone ; 3 Nov.

BENTLEY BUTTERFLIES.—We doubt whether many spots are now left in England where so many kinds of Rhopalocera are observable TOGETHER as the Bentley Woods near Ipswich.

If memory serves, ALL the species there in 1892 persist today (we heard of one Iris being seen this year, and Mr. Platten took Aglaja here on 5 July 1942) with the exception of Lucina, the additions of both Betulce (Trans, v, 110) and now /Egon.

A conservative estimate places its species at 39, against 65 in all Britain, thanks very largely to our Member, Mr. Raydon Wilson's careful preservation and generous

226

OBSERVATIONS.

permit of entry. This year were seen on 12 May :—Euphrosyne, Io, Megara, Phlceas, Astrarche, Icarus, Cardamines, Napi, Rapce, Brassica, Malvce & Tages. On 8 July :—Papliia, Adippe, C-album, Atalanta, Sibylla, Tithonus, Janira, Hyperanthus, Pamphilus, Quercus, Phlceas, Argiolus, Icarus, three Whites, Thaumas & Sylvanus (Mly). On 14 July Dr. E. B. Ford of Oxford University and I observed all those of 8th, excepting Icarus, and also Io, Urticce, Cardui, Semele, W-album, Lineola and /Egon, the last never yet noted nearer than Foxhall Heath at Nacton and that in 1827 (SNS. Memoir 1937, 114). We were Standing on the north of the wood, between the gravel-hill and marsh, and both netted a very worn Blue, almost simultaneously ; Dr. Ford took both away with him and subsequently determined them as /Egon [which abounds on every heath in the New Forest, where it normally does not emerge tili 10 July and extends into August.—Ed.], They were close to the decaying corpse of a Hedgehog ; I will search the ground again for them next year. On 30 June there was a web of Polychloros in the sandy lane, whence larvae were just emerging from their final moult.—S. BEAUFOY, 23 Sept.

A VERY L O C A L G A L L E R I I D . — I was taking tea on the still and warm 7 July last, above the little bit of beach which was open to the public, in front of the bungalows opposite the Mere at Thorpe Ness. A very worn Moth, which I recognised as new to me and placed in the sole box I carried, fluttered up from among the Grass at my feet but a second, in good condition, I failed to g e t : they are Melissoblaptes bipunetanus, Zell. Why did I not take a n e t ! To think of the series that might now be gracing my setting-boards !

I visited the spot again before 21st; but with no luck, as a streng east wind was blowing ofF the sea.—(Canon) A . P. W A L L E R ; July 1945. [Hants, Kent & Norfolk coasts only.—Ed.] S O M E M I C R O - L E P I D O P T E R A OF 1945.—Small Moths have received less than their due meed of attention this year, for so many of our younger Members are conscriptionally yet over-seas. A few of the less common kinds noticed by M r . Claude Morlev are : —685 (of our 1937 Memoir). Sinuclla, frequent on Blythbro Heath 23 vi and at Barking Wood light 7 vii; 690. Grisella on Monks Soham study window 10 vii; 720. Acentropus niveus (not seen for many years), at light in Barking Wood at 1 a.m. on 7 July ; 752. Sticticalis, a fine series in an Eriswell chalk-pit by day, and at light behind Brandon Hall by night on 4 viii ; 767. StraminaUs, at Monks Soham light 29 v i i ; 812 & 827. Srneathmannana et atncapitana, both at Brandon light in early viii; 813. Badiana, similarly at Monks Soham in mid-vii; 860. Tortrix tniisculana appeared in Heveninghäm Park on 28 iv and T. viridana was out in small numbers of 9 vi in Bentley Woods ; 865.

Chrysanthemana, Brandeston marshes 3 vii ; 875. Fractifasciana in Monks Soham hedges on 29 v i ; 917. Neglectana was on Aspen trunks in Blythbro

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Wood 23 vi & 918. Oppressana on those of Black Poplars at Palgrave 7 vii ; 979. Salicella, singly in marshes at Brandeston 26 vi & Heveningham Park 1 v i i ; 996. Caspitana, Brandon light 4 viii; 1272. Hyponomeuta 20-punctata, Aying at Walpole in IV ; and 1458 Adela viridella out at Haiesworth by 22, Chedeston Hall by 2 8 , April.—W. R A I T - S M I T H .

Sirex noctilio, F A B . , I N N O R T H S U F F O L K . — I am sending you an Insect, which I caught on a Pine-tree here. Please, could you identify it, as my Father does not know what it is, and may I have it back again ? "(ROBERT C. R O S S - L E W I N , T h e White House, St. Olaves, near Yarmouth ; 17 September).—Sirex gigas, L. A peculiarly ferocious-looking Sawfly, that I mistook for a gargantuan Wasp was captured on 11 July, probably imported in Pine-logs, and named thus by our Hon. Secretary the next day ( C . EDWARD ROSE, Suddon Hall, Kenton, v. v.). I was shown a live female in H a i e s w o r t h o n 15 J u l y ( M . HOCKEN) a n d at E y e in A u g . (REVD. H.

BIGGS).

Xiphydria Camelus, NEW TO SUFFOLK, & ITS P A R A S I T E . — T h e Ichneumon, Rhyssa curvipes, Gr., was hovering with slow and hesitant flight in some numbers about prostrate and partlv barked trunks, at most 8 inches in diameter, of Alder that had been felled when the waterway was ' cleansed ' in 1942, beside the Blvthe River in Heveningham Park on 13 May last; and with it occurred several Sawflies that I later recognised as X Camelus, L. I was then too busy to pursue the matter further ; but fortunately M r .

Claude Morley was able to take it up. At the same spot at 10 a.m. on 16th he secured a half-dozen, out of many seen, of the parasite and observed a couple of the Sawfly. On 22nd none were apparent there at noon, but at 4 p.m. both species were taken singly, the latter female tucking in her legs and literally rolling herseif off the barked log into low herbage when frightened. Several of the Rhyssae were still hovering at the logs, upon barked parts of which both sexes of the Xiphydria sat in small numbers, at noon on 23rd ; but neither was visible in warm noon rain on 28th. Meanwhile, he and I took a couple of the Rhyssae ovipositing at noon through the bark of smaller, dead but Standing, Alders in the Waveney marshes at Shipmeadow on 20th, one of them withterebraso firmly fixed in the wood that she could not extricate it, butsimply leaned her body away from the approaching box ; and, in the same stems on 23rdj were detected two or three terebrae with their abdominal apices only, the remainder of the insects having been probably snapped u p by Tits in so defenceless a position. Later, on 3 June, I again saw it in Wangford Wood : its local distribution seems wide, at least this year.—P. J. BURTON, 8 June 1945. [We have to go back to 1835 for this Sawfly's occurrence in any plenty : then Stephens (Illust. vii, 110) says it appeared commonly near Newcastle-on-Tyne, whence M r . Wailes supplied him with speeimens ;

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OBSERVATIONS.

also it had been taken in southern Scotland about the end of June.

T o this Cameron could add nothing in 1890 ; and Morice (EMM. 1904, p. 33) iterates most British specimens are from Scotland and north of England, attached to Alder. Mr. Bedwell gave me a taken by him in Shervvood Forest on 10 June 1929 ; and I have a couple captured at Boskoop near Leyden by Dr. Chapman in July 1898. But its distribution is wide, from Sweden & Russia to Italy, showing no reason for any boreal restriction with us.

R. curvipes is known from Russia to Vienna ; and since 1908 I have seen it from Kings Lynn, where ' five of both sexes were taken on or near a larch pole, which was infested with Sirex gigas ; I wanted the latter, so the post was watched and I got three or four nice males, with the Rhyssae, as well as Ibalia cultellator ' (Atmore, in lit. 31 Oct. 10) ; 1 $ beaten from birch in a bog at Barton Mills, Suffolk, 1916 (Mly) ; 1 Aying at new willow-rail at AshfieldThorp mere, 1921 (Trans, iii, 152); 1 $ ovipositing in branch of dead willow in Thorndon Fen, 1944 ; 1 in marsh at W. Caister, Norfolk, 1932 (Mly) ; 1 ? at Wollaton Park, 1927 (Notts. Museum).

—Ed.] T H E D E W B E R R Y G A L L . — S t r u m o u s galls of the Cynipid Diastrophus rubi, Bche. (Trans, iii, 29) were observed by me at Heveningham on 24 March last, on stems of Blackberry or, more exactly, Dewberry Rubus castus ; and I noticed that each was dotted with the perfect Gall-flies' emergence holes, which seemed quite recent because the stem was alive to just below the gall.—M. H O C K E N , V. V.

A F O S S O R ' S PROVENDER.—VVhile I was strolling through an old sand-pit in Wangford Wood, near Henham on 3 June last, my attention was drawn by the movements of a large green Noctuid Caterpillar, nearly surely A. pyramidea, L., which was advancing through the sparse and dry herbage in a jerky and unnaturally rapid fashion, for all the world like a miniature green tank ! Closer inspection showed that it was gripped by the jaws of an Amrnophila, doubtless the common A. sabulosa, L., and that she was straddling the larva, so as to propel it at a speed which was amazing in the case of a victim that was a quarter-inch longer and at least thrice the bulk of herseif. The Caterpillar was quite rigid, having been evidently paralized. So purposeful was the progress that I determined to watch its outcome, and eventually feit amply rewarded by doing so. The Fossor steered a remarkably straight course, not deviating for the many obstacles, stones and grass-tufts and tree-roots in its path which seemed to hardly slacken its pace, and it traversed twelve yards from when first seen in little more than five minutes, resting only once for less than a half-minute, and finally stopping upon some elevated ground. Here, dropping its prey at the predetermined spot, it immediately seized a, to me unnoticeable, fragment of dry moss that was a quarter-inch from the caterpillar's head, and by doing so disclosed a small hole in

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229

the ground. Realizing that the oriface was too narrow to admit its prey's bulk, the Fossor began to enlarge it by going round its entire circumference, rapidly digging with its front legs precisely like a dog at a rabbit's hole. As soon as it judged the excavation enough, it backed into the hole and dragged the Caterpillar after it, emerging alone in under a half-minute, surely too brief a period to allow of oviposition. Next came the most interesting Operation : in order to Camouflage the hole's site, it began by feverishly raking all the excavated particles of sand and moss into the hole, again like a dog and this time when burying a bone, pausing every minute or so to ram them firmly home with its head ; this it repeated many times, and finally raked the surface level with meticulous care.

Then the Fossor made twelve or more sorties, ranging from a few inches to two yards, Walking the shorter ones and Aying the longer, but each time returning with a small dry twig or fragment of moss or small stone, which it placed exactly over the now obliterated orifice in a sort of funeral pyre ; and, to crown all, two pellets of rabbits' droppings were ceremoniously deposited, as the piece de resistance ! Being now satisfied, she flew away and rested in the sun, having taken quite a quarter-hour over the final rites. Insects are too generally supposed not to reason or think ; but that this Fossor did both'is sufficiently shown by its lack of the least attempt to get its prey into the hole until the latter had been suitably enlarged to receive it, as well as by the true artistry of model patience and thoroughness with which all trace of the hole was later erased.—P. J. BURTON. [John Ray out-Rayed!—These peculiar habits of the genus, observed also this year by Mrs. Lingwood at Martlesham, are cosmopolitan : cf. Haie Carpenter's 1925 ' Naturalist in E. Africa', where at p. 110 those of Ammophila Beninensis, Pal., are detailed with considerably less exactitude (' a smooth Noctuid', ' smaller Noctuid ' larvae, ' about 20 yards', &c) at Itigi in S. Tanganyika.—Ed.] RARE ACULEATES.—Ammophila hirsuta, Scop., appeared in the shelter of a sand-trench on the heath of Tangham Forest on 1 july last; Pompilus rufipes, L., was taken on the fiowers of Fennel, just north of Haiesworth in Sept. 1944 (Mly) and on those of umbells at Blythbro Heath 17 Aug. 1945, along with the apparently very rare Ruby-tailed Wasp Chrysis pustulosa, Alb., in Wangford Wood on 3 June (Btn.).

HORNETS' PUGNACITY.—In my Thorndon garden this year Hornels have taken to chasing Butterflies, and Atalanta seem to act as police. I have seen two Vespa Crabro fighting in the air, slowly mounting upwards and facing each other, next dashing together, then disengaging and again charging ; this they repeated many times, until a Red Admiral flew at them and knocked one out. Later, a Hörnet was pursuing an Atalanta when another Atalanta charged him, and thus enabled the first one to escape.—

230

OBSERVATIONS.

REVD. H. A. HARRIS, in lit. 5 Sept.

[Hornets, unlike their close relation the Common Wasp, have been unusually prevalent during 1945. Their arboreal nests are rarely observed ; and we were glad to have our attention drawn to one, in the trunk of an Alder in Brandeston Marshes on 5 August, and of an old and moribund Willow-tree by the source of Belstead Brook in Bentley Woods on 1 Sept., by the numbers entering and leaving, often a halfdozen at once. A splendid Insect: specimens from Egypt are indistinguishable from our Britishers.—Ed.]

A PLEA FOR ' THE W A S P '.—The known fact that Vespid larvae are fed to a great extent upon various kinds of Aphids certainly serves as link of association between these two groups of Insects.

I have actually seen quite severe infestations of Aphidcs completely cleared away by both Vespa germanica and V. vulgaris.—OSWALD H . LATTER, M.A., F.E.S., Elms, Charterhouse Road, Godalming ; in lit. 29 July.

Two ICHNEUMONS RARE IN B R I T A I N . — I n a box of Parasitic Hymenoptera recently received for determination from my friend Dr. C. D. Day, I have detected a couple of kinds hitherto but once recorded in this country. One is the beautiful and, on the Continent, very common Anisobas cingulatorius, Grav., whose presencc here I anticipated over forty years ago (lehn. Brit. i, 211; Tr. Soc. B. Ent. viii, 48) ; it was captured upon Heracleum flower growing on some waste land behind the coast-guard Station surmounting a 500-feet chalk cliff, that forms a prominent headland ten miles to the east of Weymouth on the Dorset coast. The other is a female of the Ophionid Mesochorus orbitalis, Hlgr., hardly rarer in northern Europe than the above ; it was netted in Yellowham Wood of mixed oak, &c, three miles NE. of Dorchester on 26 July 1943 (lehn. Brit. v, 1914, 318 ; Nat. Hist. Wicken Fen, ii 39). Dr. Day has kindly presented it to my collection, wherein I find another example, captured by me in Blythburgh Wood, Suffolk, on 16 Sept. 1929 and hitherto unnamed (add to Suffolk List at Trans, iii, p. 228). The two species were briefly announced by me in EMM. 1945, p. 239.— CLAUDE M O R L E Y .

ICHNEÜMON-FLIES OF 1945.—Just before the end of March four more Alloplasta plantaria, Gr. (supra, p. 168) emerged from pupae, which I was able to locate as having been dug at the base of trees at both Chedeston and in Dec. at Brandeston, 1944 (P. J. BURTON).

Early in July a female Stenichneumon ochropis, Gmel., emerged from a pupa of Semiothisa wavaria, L., taken in Needham Market (E. W. PLATTEN. No species of Ichneumoninas has been hitherto recorded as attacking this Geometer.—Ed.) Since the record of Phidias aciculatus, Voll., from nowhere in the world but Surrey and perhaps Cornwall and Devon (lehn. Brit. 1908, p. 8), I have

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231

seen a male from Kings Lynn in Norfolk taken by Mr. E. A. Atmore in 1912, a pair near Nottingham in 1917 found by Prof. Carr, and have myself captured females at Wensley Dale in Yorks during July 1937 and beaten from Aspen leaves in Bentley Woods, NEW to Suffolk, at noon on 9 June 1 9 4 5 (MORLEY). Polysphincta variipes, Grav., was swept from long grasses in a heathy part of Blythburgh Wood on 27 May last, NEW to Suffolk (BTN). A female Angitia nana, Grav., was bred out of one of many of its own cocoons on Brüssels sprouts ; andPolyclistus mansuetor, Grav., again raised from tlie Clothes Moth, Tinea pellionella, L. ; at The Elms, Charterhouse-road in Godalming, Surrey, on 12 August last (OSWALD H. LATTER, in lit.). One $ of Diadromus subtilicornis, Gr., emerged on 28 July last in the post to Mr. Morley, from three peculiarly loose-woven cocoons, not unlike those of a Hyperabeetle, which I found on a Heliophila plant in my Dedham garden in Essex a day or two earlier (H. C. S. VINTER).

The better species of my captures this year include :—Stenichneumon cidpator, Sehr., Heveningham Park, 17 vi ; Ichneumon lautatorius, Dsv., Redgrave Fen 7 vii ; Ctenichneumon flavicinctus, Dev., New Forest 12 vi [it was taken also at St. Ives, Cornwall, on 13 vii 1931.—Ed.] ; Ephialtes carbonarius, Heveningham 24 vi ; Xylonomus pilicornis, Gr., three $ $ from Wangford Wood 3-12 v Sc New Forest 12 vi; Perithous divinaior, Ros., Walpole 8 vii; Pimpla roborator, F., Blythbro Wood 27 v ; Stilbops chrysostoma, Gr., Heveningham 24 iv ; Meniscus catcnator, Pz., several $ $ in Blythbro Wood 23 vi; Exyston cinctulum, Gr., 2 or 3 there on 27 v ; Campoplex obliteratus, Hlgr., Brandeston 5 viii; C. myrtillus, Dsv., Blythbro Wood 23 v i ; C. foveolatus, Fst., New Forest 12 v i ; Phobocampa obscurella, Hlgr., ditto & at Heveningham 17 v i ; Exochilum circumflexum, L., & Labrorhychus nigricornis, Wm., Heveningham, respectively 29 vi & 15 iv (very early) ; Ophion minutus, Krch., Chedeston in May ; O. distans, Thm., Monks Soham & Walpole in viii; Henicospilus ramidulus, L., several 5 $ in Blythbro Wood ; Paniscus brachycerus, Thm., 2 $ ^ at Blythbro & Wangford woods 27 v & 3 vi; Mesochorus vitticollis, Hlgr., Monks Soham 8 viii.—P. J . BURTON. BUTTERFLY PARASITE FROM C E Y L O N . — I am doing quite well with Lepidoptera out here and have found 93 different species : too many to name. Butteriiies are never common and, though I take a net out twice a week, few series are complete and many of those caught damaged : great difficulty in getting Papilio orino with entire tails to their wings. Have got for you Leptosia nina, Ycthina Ceylonica, Telchinia violon and Tros Aristolochia. I am enclosing a few ' ichneumons ' bred from a larva of the last kind ; it was tound in Kandy, and I know these little chaps belong to your pet group of Insects, so they will interest y o u . — F R A N K C . STANLEY (by Royal Navy Maritime Mail) ; 6 July 1945. [The half-dozen Apanteles of both sexes reeeived belong to the Braconidae. I

232

OBSERVATIONS.

cannot distinguish them from A. Bignelli, which the Revd. T . A. Marshall described (Trans. Ent. Soc. 1885, pt. 1, p. 171 ; Entom.

1936, p. 93) from examples bred out of the Butterfly Melitaea aurinia in Devon ; and believe them identical.—Ed.] P H O T O P H I L O U S FLIES.—Light, though proverbial for attracting Moths from classic times, has been hitherto but little employed in the collection of Diptera. That emanating from aviation petrol now far transcends anything known when I was young and used oil bulls-eye lanterns o' nights in the necromantic woods. But the modern paraffin moth-lamps are hardly inferior ; and one was lit at 10 p.m. on 3 August last, a dark night with evanescent due west air and stars but no rnoon, in Monks Soham ' lanes'. These are an old cart-track running due north thence to Southolt Green, through heavy boulder-clay, unmetalled, rutty and weed-grown, with deep ditches and rough hedges on each side, bounding meadows and corn-fields. Immediately so great was the concourse of Dipterous specimens, not species, assembled that I took all obviously distinct kinds to ascertain just what those present might prove to be. T h e light was maintained two hours and the total produced amounted to only :—a couple of Tipula lateralis, Mg. ; several sorts of unnamed Chironomids : E M P I D I D . ® : Tachydromia calceata, Meij. ; L O N G H O P T E R I D / E : Lonchoptera tristis, Mg. ; S Y R P H I D / E : Platychirus clypeatus, Mg. ; Meianostorna mellinum, L . ; Sphcerophoria scripta, L. & menthrasti, L. ; A N T H O M Y I D J E : Mydcea (Heiina) duplicata, Mg. ; Spilogaster quadrum, Fab. ; Hydrophoria candata, Zt. ; Chortophila (Melinia) Billbergi, Zt. ; Anthomyia cestiva, Mg. ; Caricea tigrina, Fab., of which one seized and began to suck a $ of the last kind, even upon the sheet!

CORDYLURIDJ® : Scatophaga stercoraria, L. $ $ ; S C I O M Y Z I D I E : Sciomyza (Ditcenia) cinerella, Fall. ; SPHCEROCERID.® : Borborus nitidus, Mg. Other Orders, besides Moths, showed merely single COLEOPTERA : Aphodius rufipes, L . ; H O M O P T E R A : Paramesius phragmitis, Boh. ; HETEROPTERA : Psallus variabilis, Fall, and a dozen Calocoris lineolatus, Goze.

ASSEMBLING OF Isoneuromyia semirufa, MG.—Just before noon on the warm and dull 12 August last, I saw a black, spider-like Animal progressing, by short hops of a couple of inches at a time, across the gravelled drive at Monks Soham. I häd only a small glass tube in my pocket and this I managed to put over it, just as a second and similar Animal came Aying in short circles round the first, which I now saw was not a Pardosa but a short-winged female of the above-named Mycetophilid Gnat. T h e tube I left uncorked, hoping she would continue to attract the circumvolant male and this she did for about three^ minutes, once struggling out of the tube and lying inert on the gravel where the male, in passing, Struck her a distinct impact but not necessarily a blow ; then she became so active that I feared losing her (and, so, her identification),

OBSERVATIONS,

233

and I corked her into the rube. T h e male was left still searching for her in small circles quite low above the gravel where she had lain. In life the lateral abdominal area between tergites and sternites, and extreme apices of dorsal segments four to six only, are pure white.

A D A N C I N G Anisopus.—Winter Gnats so conspicuously dance, in more or less small companies, in the air that I was surprised to find that I can recall no reference to the other two subfamilies of the Anisopodidae possessing the same habit. One is found Aying, always solus in my experience, about fungi or leaf-mould ; the other Aying about that exuding tree-sap wherein it oviposits (Trans, iv, 214) or, much more often, simply on house-windows. Hence I was delighted to ascertain that to the latter belonged the score of male Anisopus fenestralis, Scop., which I detected dancing close together in a compact Company, ten feet from the ground and very near an Ash-trunk on Monks Soham lawn at 7 p.m. on 29 June last, in a slight and warm southerly air, shortly before a gentle rain began to fall. I was unable to associate them in any way with a much more numerous concourse of some small Spaniotoma sp., similarly then dancing within a foot of the same spot.

YELLOW FEVER B I T I N G - G N A T IN SUFFOLK.—After some years' investigation of a single locality for any special branch of biology (Trans, ii, 81), additional species are discoverable only by new methods of collecting. Bentley Woods have been worked for the past half-century, in the aggregate by probably a hundred entomologists, and annually by me excepting 1944 when travel was taboo. Hence, in those woods on 9 June last, I tried the result of transferring a large tinful of leaf-debris, and the rain-water in which it had accumulated, from a rot-hole, Ave feet from the ground, in the trank of an Oak-tree of about a century's growth : no one had thence hitherto attempted to breed aught from such a pabulum. I had the Hovering-Ay Callicera aenea (Trans, v, 15) in mind a t t h e time, and could see numerous Dipterous larvae on the water-surface as soon as the tinful had been emptied at home into a large bell-glass.

The first species to emerge, £ on 22nd and $ on 29th of that month, astonished me : for it was the Biting-gnat Culex geniculatus, Oliv., NEW to SuAolk. In that and similar Oaks and Sweet Chestnuts it had, quite doubtless, bred unsuspected and never captured on the wing for Afty years ' This is one of the three British Culicidae whose economy is conAned to just such a Situation ; it was already known from the south and west of England right up to Lancs, though nowhere in the east but Cambs and Essex. Its discovery so near London as Epping Forest some years ago caused no small stir, for it is our sole kind known (CR. Acad. Sei. France 1937, 182) to carry Yellow Fever, a disease long believed transmittable exclusively by the Indian Biting-gnat Culex Mgypti.

234

OBSERVATIONS.

U N U S U A L L Y EARLY D I P T E R A . — O u r genial spring this year brought out multitudes of Insects well in advance of their usual period. Conspicuous in this respect were :—Odontomyia tigrina in Blythbro Wood swamp on 29 April; O. argentata, Empis tessellata, & Leucozona lucorum in Heveningham Park on 28 April; Xylota segnis, both there and in Bentley Woods during May (Verrall's earliest date is 5 June); X. sylvarum sitting in sun on a log in Brandeston marshes 3 July ; Sericomyia borealis male in Blythbro Wood, where it always occurs in autumn, 27 May (Verr.

28 June) ; Myopa polystigma female in a hedge at Westhall on 25 May ; and several M. buccata swept from Hieraceum pilosum in Bentley Woods on 9 J u n e — C L A U D E M O R L E Y .

A S P A N I S H F L Y I N B R I T A I N . — I t should be placed upon record that I captured a specimen of the Tabanid, Pangonia marginata, Fab., in Tatterdown Lane at Highgate, Middlesex, on 6 July 1889; to the best of my recollection it was hovering at some wayside flower. It much resembles a large tawny Anthrax, but the proboscis is a good deal longer than the body, i.e. 22 mm. against 17, and one regrets that Fabricius' later name P. haustellata must fall.

Considering how near Highgate is to London, the supposition of importation becomes obvious, though in that case later examples, of which I have heard nothing, would be expected. I ought to have published the occurrence long ago, but lacked its name tili kindly supplied by our Hon. Secretary, who possesses specimens from Spain, whence the species is found all round the Mediterranean Sea. I will add, while on the subject of importation, that I took in the Scilly Isles on 28 September 1889 a single fine Polistes (now in Mr. Morley's collection) with scutellum bearing a transverse black line, sides of metathorax longitudinally pale, and abdomen binotated with ochreous. No species of the genus is truly indigenous ; and it would be interesting to find that this is the nearctic P. biguttatas, Hai., to which Penzance specimens were tentatively referred at Ent. Annual 1868, p. 9 6 . — D R . D U D L E Y W. C O L L I N G S : 23 June 1945.

N O V E L COPULATORY A N T I C S . — O n the recently sawn-off end of an old Oak-trunk, in the middle of Bentley Woods on 9 June last, upon which the sun had just shone hotly, were quiescently sitting numerous Cecidomyids that look to me like Brittenia fraxinicola, Edw. Among them also sat, with characteristically elevated head, a sluggish $ Medetera excellens, Frey, whereto my attention was drawn by the movements of a $ ; he was most active and, as often as she made a short flight to adjacent positions, he instantly flew after her or, if varying but an inch, backed to her upon his legs. In all the fully half-dozen places, he arrived immediately behind her with anterior legs clutching her folded wing-tips, his hind legs upon the wood, abdominal a p e x bent stoutly forward beneath his body and approaching her genitalia,

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235

& always his wings were most curiously elevated, at right angles to body, with their surface vertical (I think, also vibrant though almost too quickly to be seen). T h i s exact posture was repeated upon each shift, made in five minutes ; but copulation advanced no further, before a malign Spider's appearance frightened h i m away, w h e r e u p o n I boxed her for identification.—CLAUDE M O R L E Y .

Volucella zonaria, P O D A , CONFIRMED AS B R I T I S H . — T h e enclosed Fly, which my Father considers may interest you, was caught by me on a leaf in our garden here on 4 A u g u s t ; we cannot remember having ever seen the same kind anywhere before. I have recently thrice seen a lovely W h i t e ' s T h r u s h , Turdus aureus, Hol., in the same garden.—(Miss) VALEZINA F R O H A W K , Essendene, Cavendish Road, Sutton, Surrey ; 7 Aug. [ T h e Hovering Fly is a splendid great fellow, 24 m m . in length and tawny, like t h e Hornets in whose nests this species is a scavenger in its larval State. It is a quite newly emerged zonaria, Poda, single specimens of which are known f r o m only the N e w Forest (Verrall, 1901), near Bank ( E M M . 1923, 2 6 0 ) ; Kent, off the coast (I.e. 1901, 299) and near Edenbridge (Journ. S. Engl. E. Soc. 1932, 3 9 ) ; Dorset, Dorchester, caught in fingers on garden clothes-line ! (I.e. 1941, 121), & L o d m o o r near W e y m o u t h (I.e. 1944, 173) ; Glos., Redland (I.e. 174 ; 1945, 237). Verrall's distinetions, ' smaller than V . pellucens ' &c. (Flies 1901, 488), f r o m V. inanis, L., may be elaborated by the deeper flavescence of basal alar moiety, lack of nigrescent streak below its Stigma, subunicolorous rufescent thoracic disc and scutellum (both flavidous and former dorsally black-lined in V. inanis), pale anus, greater expanse of 38 m m . against but 32, and especially by the dark red of the basal segment, which colour narrows to an acute angle at the medial black line, whereas in V. inanis the flavescence is broad and cut truncately by the medial line : all these points are apparent in the Surrey which cannot possibly be immigrant, in a pair I have examined f r o m Macedonia where they are common, a sent me in J u n e 1900 by D r . C h a p m a n f r o m G u a r d a in Spain, and the following Ed.]. D ü r i n g a visit to Bristol, I f o u n d myself on 7 Sept. last on the Somerset coast at Clevedon. T h e r e , sucking the unusually early Ivy blossom, were two Crane-flies, Limonia 10-maculata, Lw., and a very large Hoverer, which our H o n . Editor names V. zonaria, Poda.—P. J. BURTON, L o w e s t o f t .

EGGS OF Eristalis arbustorum, L . — A t 2 . 3 0 p.m. on 2 1 July last, a female was netted while she flew low over, and appeared to be ovipositing upon, very wet m u d edging the brook that joins t h e River D e b e n at Brandeston. She was placed in a dry and e m p t y glass tube, and by 10 p.m. had irregularly deposited on the glass just about one h u n d r e d detached eggs ; the next morning she was dead. T h e egg, which I have not seen described (? Bouche, Naturg. i., 54), is quite dull, evenly coriaceous t h r o u g h o u t and p u r e

236

OBSERVATIONS.

white ; cylindrical and very slightly curved, with both extremities equally'obtuse ; 1 | mm. in length by | - m m . in breadth.—CLAUDE MORLEY. O R A N G E - T I P BUTTERFLIES' FOE.—A $ Tachinid Fly was found in my breeding-cage on 8 April 1944, which Mr. Colbran Wainwright has been so kind as to name Exorista (Phryxe) vulgaris, Fall.

It had emerged from its own mahogany-coloured puparium by entirely removing one extremity. T h e latter had come, as a larva, out of the chrysalis of (644) Euchloe cardamines, Linn., of which 1 had found several at Walpole in Suffolk the previous year ; another of these chrysalides disclosed a second of the parasites, late in the same month. This inter-association was, I believe, already known though Orange-tips possess no recorded Hymenopterous enemies whatever.—JIM BURTON. [ £ . vulgaris is a common species throughout at least England ; and we possess a (J that was bred on 30 May 1909 from the Lepidopteron Heterogyna penella by Dr. Chapman in Spain.—Ed.] F I V E T A C H I N I D S NEW TO S U F F O L K . — A great deal of work, and necessarily close work, remains to be done upon our comparatively large and conspicuous Tachinidae, which are parasitic upon other Insects in just the same way as the Hymenopterous Ichneumons.

Last year I collected about fifty specimens of this family, which Dr. C. D. Day of Dorchester has been so good as to name for us ; and among them are five additions to the County :—males of Myiobia vacua, Rond., were sitting commonly on Heracleum flowers in Monks Soham lanes on 30 July ; a pair of Craspedothrix zonella, Zt., caine in to house windows there on 14-18 June, and I took it about the same date during 1934 at Wood Fidley in the New Forest; males of three Sarcophaga spp. were S. frenata, Pand., on that window 17 July, S. vicina, Vill., flew in to my car at Mells in Wenhaston 9 Sept. and S. crassimargo, Fand., was on a flower in Thorndon Fen 26 June. A female of Paloides pavida, Mg. (Trans, supra, 170) came into Dr. Hocken's house-window in Haiesworth on 27 May 1943.

Six T A C H I N I D S NEW TO SUFFOLK.—Among odd specimens, picked up casually during 1945 Dr. Day of Dorchester has been so good as to discover another (cf. Trans, supra, p. 170) half-dozen species, which bring our total up to 177 out of the British total 326 kinds. They are :—a $ Sarcophaga scoparia, Pand., from Blythbro Wood on 18 A u g u s t ; Loewiafoeda, Mg., " seldom seen and always very uncommon " he considers, of which a £ flew to light at 1 a.m. in Barking Wood on 7 July ; Frauenfeldia rubricosa, Mg., " a good thing of which I have only one $ " he teils me, of which a $ was on Monks Soham drawingroom window on 3 July ; where also on 22 July was a $ of Cinochira atra, Zett., " I have never found it in E)orset " ; there, too, on 20 July was running a 6 Lucilla

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ampullacea, Villen. ; and on Heracleum flowers in Monks Soham paddock on 29 July was a L. Richardsi, Coli., of a beautiful rieh purple colour in life, but fading to viridescent bronze after death.

T h e generally distributed but usually quite scarce Dorycera graminum, Fab., was sitting at 9 a.m. on 28 May somewhat commonly in sunshine and a light west breeze at Chedeston Hall. All were females and quiescent, near the tops of various-treed posts that supported wire-fencing between two pastures ; and so sluggish as to be easily boxed, though rarely Aying off upon the box's approach. Lower down the posts were bored by many sorts of Insects, of which Clyius arietis, Sapyga clavicornis, L. and Osmia centralis, Pz., were then present, with many Chrysis ignita.

I possess single speeimens of this Otitid fly from Dorset, Hants, Reigate, Northants and Suffolk : Bentley Woods, Tattingstone, Barham, Shrubland and Framlingham.

TRYPETID F L Y NEW TO S U F F O L K . — D r . H o c k e n a n d I w e r e c o l -

lecting Insects in the unmetalled Monks Soham lanes, divided from a rough meadow by a mere tall Hawthorn hedge, at 5.30 p.m. on 25 August 1944, when a curious Fly flew two feet high so aimlessly across the six-feet path that it alighted first on dead Knapweed and later on my leg, whence it was boxed after some difficulty.

It is entirely rust-red with abdomen below pubescence, base of legs and apical third of wings, darker brown ; and on the wings transparent white markings, thus :—a row of three small spots on the costa, of four below it, of two below them, surmounting two others of which the outer is large and almost continuous with the translucent anal angle. Such a conspicuous bestiole, 16 m m . in wing-expanse, was quite unknown to me ; and M r . W . H. Andrews names it Icterica Westermanni, Mg. This, though already known as British in 1835, was then termed ' very rare in England ' (Ent. Mag. iii, 61, pl. ix, fig. 2) ; but is not, as there suggested Musca vinula, Harris (1782, xxxiv, 21) for the coloration of thorax and abdomen and legs is quite wrong. It is said by Niblett, in his Food-plants Brit. Trypet., to breed in flower-heads of Senecio jacobaea and S. erncifolius during August to May ; and it was in plenty on the heads of those plants during August at Sway in the New Forest in 1906 and Bembridge in I. Wight in 1934. Old records are from Charmouth, Monks Wood in Hunts and perhaps Leigh in Essex.—Retention of this record from last year's T r a n s actions, in hope of further examples' occurrence, is justified by the discovery of two $ $ & a $ on 12 August, and a few more u p to only 19th, just below the unexpanded flower-heads of Ragwort in my own paddock in the same village, a mile from the above lanes. T h i s beautiful plant was introduced here from Mildenhall in Suffolk, along with numerous larvae of the equally lovely Cinnabar Moth, during 1939. T h e three were obviously but just emerged from puparia, as the Ragwort had been under daily

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Observation the whole summer. They spent their time very slowly Walking up and down the stalks, waving their wings less than most Trypetids and entirely ignoring the plentiful honeydew, which attracted Anthomyia pluvialis, L., Phorbice, Lonchaa chorea, Fab., Sepsis nigripes, Mg., the Ichneumonid Monoblastus exstirpatoriv.s, Gr. ; Calocoris bipunctatus, F., with many Coccinella 7-punctata, L., and Synharmonia conglobata, L. DROSOPHILID F L Y N E W TO SUFFOLK.—Although it had long stood in the British List, apparently upon mistaken identity with Agromyza ornata of Walker, we hear nothing definite about this beautiful Acletoxenus formosus, Low., tili 1901. Between 14 July & 10 August that year no less than eleven specimens were captured in a garden of Brookside in Cambridge, with ten more and one on the house-window there during the following 3-21 August.

But in 1902 another pair was recorded as taken in a Lyndhurst garden on 19 Sept. 1898 & 15 July 1900. I know of none later ; nor does it seem represented in the British or Dublin museums at that period ( E M M . 1901-2). A. formosus is one of the most decorative of our smaller Flies : Black with the whole legs, face, frons, antennae, & sides of thorax white in life, and apices of abdominal segments stamineous (straw-coloured) ; eyes and a tinge across the abdomen roseous ; but its conspicuous feature is the very large and flat, brightly flavous scutellum on middle of its back.

This minute gern of hardly over 2 mm. (one-twelfth of an inch) I was delighted to twice detect on Monks Soham house-windows, on 17 July 1921 & at noon on 19 July 1943, when I noticed its peculiarly sluggish motion when Walking. It belongs to the Drosophilidae ; and is said to be parasitic on species of the genus Aleyrodes (Trans, ii, 143) on the Continent, where it has been bred from larvae among A. phillyrece, Hai., on Hawthorn ; and Flies were caught on Viburnum-trees infested by A. Jelineki, Fraufld. ; Walker says his A. ornata preyed upon the former Hemipteron.— CLAUDE M O R L E Y ; 1 Jan. 1945. [A third was detected there on 25 July 1945.—Ed.] T H E ROMAN SNAIL SURVIVES.—I am able to confirm our Hon. Secretary's record of many specimens of Helix pornatia, L., in one of the Blakenham Parva chalk-pits (Trans, iv, p. 13, no. 120) ; just fifty years ago I collected many, while searching for Violets there, and brought them home to Ipswich, where M r . Henry Miller recognised them as the Snail that the Romans used to eat in Britain. Further, unlike Mr. Morley, I have the great pleasure of discovering that the species yet persists in that particular pit which I have not visited for many years. On 14 October last I happened to ramble there, and found H. pomatia in profusion, some splendid great specimens two inches across their very hard shells, of which a few were conspicuously brown-banded. I am told that they are still common at the old Roman Station at Richborough in Kent, but know no other Suffolk colony.—E. W. PLATTEN, Needham Market.

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TEN-SPINED STICKLEBACK INLAND.—Just at present I find Gasterosteus pungitus, L., to be almost abundant in the Aide River at Glemham Magna. I have not seen it here before ; but have not handled many Sticklebacks since a boy : I was aware of the species' distinctions then, and would have noticed them if apparent in earlier specimens here.—CRANBROOK ; 18 April. [It is frequent down our coast from Southtown (Trans, ii, 301), Gorleston, Oulton and Southwold ; butelsewhere recorded from only the Blackbourn River and Bury district (I.e. ii, 112).—Ed.] REPTILIA.—A Grass Snake that was thirty-nine inehes in length, blithely darting across the surface of the water, brought excitement to two Bury anglers while fishing from the Lakenheath river-bank in late June. They gaffed the Reptile, which wriggled through the mesh and disappeared among grass : five minutes later it was located and [barbarously] killed. Its beautiful skin was retained, and found to contain a morning meal of three nice Dace [Leuciscus dobula, L.], two fat Frogs [Rana temporaria, L.] and half-dozen Worms [presumably Lumbriciis terrestris, L.]. (Bury Free Press, 6 July 1945). Your Hon. Secretary, commenting upon the capability of this " Grass Snake Swimming", refers to Mr. Doughty's record of Tropidonotus natrix, L., thus traversing a quarter-mile of Fritton Lake at Trans, ii, 216 ; points out its innoeuous and, indeed, beneficial proelivities and compares them with malign ones of Vipers, Vipera berus, L., which " should always be slain on sight " (E. A. D. Times, 9 July). Upon this Mr. F. P. G. Reynolds of Woodbridge remarks that " the Viper's main diet I believe to consist of Mice, Voles, Beetles, &c, the beneficial eifects of whose consumption far outweighs its evils of egg- and fledgling-stealing, wherein Grass Snakes are equally guilty. The Viper, though venomous, rarely attacks man, and then only when frightened or provoked ; and, in my opinion, it executes much the same duties as Hawks and Owls in the economy of Nature. I myself have seen Grass Snakes swimming upon three occasions : one I observed emerge from a hay-field, enter a stream which it traversed to the opposite bank, and there gain another grass field. A few days ago, on 3 July, a friend was crossing Sutton Heath by a track through the Heather and saw, moving along the path before him, a Snake that was pretty surely a Viper and coiled under a Heather-clump.

He describes it to me as about two feet or rather more in length, laterally of a light and almost fawn coloration, fading to paler fawn on both neck and belly which became visible when it coiled and raised its head ; along the spine ran a series of dark, almost black, lozenge-shaped markings. The locality is a sandy heath, well covered with Erica and Pteris aquilina, but with small open spaces of Grass and Sorrel, bitten close by Rabbits " (in lit. 10 July 1945).

RECORDS FROM CAMBRIDGESHIRE.—Recently I found, on a dredger near Sutton on the Wash, some fine crystals of Calcium sulphate and specimens of the extinet Mollusc Ammonites

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serratus, of the size of a Shilling and the f o r m Amoeboceras, I think ; they had been brought u p f r o m the Ampthill Clay there. Also, while visiting m y 98J years-old M o t h e r near Chichester, I was able to collect live shells of Pomatias elegans, M ü l l . , and lay them down a mile f r o m this house on a Cambs. chalk nob, whereupon is already a sturdy crowd of Helix pomatia, L . H o r n e t s Vespa crabro, L., were busy at Ivy-blossom, along with W a s p s and H o n e y Bees, as late as 17 October 1944, w h e n I f o u n d t h e larva of a Poplar Hawk Smerinthus populi, L., on 25th that pupated on 9 N o v e m b e r . T h e two enclosed I c h n e u m o n s [Omorga Faunus, Grav., ? always f r e q u e n t on Carrot flowers in October.—Ed.] I have just taken on a Thistle in this village. T h e late disturbance of Burwell Fen has given us more Redshanks, T r i n g a totanus, L., who occupied three nests this year. But those of T r e e Sparrows Passer montanus, L., are curiously u n c o m m o n at Shelford ; in over seven years I have heard of only two : in the slit of an Elmbole four feet f r o m the ground, and u n d e r seven feet u p in an ancient site of a Woodpecker Dryobates minor, L., in a garden Greengage-tree. Red Admiral Butterflies are still on the wing to-day : °what an a u t u m n ! Best wishes to all old friends, and for t h e Society's f u t u r e . — ( D r . ) W . F . BUCKLE, Shelford Parva, near Cambridge ; 8 Nov. 1945.

FROGS were first heard croaking in ponds on 26 February, and first spawn noticed on 17 M a r c h . A live Newt was discovered in kitchen, and piaced in pond, on 20 M a r c h at H i t c h a m .

EARLY BIRDS AT HITCHAM.—24 Jan. : fully a dozen Wrens observed outside nest, wherein they regularly sleep ; 26th : four Sheld-duck seen Aying over. Followed a cold spell : foocl p u t out was visited by House & Hedge-sparrows, Blackbirds of which a pied specimen was present throughout early spring, Robins, Blue & Great Tits with one Marsh Tit. 1 Feb. : last Golden Plover noted ; 12th : tail-less Mistle-thrush seen ; 24th : Lesser-spotted Woodpecker feeding and sunning on Oak-tree, probably a female ; 25th : dead Black-headed Gull f o u n d dragged into hollow tree-stump.

15 M a r c h : incomplete Blackbird's nest discovered, which on 22nd contained an egg and on 25th four ; 18th : Nuthatcli feeding and sunning ; 29th : Song Thrush sitting on eggs (young ones at Long Melford flew f r o m nest today.—CHARLES H . ROW, in lit. 3 I s t ) ; 30th : stalked a Bullfifich and heard its low sweet song ; 3 I s t : Stock Dove sitting on two eggs ; also f o u n d unfinished nest of Wren and Long-tailed Tit, of which the Birds were lining it with Fowls' breast-feathers ; 3Ist : Hedgehog f o u n d asleep in a bankhole ; April 1 : Wood Pigeon's nest containing two small young.

— A L W Y N BULL.

SPRING ADVENTS.—I heard and saw the first Chiff-chaff of 1945 in a wood near M a r t l e s h a m Creek at about 3 o'clock on 21 March.

MRS. H . R. LINGWOOD.—ChifF-chafTs were vociferous in the

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o-arden of Monks Soham House during the mormng of 25 March.

WYN. HOCKEN.—First Chiff-chafF noted on 25 March, and many before that month's end. Willow Warbier arwved here on 7 April, and Blackcap the next day. Vespertilio pipestrellus was seen on February 5, 15, 26 & 27th. A L W Y N L . B U L L , Hitcham.—April 1 was punctuated for me by the ever-welcome song of the Willow Wren at Martlesham. H A R O L D L I N G W O O D . — H e a r d three, lf not four Nightingales on morning of 10 April at Purdies golf-course in Nacton (A. H A R R O L D SADD) 13th at Waldrigfield ( W A L L E R . ) Earliest one at Martlesham was heard at 5.30 a.m. on lOth ; and earliest Cuckoo at 4.30 p.;". on 14th. MRS. LINGWOOD.—First Swallow was both seen and heard twittering on telegraph-wire at Helmingham on 1 0 April. N I T A CREASY, Monks Soham Hall — Though quite rare or rarely noticed there, Barls Soham is one of the fortunate villages whence the Ringed Ouzel has already been recorded (Trans, i', 235). Yet, on account of its late date in an essentially early season, it is worth mention that a plamly whitemarked $ flew directly in front of my car alongside Barls Soham Green at 2 p.m. on 15 June last; as it persisted before me for several seconds, the lateral pale neck-marks were conspicuous.

Turdus torquatus, L., seems to follow the course of the Beben and its tributaries, for it is well known in Monks Soham, though singly and at long intervals ; it was seen at Woodcroft Hall in 1905, by our late Member Grace Watson at the school in 1912, and in our own garden during 1919.—MRS. R. A. M O R L E Y .

Y O U N G BIRDS OF M A R T L E S H A M G A R D E N — T h e present spring showed here newly-hatched Starlings, House Sparrows, Bullfinches, Wood Larks, Great Tits, Blue Tits with nest in our house-roof, two broods of Willow Warbiers, Mistle Thrushes, Blackbirds, Robins, one beautiful young Nightingale, Hedge Sparrows ; four Green Woodpeckers were observed at Ants-nests at 6 a.m., of which one was obviously a parent, two young and one d o u b t f u l ; and eight Sheld Ducks with their parents. Also we had a horrible Jay, and 1 had to rescue some Blackbirds that were in a greatly distressed State ; they had been driven from their nest and were unable to fly, so I could only drive them into Whin-bushes and hope the parents would continue feeding them. T h e Jay returned agam and again, being once mobbed by a pair of Chaffinches who evidently also had a nest h e r e . — ( M R S . ) B L S I E L I N G W O O D .

Pica rustica, S C O P . , flagrante delicto—It froze sharply during all 29 January 1945 and, at night, another inch of snow feil upon the three or four already burying all herbage. Then, about 11 a.m. on 30th, thaw ended a fortnight's severity, with a stiff south-east breeze. At noon I saw, from the window, a Magpie attack and persistently peck a pretty obviously frost-bitten Thrush on the west lawn. As soon as its foul design was accomplished to its own satisfaction, the Magpie flew up into an adjacent Ash-tree to

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see the coast was clear. This being ascertained, it returned to its victim, grabbed it in its claws, and bore it boldly away : but where to, I C o u l d not see, though certainly towards that Magpies' nest that these Birds have maintained in the orchard here for well nigh a decade (Trans, iv, 217), whereto they had been observed skulking under hedge-cover throughout the winter. Magpies are notorious egg-devourers ; but I did not know that they slew mature Birds.

— M R S . MORLEY, Monks Soham ; dat. cit.

Carduelis elegans, STE., FLOCKING.—Every evening now, about a hundred Goldfinches circle round and round over our garden here and settle in a large old Walnut-tree ; thence they gradually trickle to roost in a tall Holly : a delightful sight. I hope the Society is thriving.—MRS. PERCEVAL GRAVES, T h e Lodge, Dovercourt, Essex ; 18 Feb. [A gratifying Observation, when one considers the extensive tilling of waste and, indeed, oftensterile land during the last four years.—Ed.] OCCURRENCE OF Motacilla melanope, PALL.—This morning a Grey Wagtail flew past me and alighted on the ice of a pond, where it hunted for food by the bank. Its sulphur-coloured underparts, and slate-grey back, could plainly be seen. A L W Y N L. BULL, Brickhouse Farm, H i t c h a m ; 21 Jan. 1945.—A pair of Waxvnngs frequented my Buxhall garden this spring. REVD. H . COPINGER HILL, i n lit. 9 A u g .

A RESPLENDENT Sitta Europaea, L.—I marvelled to see a small and a very brilliant blue Tree-creeper of quite tropica! colouring in my garden this year, with two or three tiny young. I know the common Tree-creeper well, but never before saw one like this : I call it so because it ran up a trunk, the young following, just as does the common kind.—(GENERAL) JOHN MARRIOTT, Cläre Lodge, Henley-road, I pswich; 20 Sept. [Undoubtedly a Nuthatch, necessarily caught in unusually favourable light to give such colouration.—F.C.C.] Dryobates minor, LINN.—"An unusual visitor, a Barred or Lesserspotted Woodpecker, was seen on 8 February 1945 searching for Insects on the trunk of an Apple-tree in Badwell-ash school garden. T h e Bird, a cock with beautiful crimson crown, had been heard calling ' pick, pick, pick ' previously, but had not been seen hitherto. T h e white bars across back and wings showed up vividly against the drab background as the welcome stranger crept restlessly about the tree. Great interest was shown by the Bird and Tree teams of the school".—Local P a p e r ; 13th men. cit.

[One is inclined to cite this as a first instance of glimmering intelligence in Council Schools : at the least preservation, not slaughter, is indicated ! However, D. minor is no visitor but authenticated resident in all our older Sutfolk woodlands ; and its notes, so far from iterated ' pick', are always ' keek ' or ' kink .

—Ed.]

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Circits ceruginosus, LINN.—This afternoon I heard some unusually vociferous Swallows close to our farm here and, upon Iooking round, saw a large Bird that I supposed to be a Kestrel, gliding across the meadow some way off ; but I soon realized that it was too big. It began turning towards me, and the sun showed its b2ck to be quite dark brown. T h e n it wheeled and passed almost over me, finally turned again and settled in some trees at a distance. T h e tail was long and the flight, when it flapped its large and rounded wings, was slower than any Hawk's that I have seen before. T h e plumage appeared to be dark brown, lighter on the breast, and the tail was blackest and unbarred. Was it a Marsh Harrier ?—ALWYN L. BULL, Brickhouse Farm, Hitcham ; 26 Aug. [I think the Bird seen could have been no other species. It is, fortunately, on the increase in Suffolk : I found a nest this spring not far from Lowestoft and located a second pair, as well as Montagues Harrier.—F. C. C.] WHERE BUZZARDS NEST.—Buteo vulgaris, Lch., has now become a mere passage migrant through Suffolk, though a Century ago it certainly bred in our woods ; personally I have never seen one in the County. There are, however, plenty in Westmorland ; and, for several days in April last, I watched a pair that seemed to be nesting on T a r n Crag, at 1800 feet above Easedale Tarn. From the shore of this lake I could see them perched on rocks, whence the pair would from time to time circle high in air, in a sort of ascending spiral, uttering the while a kind of sad whistle. They soar in a very majestic flight, and so very high. I could not locate the nest, though I watched for it from below for some days ; nor did I have any better luck by Iooking down from the top of this crag.—W. ROWLEY ELLISTON, Grassmere ; 6 June.

GREEN SANDPIPERS IN JUNE.—While down in the marshes of the Stour at Fiatford on 24 June last, 1 saw two Tringa ochropus, L., Aying from east to west at a height of about fifty feet ; my binocular showed the dark undersurface of wings, white rump and tail-base. I have observed the species there in other years during August & September ; but Ticehurst (Birds Suff. 1932, 368) has only three records of it in June, and those from the north of the County.—I have found a Wood Pigeon's nest in a wood near Assington last year, containing two young. On 24 April last I discovered a second nest of the same Columba palumbus, L., built on the top of last year's, bearing two eggs that the parent was incubating. Such a double structure I think very unusual.— BRIAN M . WARNER ; 22 July.

SOME BIRDS OF 1945.—A pair of Lesser Redpolls, Acanthis flammea, Müll., nested in the topmost branches of a garden Plumtree in T h e Avenue, Lowestoft. A considerable increase is apparent among Red-backed Shrikes, Lanius collurio, L., in

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north-east Suffolk during recent years : during the present season no less than seven pairs are known to have nested in the borough of Lowestoft. One nest, built in a thick tangle of Bramble and Hawthorn, was within fĂźll view of a much-frequented public foot-path, yet all four young were successfully reared. This species I have found to be very conservative in their sites, nesting through successive years in or very near the same bush. No Black Redstarts, Phcenicurus Ochrurus, Gm., have been observed to nest about Lowestoft in 1945. Two, evidently on pasasge, were seen at Ness Point on 23 March, and one was there the next day ; on 24 April one was singing on the smokehouse roof in Camp-road, where the unmated male sang throughout the summer of 1942 (page 67, supra), and it was probably the same individual that I heard singing near that spot on 7 May. Odd birds, up to as manv as three at once, have frequented the Ness Point area during 11 August to 25 October. Cases of overlapping between our summer and winter Birds occur every autumn ; and the most interesting example this year has been that of a Swift, Micropits apus, L., that I saw on 10 October which was just five days after the first Redwings' arrival and two months after our Lowestoft colonies had vanished. However, this is not the latest recorded date, for a Swift was observed by Mr. Jenner Aying over the town on 16 October 1945, its latest occurrence in our County, I believe.

We have proof that at least one pair of Marsh Harriers, Circus arugivosus, L., have successfully reared four young who cast up a half-dozen small pellets, which I found upon examination to entirely consist of the fĂźr of young Rabbit and a Vole, probably Water Vole Arvicola amphibia, L. I had a pair of Montagus Harriers, C. pygargus, L., under Observation throughout the summer and, though the actual location of the nest was untraceable, I frequently saw both parents conveying food to the young. Upon two occasions in August, I watched the female with one of her young quartering a marsh within a few yards of me. This year has witnessed the return of Bitterns, Botaurus stellaris, L., as a nesting species to north-east Suffolk. They and Bearded Reedlings, Panurus biarmicus, L., both entirely disappeared thence during the succession of severe winters following that of 1938.

Although odd birds began to re-appear by 1942 and booming was heard at Oulton Broad upon one or two occasions, no nesting was proveable. By Major P. Pardoe's kindness, several local Ornithologists were enabled to watch, for the first time, a pair of the delightful Black-winged Stilts, Himantupus Candidus, Bon., who turned up upon a Dunwich marsh on 13 July. On 21st a party of us motored there and at once came upon an example, out on an open mud-flat: this we presumed to be the female.

Through the glass, her mantle and wings appeared to be brownishblack, with a greyish patch on the nape and hind neck. Very soon the male flew out of cover and joined her on open marsh. One

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of his legs was broken and hung down at an angle of almost 45° as he flew. T h e upper and under sides of his wings were more intensely black than those of the female, and his underparts were suifused with a delicate roseate tinge. No nesting seems attempted.

Both escaped gunners ; the former left 28 July and the latter 6 August. One Little Auk, Mergulus alle, L., was found dead in a Blundeston garden on 15 January : the first seen by me since 1933. But Mr. E. C. Jenner has noted dead examples in Lowestoft at the tide-mark on 5 September 1936 and on a golf-green in the town on 16 January 1939. On 11 February two Sclavonian Grebes, Podiceps auritus, L., were observed upon Oulton Broad, where they remained for several days.—F. C . COOK ; 28 Oct. 1945.

BORDER BIRDS.—A few of the interesting species recorded during the decade preceding December 1943, by Mr. Seago in Trans.

Norfolk Nat. Soc. (received on 5 April 1945), were so near that County's southern border as doubtless to have fiown over SufTolk : —A pair of Grey Wagtails nested at Ellingham mill 1937. A Redbreasted Flycatcher (not in Ticehurst or Kirkman) was noted at Yarmouth on 11 Sept. 1943. A Flamingo was seen on Breydon Water during 14-23 July 1934; and, in the marshes there, one Leech's Fork-tailed Petrel Oceanodroma leucorrhoa, Vie., on 7 November 1943. A pair of Little-ringed Plovers were on Breydon Water on 14 June that year, where in August 1935 had been seen a flock of sixteen Avocets, a larger one than any there observed for many years : but cp. Trans. Suff. Nat. Soc. iii, p. 111.—Ed. I N SOUTH-EAST E U R O P E . — I have been abroad in Egypt, Palestine, Italy and, for the last six months, in Jugoslavia, and got home so recently as last month. There I found it very thrilling to watch the habits of some of Britain's ornithological rarities, for instance Bee-eaters [Merope apiaster, L. : last Sutfolk record 1868], Rollers [Coracias garrulus, L. : last Suffolk record 1917, by Mr. N. B. Garrard], Hoopoe [Upupa epops, L. : occasional visitor, last Suffolk record 1931 (Trans, i, 237)], Alpine Swift [Micropus Melba, L . ; last Suffolk record 1887], and I think a Wall-creeper ; as well as lots of Szcallozo-tailed Butterflies.—LESLIE DOW ; 27 Sept.

WINTER BIRDS AT HITCHAM.—This is really a most interesting season ; here there are more Golden Plovers about than my father can previously remember, a female Grey IVagtail seems to be resident, and I believe that this morning I saw a Com Bunting [extremely rarely observed in Suffolk during mid-winter.—Ed.] although I am not familiar with the species. Respecting numbers I calculated a week or so ago while Standing at three field's junction, where Golden Plovers appear every day, that there simultaneously rose from feeding no less than 3-4000 Rooks and Dazcs, 1,000 Lapwings, fully a hundred Gulls, hundreds of Starlings, Larks,

HEVENINGHAM

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OBSERVATIONS.

Finches, &c., a n d at least three of these Plovers, of which I have recently seen flocks of 250-300 individuals on the m e a d o w beside o u r house, along with others of 2-300 Lapwings, about 200 Gulls a n d 1 - H t h o u s a n d Starlings.—ALWYN L . BULL ; Brickhouse F a r m , H i t c h a m ; 11 Dec. 1945.

ROUND STONHAM.—Deerbolt Park here has become almost a Bird Sanctuary since the Hall was vacated about thirty years ago. [ T h e M a n o r of Derebolts in S t o n h a m was earlier called that of Creeting a p u d M o n t e m , wherein the poet Bird was born during 1788. N o t h i n g of its history has been recovered before T u d o r times when, like S h r u b l a n d , it vested in Sir Pilip Bothe, f r o m w h o m it passed in 1535 to Sir A n d r e w W y n d e s o u r e in trust for Sir Robert L y t t o n u p o n his marriage with L o r d W i n d s o r ' s d a u g h t e r A u d r e y (Fine, T r i n , 27 H e n . viii).—Ed.] It was occupied by Italian prisoners during the war b u t is n o w empty, the Park is let for grazing and the land f a r m e d b y W a r Agricultural C o m m i t t e e . Jays, Magpies, a Hawk and black Rabbit I f o u n d in the C o d d e n h a m chalk-pits recently ; and Spindle-trees Euonymus Europceus, L . , are unusually n u m e r o u s j u s t now, especially by the River G i p p i n g near Bosmere Lake.—(Miss) ELAINE R. FOWLER ; 18 N o v .

A KIMMERIDGE BOULDER.—In Stratford St. A n d r e w (field 21 of O r d n . Surv. of 1904, 1 /2500) during 1942 a G e r m a n b o m b excavated a crater, about a dozen feet in d e p t h . At t h e bottom appeared some fossiliferous Clay which I b r o u g h t to C a m b r i d g e a n d referred to the D e p a r t m e n t of Mineralogy, who report that " breaking u p the Clay has not revealed any fossiliferous remains that are characteristic of a definite horizon. T h e Clay is certainly Jurussic and, f r o m the lithology, probably Kimmeridgian ; therefore it is, to j u d g e f r o m its locality, presumably a portion of a boulder in the Boulder Clay". It would have been interesting to ascertain, by borings, h o w large this boulder may be : there is an erratic near Ely of K i m m e r i d g i a n Clay, weighing millions of tons, which is worked for brick-making. Äs the crater has n o w been filled in, it is the more regrettable that none of its n u m e r o u s fossils could be definitely identified.—CRANBROOK, C a m b r i d g e ; 5 M a y 1945.

[Lord Cranbrook has kindly sent a plat of the dull black Clay for our examination, some four inches in diameter. It is obviously petrified m u d of peculiarly fine consistency, containing irregularly sparse Clusters of white marine Mollusca of at least three indeterminable species, quite vaguely assignable to the genera Abra. Lch. or Corbicula, Brg., Cardium, L . and Ceritliium, Ads. ; n o n e of t h e m is over 5 m m . in length.—Ed.]