Observations 7 Part 2 by Suffolk Naturalists' Society

OBSERVATIONS

T h e point is that they must have been in the cloth when the purchaser received the suit from the shop, I expect; and, as he says it is ruined by them, they must surely have been there longer than a fortnight to work so much damage and grow so large. Will you give me your comments ?—H. E. CHIPPERFIKLD ; 21 September. [The depredators are larvae of that omnivorous curse, the Beetle Anthrenus musceorum, L . (cf. Trans, vi, 233) ; and, as they are nearly fully grown, must certainly have been in the cloth at least one month.—ED.], SUFFOLK GLOW-WORMS PROFUSE.—One day in July about 1920 fifty or sixty Glow-worms, which are frequent in the park and graveyard there, flew to an indoors light at a first-storev window of north Holton Rectory. Their phosphorescent lights were so brilliant and strong that the Rector's wife called her two daughters in to marvel at it.—(Miss) MADGE WILT.IAMS, Lowestoft; October 1950. [Such would be a common experience in Derby, Glos, or Berks, where this Lampyris noctiluca, L., is abundant; but in SufFolk it is rarely if ever seen on Boulder-clay and is now usually sparse on even our Sandy soils, though formerly (Wake's Southwold 1839, p. 240) frequent through the district in question We have often taken isolated larvae and the large yellow eggs in moss and low herbage there, about Brandon and in Bentlev Woods (Entom. xxix, p. 64), but on 8 July 1929 discovered a perhaps unique Situation in the New Forest. There Chester Doughty and we borrowed a ladder and were working for Phlaeotrya rufipes, GvL, from the top of it when we found a 2 Glow-worm in the midst of a score of her eggs under the bark of a dead Oak-tree at just twenty feet from the ground in Rhinefields Sandys.—Ed.] SIZE OF Ochina hedera, M U L L . — A male, so small that I did not recognise it as pertaining to this specics, was Walking up the glass of a ground-floor window at Monks Soham on 2 July 1950. Careful measurement showed it to be barely 2 mm. in length. This Beetle is very common among the old Ivy on my house-walls ; and the largest $ taken here, on 12 June 1929, is exactly 3\ mm. long. This is a remarkable divergency of size, and especially notable because Fowler allows it no more than 2 | - 3 mm.—CLAUDE

MORLEY.

T H E BEETLES OF A P I T . — T h e enclosed specimens [Cicinela campestris, Coccinella 7-punctata, Lucanus cervus 9, Melolontha vulgaris, Malachius bipustulatus, Chrysomela polita, Cassida viridis and flaveola with Apion miniatum—Ed.] were collected while I was working an old Red Crag pit at Hascot Hill in Battisford last spring. I send them as a matter of interest.—PHILIP CAMBRIDGE ; July.

Platycnemis pennipes, PALL.—This small and mainly pure-white Dragonfly was very common on 9 July beside the River Stour at Nayland, where Miss Longfield and I had found the species

OBSKRVATIONS

A FOSSIL SPONGE.—A petrified Sponge, inches nearly spherical, was picked up on Stowupland Green last January ; and is, our Hon. Secretary teils me, quite unidentifiable because the original carbonate of lime, constituting the Animal Porifera, has been utterly changed, by infiltration of silica, into Flint. It had doubtless been brought to Suffolk in ice during one of the Glacial Periods.—G. W . T H U R L O W . F U N G U S N E W TO SUFFOLK.—Boletus parasiticus, (Bull.) Fr., was locally abundant on Soleroderma aurantium, Pers. in Dodnash Wood this month. I have shown Mr. Mayfield my pbotograph of it in situ. S. C. PORTER ; 25 September.—I have profited by our wet autumn, for moisture has meant plenty of F u n g i ; and I have consumed large platefuls of Lepiota procera, Scop., for which I feel none the worse ! (Canon) A. P. WALLER ; 10 October. M O R E N E W SUFFOLK FUNGI.—An excellent and prolonged season of Basidiomycetes-hunting has yielded the following six species new to the County, all discovered at Bentley :— Psalliota sylvicola (Vitt.) Sadd., which I had already found at Butley in 1947 ; Tricholoma sejunctum (Sow.) Fr. ; Entoloma speculum (Fr.) Quel. ; Hypholoma hydrophilum (Bull.) Fr. ; Psilocybe sarcocephala, Fr. ; and Russula cyanoxantha (Schf.) Fr., found also at Melton. Later the always rare Hydnum coralloides (Scop.) Fr., occurred to me on a decayed Scots-pine near Woodbridge.—STANLEY P O R T E R ; 31 October. [Add to the Suffolk List of larger Fungi at Trans, vi, page 203.—Ed.]. SUFFOLK FERNS.—In September 1936 I found on the heath at Sizewell one small root of Osmunda regalis, L. This plant [cf. Trans, iv, 57] has survived many hazards in this habitat, especially during the war ; it has grown into a moderate sized clump, and short distances away are now two new ferns both about the size of the parent plant when first discovered. In the same habitat but a few feet away among Calluna and Betula are two roots of the now very scarce Blechnum boreale, Sw., a fern very frequent in western and northern counties. Oplioglossum vulgatum, L., occurs about a quarter-mile away, in a damp hollow. If habitats are left alone, many perennial plants will survive in the same spots for centuries ; ferns, especially, are very long-lived.

Lastrea cristata, Presl., has been growing at Bexley Decoy, probably since prehistoric times: I have seen an herbarium specimen collected there about 1780. Asplenium trichomanes, L., also a scarce fern, was found on a wall at Elveden during early August; and A. rutamuraria, L., at West Stow, but this fern is not so uncommon.— DUCKWEEDS : All four species of Duckweeds Lemna trisulca, L . , L. minor, L., L. gibba, L. and L. polyrrhiza, L., occur together in the dykes of Minsmere Level. Hydrocharis morsus-ranae, L.

OBSLRVATIONS

and EloJea Canadensis, Mick, are there ; with many other aquatic plants. The dykes are very interesting and I expect fauna IS good.—F. W. SIMPSON ; 7 Oct. FRITILLARIES AND FROST—One day last April I visited the preserved area of Fritillaria Meleagris, L., near Debenham (Trans, iv, 185) and was very disappointed tofindevery one of their numerous heads cut off, pretty surely by frost.—(Miss) BRIDGET COPINGER HILL ; vv. 30 October. A LUMINOUS Magnolia.—A Magnolia grandiflora, planted about fifteen years ago and now some thirty feet high, grows on a west wall of my Hollesley house. It has born unusually numerous flowers this summer though, due to rough weather, they lasted very shortly. On 27 August the sky was clear with a bright and almost füll moon when I saw, from my bedroom window about twenty feet away, thatthe top branches of the Magnolia seemed to be surprisingly lit up by many little white lights, giving it the appearance of a Christmas-tree illumined by small and rather weak electric bulbs. I watched it for some time and noticed that these lights were waving about in the fresh breeze, which added to their striking effect. The wall, supporting the tree, is white; and the leaves were probably still moist from a heavy half-hour's thunder-shower in the afternoon. The next morning, upon closely examining the Magnolia's top, I see a considerable number of Ppistils, about two inches long and not unlike small candles, left bare, all petals having fallen. I should be grateful if our Members could explain the phenomenon.—BERNARD BARRINGTON ; 28 August. [The curious sight described is suggestive of the so-called St. Elmo's Fire, the electrical discharge sometimes observed at the end of elevated and pointed objects during a time of thunder and high wind. This phenomenon is said to be rarely seen in and round the British Isles, though more frequent elsewhere in northen latitudes. A. MAYFIELD.—Have been through all my books on Magnoliacece, but found nothing so weird ; nor do the pistel stems ever appear to be phosphorescent. Surelv the eyes of Moths, possibly feeding upon the pistels' honey, could not scintillate to such an extent. E.W.PLATTEN.— Glow-worms do not leave ground level, to which Electric Centipeds also cleave. Has any Member a Solution ?—Ed.] SMALL-FLOWERED BALSAM STILL IN BURY.—This rare plant grows in only one corner of the Abbey Gardens at Bury. It is an annual and so tender that thefirstautumn frost kills it. I believe it to be a relic of the past: that it was cultivated in the Herb Garden of the monks here before 1539 within the Abbey walls, probably used by them for some medicinal purpose. Now it is treated by the gardeners as a weed and, at times, almost smothered with other Vegetation such as nettles. I have transplanted it, always unsuccessfully. The seeds are minute (see

OBSERVATIONS

R. W. Buthcer's 1946 Further Illustrations of Brit. Plants, p. 105).—H. J. BOREHAM. [Impatiens parviflora, DC., is an alien annual, flowering from July to September in waste places in England. Hind first discovered it at Sutton in 1876 when collecting for his 1889 Flora of Suffolk, wherein he adds that it was then established in the Botanic Gardens, and Barrett's nursery, at Bury.—Ed.] C.laytonia perfoliata, Donn., AT GLEMHAM.—A single plant has been found in the garden of Great Glemham House that has, I suspect, risen from a seed carried here on my mother's feet, as this alien is abundant at her place in Snape. I have destroyed it, as I can well do without it here.—(Lord) CRANBROOK ; 9 May. WILD FLOWER NOTES OF 1 9 5 0 . — P r u n e l l a laciniata,

Members

of the Lowestoft Field Club found this species (identified by our member Ellis of Norwich Museum) growing on heathland at Sotterley and possible hybrids x P. vulgaris, L . This is the first record I have of its occurrence in Suffolk, nor have I yet seen specimens. It has variable leaves, Upper stem leaves deeply pinnatified : flowers cream-white, rarely blue : P. vulgaris often bears pale cream or blue flowers. Atriplex halimus, L., Shrubby Orache, a native of Spain, is sometimes included in British Floras (See Hayward's Botanists' Pocket Book) and mentioned as being planted on the sea coast. Now it can be seen at Felixstow and Minsmere with Tamarisk (Tamarix gallica, L . ) and deserves a place in our countv flora. Papaver hybridum, L., is uncommon and local. A few plants were found in an arable field, growing a crop of peas, at Alderton in July. Diplotaxis muralis, DC. and var. Babingtoni, Syme, is frequent in east Suffolk about Ipswich, Felixstowe, Melton and Alderton. Diplotaxis tenuifolia, DC. is now very frequent on waste ground at Ipswich and Felixstow. Dianthus deltoides, L., since the enclosure of large areas of Breckland with wire netting fences and the reduction of rabbits, many plants, hitherto little noticed and much stunted, are flourishing. One is the charming Maiden Pink and one may now find it in some profusion on sandy heaths at West Stow and Icklingham ; also found in a similar habitat on the edge of Rushmere Common near Ipswich during July. Orobanche major, L., occurs on its usual host, Centaurea scabiosa, beside the Duke's Ride, at Bamham. In the same habitat is Scabiosa arvensis, L., with lovely pure white flowers. Filago spathulata, Presl., found during early August in a sandy field at Covehithe with Aspera spica-venti, Beauv. Chenopodium. vtdvaria, L . , abundant at a field near Buckanay's Farm buildings, in Alderton ; this Goosefoot comes up annually in my Ipswich garden, doubtless originated from seeds on castaway specimens collected at Felixstow Ferry.—F. W. SIMPSON ; 27 September.

OBSERVATIONS

CANDYTUFT IN CAMBS.—Our Botanists may care to hear of the find, early in July, of Iberis amara, Linn., this year. T h e plants were far from habitations at the south-west limit of Royston Heath, and well off the line of a normal golf-stroke.—(Dr.) W. F. BUCKLE, Shelford Parva; 9 August. [Occurs in only a halfdozen villages in Suffolk, where all are thought escapes from cultivation.—Ed.]

Pyrus torminalis, SM.—Mr. Simpson writes to the Local Paper on 20 May that recently " M r . F. W. Packard at Capel St. Mary showed me a fine Wild Service Tree growing in a field-hedge. This tree, although at least a hundred and fifty years old, apparently has been passed unidentified ; it has a girth of seven feet, and is fifty or sixty feet high. Another good specimen, slightly smaller, is located in Bruisyard Big Wood ; they are also found at Wenham Grove, Barking Woods, Dodnash and Old Hall Woods, Bentley. This species is rather scarce a r d local, restricted as native to the southern half of England. In Suffolk I have only noticed it in three parishes, growing as a small tree or several shoots from an old stump. There are a number of rather confusing foreign Service Trees of the same genus, Pyrus or Sorbus, to be seen frequently in plantations and parks. Mature leaves are usually the best guide in determination. Is the Capel one the largest tree of its kind in Suffolk ? The Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, informs me that there are records of several large trees in various parts, but they may not exist to-day." On 24 May Mr. Simpson had a photograph of this tree's trunk taken, which appeared in the same paper on 2 June. On 9th one of our Members sent in a spray from a "magnificent" tree of the kind at Great Leighs near Chelmsford in Essex ; and the Bungay parson another, gathered on 4th at the hedge of Broome Park just over the border in Norfolk, by the beauty of which he was much Struck. On sixteenth two more Suffolk examples were noted : a small one at the Grove in Wenham Parva ; and a very fine specimen, pretty surely wild though now within a garden at Barton Magna near Bury, by our Member Mrs. Jenkins of Sudbury.—A fine and unpollarded Oak-tree, in the same wood as the crag-pit in which occursPolygonatum multiflorum, All., has a girth of 13J feet. To-morrow I am off for a fortnight in Ireland, so will miss the next excursion.—F. W. SIMPSON. O L D TREES AND Foxgloves.—A peculiarly well grown Oak by Barham Hall is 15 ft. 6 inches, at five feet from the ground. And a Maple (Acer campestre, Lin.), of which several old ones still stand in the Slade there, is fully nine feet at the same height, enmantled in old Ivy. JIM BURTON ; there, 25 June.—-An Oak near Gunton church is sixteen feet in girth at five feet from the ground. Near it is a five-feet high plant of Digitalis purpurea, L., with one of six feet in a corner of Gunton churchyard ; two or

OBSERVATIONS

three of these plants, now certainly local in Suffolk, grew upon Corton cliff about 1947 (MADGE WILLIAMS ; there 22 June); and they come up in my Martlesham garden (HAROLD LINGWOOD). OUR SPIDERS.—Among the species recorded by me (Trans, vi, 16), Oxyptila horticola was a slip of memory for O. praticola, which is already in the Suffolk list at Trans, iv, 158; where at 159 is Trochosa perita, taken also by Mr. Jim Burton near Lowestoft in December 1949. A kind NEW to Suffolk, that ought to have been among the June list but was not identified tili 1950, is the rare Sictyna flavescens, Wik., from the north-east corner of the County. T w o ARACHNIDA NEW TO S U F F O L K . — M r . P. J . Burton has just sent me a few Spiders, &c., taken by him in north-east Suffolk in the course of the past summer : nothing very special among them, though two, generally frequent kinds, happen to be new to the County. They are :—ARANEAE : Araneus (Epeira) umbratica, Clubiona stagnatilis, Trochosa perita, Agelena labyrinthica and Tegenarira Derhami [all recorded hence at Trans, iv, 156] ; the additional species is a $ of Xysticus pini, Hahn., common in north Essex. PHALANGIDEA : Odiellus palpinalis [recorded at Trans, vii, 17] ; and the additional Oligolophus Hanseni, Kraep. T H R O M B I D I I D / E : Ritteria nemorum, of Trans, iv, 170.—The Spiders Teutana grossa, Walck. and I.ethypliantes albimaculatus, DeGeer, are exceedingly alike and both exceedingly rare : grey beasts with white spots. I regret to now find that both sexes, ascribed by me to the former at Trans, vii, 16, actually pertain to the LATTER species.—(The Revd. Dr.) JOHN E. H U L L ; Rowlands Gill, 20 September. FLIES EAT S P I D E R S . — D r . Buckle (who notes Green Sandpipers Tririga ochropus, L., at Whittlesford in Cambs. on 15 August 1950) sent from Shelford Parva in Cambridge on 15 August " fragments of leaves of Reed Mace [Typha latifolia, L.], which carry curious objects. I have found them previously ; but have not dissected one. Please teil me their origin and later stages." These objects were received on 19th and examined with Mr. Jim Burton that day. They are dull black with a whitish sheen, roughly 6-7 mm. in diameter and irregularly circular, rising all round from the Reed to a central obtuse apex, much in the manner of the Mollusc Calyptraea Chinensis and the oblong Fissurella Graeca, L., but with the edge externally extended flatly over the Reed to a varying extent. Dissection showed this visible cuticle to be a mere protective lid of obdurate or annealed gluten upon a base of hairs or web. Beneath the centre of the first one opened were discovered two oblong coriaceous bodies, one of \ \ by 2 mm. and the other of 3f by 1 | mm., both obviously wove and looking like nothing but the cocoons of some small Ichneumonidous

OBSERVATIONS

parasitic Fly ; besides which the lid covered nothing but a few dry-sucked circular dull-orange eggs. Hence analogy was suspected with some Hemiteles species (such as H. varitarsus, Grav., described at lehn. Brit. ii, 1907, p. 127), the larvae of which had subsisted upon the now desiccated ova of some Spider. And such a supposition was confirmed by the contents of a second lid dissected, beneath the centre of which, adhering to it and not to the plant, was nothing but a compact circular mass of healthy pale-orange ova in a slight white web. Hence these " objects " would seem to be egg-capsules woven by some Spider, in at least one case already totally devoured by two Ichneumonid larvae of diverse size at the time of their pupation. This disparity obviouslv resulted from malnutrition ; for from the larger cocoon a very small $ of the self-same expected H. varitarsus, of but 3 mm. in length, emerged at 9 p.m. on 1 September, and survived actively in a glass-topped tin box tili only early on 5th ; but from the smaller cocoon nothing emerged. Also, a pair of normal size bred out on 25 August.—Meanwhile, our interest in the matter had caused Dr. Buckle to send another half-dozen capsules on Reeds, all " from one patch of four square yards," at the former locality where plenty of the plant was untouched. These arrived on 30 August, when from one of them a $ H. varitarsus of the normal mm. in length was found to have already emerged en route. Düring the night of 9-10 September two stout crescentic pale flavous larvae, 2 mm. in length and of typical Hemitelid form, also emerged. None of the eggs, which very likely do not hatch tili next spring, have yet disclosed young Spiders. Some capsules were sent the Revd. J. E. Hull for his opinion ; and he replies on 1 September that, throughout his broad Arachnid knowledge " I have never seen such a Performance by any Spider, perhaps because I have only a limited experience of their Operations upon water-plants. The capsules' maker should be a species of Clubiona ; but their texture, colour and shape are all stränge to me. If you hatch anything out, I should be very glad to see the result." On 30 August the first capsules' eggs hatched into the antieipated young Spiders, which Dr. Hull was able to pronounce certainly a Clubiona and probably of the species C. phragmitis, Koch. A most interesting discovery. Mr. Beaufoy teils me he is familiar with these capsules on Suffolk reeds, Phragmites, but has never known their naissence. CLAUDE

MORLEY.

SUSSEX C R U S T A C E A N . — L e s t it be misappropriated to us, clear Statement is here made that the 7 lb. Edible Crab, Cancer pagurus, Linn., landed at Lowestoft on 24 January 1950 and noted in several local papers the next day, was trawled actually off Brighton in the English Channel. The species attains no remarkable size upon our own coast (Trans, ii, 266); but, some fifty miles south-

OBSERVATIONS

west of Eddvstone in 1912, two specimens were taken that measured respectively 56 and 50 fms. across the carapace, and are the largest of which record is discoveiable.—ED. SOME BEETLES OF 1950.—Rather casual collecting gave the impression that good Coleoptera were to be had by only visiting their especial localities, and general work elsewhere produced little of interest. Lucanus cervus was not rare round Ipswich in July (SIMPSON) ; a single Cetonia aurata, extremely uncommon in Suffolk, turned up on 28 June upon a fence in a garden there (BACKHOUSE, in coli. Morley) probably imported ; one Rhizotrogus solstitialis, always sparse on our boulder-clay, appeared in Bedfield on 9 July (SCALES) ; Anomala Frischi was on the Breck in June (BACKHOUSE) ; and Serica brunnea flew to light by Bosmere Lake on 19 August (BURTON). Limonius minutus appeared in the Norfolk Catfield marsh on 18 June (WILLIAMS) ; Cyphon nitidulus was sitting on Monks Soham corridor ceiling at 11 p.m. on 30 Aug. ; and a 2 Cantharis fusca found feeding upon one of the largest of a half-dozen fat larvae of Coccinella 7-punctata that had battened on Aphis Urtica in North Cove marshes on 16 June. Rhagonycha fulva first emerged at Sudbury on 1 July ; it is peculiarly remarkable to note with what regularity this species follows the calendar, for we have noted its earliest presence usually upon, and always within a couple of days of, this date in Suffolk annually since 1893. One Malachius aeneus was again in Monks Soham paddock, this time sitting on a thistle on the dull afternoon of 8 July ; Malthinus balteatus was on a window there on 30 June. A half dozen Thanasimus formicarius, usually taken singly, turned up together on young Ash poles in the marshes of Fritton Warren in June. A fine Asemum striatum, L., N E W to Suffolk, walked up the trunk of a large Scots Pine-tree and was duly boxed on 17 June in the Olaves fir woods (JIM BURTON) ; it is a Scotch species, everywhere distributed with Pines, taken in Sussex by Treasurer Elliott twenty years ago and in the New Forest well nigh fifty. Prionus coriarius was found in Ipswich on 24 July by Mr. S. A. Notcutt (SIMPSON) ; Agapanthia lineaticollis flew along, four feet above the boggy ground in sunshine, at 4 p.m. in Sutton Broad, Norfolk, on 18 June ( J I M BURTON). Lytta vesicatoria was noted in late May on Stapleford, roughly a mile west of its well known locality in the Magog, Hills ; and a few Pyrochroa serraticornis were in my Shelford Parva garden, also in Cambs. (DR. BUCKLE) ; Melandryia caraboides sat high on a dead Willow-tree in North Cove marshes on 12 June and on lOth (Edemera nobilis occurred plentifully upon the edge of Pakefield cliff.

Anthreni DEVOUR CLOTHES.—The enclosed were found in a suit of clothes that had been in the possession of the finder for only a fortnight, and have been brought me for identificaton.

OBSERVATIONS

MORLEY.

Platycnemis pennipes, PALL.—This small and mainly pure-white Dragonfly was very common on 9 July beside the River Stour at Nayland, where Miss Longfield and I had found the species

OBSERVATIONS

just beginning to emerge three weeks earlier (cf. Trans, i, 23). Also I have seen it abundantly at Rhinefield-Sandys immediately above Oberwater-stream in the New Forest.—S. BEAUFOY, v. v. 14 July. [Just as did we there on 9 June to 28 July 1909-36'. It IS unknown anywhere along Suffolk's north-boundary waters ; nor could Lucasfindany " Norfolk " record later than in the 1891 Handbook by Harcourt Bath, who ran the business of F. Chamberlain and Company, second-hand booksellers of Birdlip, andfinallyretired to Sheepscombe in the Cotswolds. Hagen records (Entom. Annual 1857, p. 56) P. pennipes from even Scotland !—Ed.] DRAGONFLY W I T H BAT.—It was very curious to see JEschna cyanea, Müll., Aying slowly at two feet from the ground beside the moat here, actually along with one or two Vespertilio pipistrellu Sch., darting backwards and forwardsfivefeet higher, at 8.30 p.m. immediately before füll dusk on 9 July last, a quite still evening with barely any south-west air and temperature 67°, but clouds banking over the sunset that broke at midnight into a thunder-storm.—CLAUDE MORLEY, Monks Soham. DRAGONFLY DRAGOONED.—One sunny Saturday late in last June, I saw a large Dragonfly, doubtless JEschna cyanea, Müll., being carried in Stowmarket by a Sparrow Passer domesticus, L Its struggles caused the Bird to alight on the road in front of me, in order to secure afirmergrip, after which it was carried over ä hedge and so out of sight. I see in British Birds' for September the account of a Goldcrest Regulus cristatus, Koch, attacking a ' large Dragonfly.'—W. G. T H U R L O W ; 21 October. JEschna isosceles, M U L L . , ESTABLISHED.—Our Hon. Secretary and I were delighted tofindthis peculiarly fens' species quite definitely established at Fritton Warren (cf. supra, p. 6) on llth of last June. That afternoon one was captured, one was cut in half by the rim of my net and at least eight other specimens were seen on the wing over the Warren, a couple of hundred yards from the northern marshes, in a slight NE. breeze and hot sunshine. At the same spot on the dull and showery 24th, only two or three were Aying. Another was taken and about ä score seen on the dull 18th at Catfield Fen in Norfolk, where it seemed a good deal rarer than at Trans, iv, 254. Both sexes of Libellula fulva, of which the seems much the rarer and quite unnoticed at Shipmeadow, were not uncommon with Erythromma Najas in North Cove marshes of the Waveney on 15 June. A very early JEschna mixta was Aying in my mid-Lowestoft garden 16 August; and Kessingland marshes 8 October.—P. J. B U R T O N . C A M B S . SNAKE FI.Y, &c.—The enclosed " specimen," from swampy ground at Sawston in Cambs. on 10 July last, may be of no interest; but as I had not noticed the species [the Neuro'pteron

OBSERVATIONS

Raphidia notata, Fab.—Ed.] on many previous (Molluscan) visits to that locality, it journeys to you for identification : please let me hear about it.—Also I will record that, not far from the Suffolk boundary, Polyommatus minimus, Fus. and Thecla rubi L., were in the Devils Ditch on 1 July, about fifty yards south-east of the Burwell to Swaffham Prior road.—AtGamlingay about 1920 a Redstart Ruticilla phaenicura, L., after first nest was destroyed, lined that of a Song-thrush in which it laid and incubated with success seven eggs. Every good wish to the Society, whose numbers keep so strong, I am glad to see.—(Dr.) W. F. BUCKLE. M A C R O - M O T H S SPARSE.—Remarkably few records have been received during 1950. Our Lowestoft Secretary attracted to light another eight Diacrisia Urtica at Kessingland Denes and Shrubland farm there from the Latimer marshes ; the last, so late as 23 July, was a 2 in still quite good condition ; to his mothlight came Arctia villica there, at Fritton Warren, Somerleyton and Pakefield. M M . J . and G. BURTON found a good many Abjecta and Cursoria on the flowering Lyme Grasses of Southwold sandhills in early August. T h e first Ochroleuca ever seen at Monks Soham through forty years flew in to light on 9 August, as had Advena on 30 June. Mr. A. M. MORLEY, O.B.E., M.A., of Folkestone, who filled up his series of Elymi, for which he especially visited Suffolk, at Southwold, has been so good as to return to us the sole County Sacraria of the year, a rather worn $ that laid a few eggs, after being captured by him on the Lowestoft north denes, 14 July.—A half-grown larva of Pavonia occurred at Saxstead on 18th July. (Canon) A. P. WALLER.—Mr. J I M BURTON in June took Venosata at Fritton light on 24th ; Octogesima on N. Cove sugar on 23rd ; and saw fifteen Heliothis dipsacea on Pakefield denes during 10-13th.

The best part of a dozen Suffolk Naturalists formed quite an " Informal Gathering " in Barking Woods on 20 May, including one lady Member and another from Australia, when Palimpsestis or, Fb., was the best thing taken, with Palpina, several Coryli, Curtula and an influx of S. populi. A few Stellatarum appeared in my Stowmarket garden during the summer from 23 June ; and the next day I took Griseata in the Breck. Rubidata came to light in my house on 2 July, with Dolabraria ; and on 13th Stigmatica emerged from a spring larva at Barking. On 23rd Umbra was hovering over Valerian in my garden ; and from 7 August Aletia albipuncta, Fb. appeared here at light, sugar and flowers : this species has either greatly spread to Suffolk of late years or has previously been much overlooked. [Doubtless carelessly passed over, for A. lithargyrea, Esp.—P. J. Burton.] On l l t h Mr. Thurlow and I took Diffinis at Barton Mills, having just seen but missed it at Wicken in Cambs ; and a feature of the season has been a comparative abundance of Dissimilis,

OBSERVATIONS

many of a fine rufescent form. September produced an Atropos pupa on lOth at Knoddishall, not yet emerged ; and there on 23 rd a couple of Lutulenta came to sugar, as did Helvola on 2 October to Ivy at Bosmere.—H. E. CHIPPERFIELD ; 16 October. Caradrina petasitis, DBL., STILL AT HOME.—This conspicuous Noctuid, which is merely local as far north as Preston and in east Ireland during September, has not been noted in Suffolk for twenty years, when Canon Waller took one at Waldringfield light in August: as had Mr. Platten a decade earlier in Ipswich, whence all Mr. Morley's and probably MM. Pyett's and Baylis's records {Mem. SNS. 1937, 23) are erroneous. Before 1890 Henry Lingwood of the Mill House in Needham (1831-1906—Trans, vi, 182, whose collection is now in Bury Museum) wrote to the Revd. E. N. Bloomfield that he had " taken several specimens here and have found the work of the larva, but have not been able to secure the pupa." I had never seen it in this County ; so, on 19 August, our Hon. Secretary and I visited Needham Mill, where we found to grow great beds of Petasites officinalis close to the Gipping River and Bosmere Lake (said, when a lad was drowned in it a month later to be 100 feet deep). For an hour at and after dusk MM. John and Geoffrey Burton and we kicked up in a light shower a half-dozen specimens of this Butter-burr Moth, of which several were already slightly rubbed, showing its continued presence here needed only searching to be ascertained. But subsequent brilliant moth-lamps attracted none.—P. J. BURTON. LOBSTER MOTH.—A $ Stauropus fagi, L., was captured in the engineering factory of Richard Garrett & Co. at Leiston on 30 June last [evidentlyflownin to light.—Ed.]. It had previously been noticed for two days in the same position on a piece of machinery.—JACK ELLIS, Wenhaston. OAK-EGGERS' ASSEMBLING.—Gastropacha quercifolia $ emerged on 19 July in a completely closed box ; and the next afternoon, between noon and 5 p.m., a $ Lasiocampa quercus, L., had f lowed suit. The box was upstairs and the window shut; but, two minutes after I had opened the box at five, a $ entered through a downstairs window and, in less than another minute, had flown upstairs and located the female. This may not be unusual, as I had somewhat similar experience three years ago at Falkenham ; but it seems worthy of note, considering the small lapse of time from the opening of the box to the male's arrival. Cerura vinula, L., is common here this year, with Privet and Poplar Hazvk-mo in abundance.—A. E. ORFORD, Felixstow. SOME HAMPSHIRE MACRO-LEPIDOPTERA.—I enclose a Iis t o the species taken in my garden here, on the NE. border of the County, since 1947. I sugar posts at the end of it and have a hundred-watt electric-light bulb attached to a reading-lamp

OBSERVATIONS

about twenty yards from the house. If >t were not for the shockingly wet summer, I expect I should have improved upon the list this year, as I have come to the conclusion that my garden is a better Hunting-ground than the New Forest; and I think, if you cast your eye down the list, you will agree. [We love the dear old Forest, and consider the question an open one !—Ed.] Other Hants. collecting has helped me to recently add to my collection A. flaviventris, H. suasa, C. leucostigma, N. dissoluta, littoralis, geminipunctata and N. polycommata.—The list is divided into S P H I N G I D I E , five kinds, of which six specimens of Sphinx pinastri are the best; eleven N O T O D O N T I D A E , including the occasional Furcula, local Trepida and Fagi; six so-so LASIOC A M P I D S ; five DREPANIDS, showing the local Cultraria and Lacertinaria ; two N O L I D A E , albula represented by eight examples being probably the plum of the list; two common L Y M A N T R I D S ; four T H Y A T I R I D S , including the local Ridens and rare Octigesima ; eleven so-so A R C T I I D S ; exactly one hundred N'OCTU/E, notable among which are the local Ditrapezium, Cotitigua (which we have taken at rest by day on heather stems in Matley Bog, NF.), Turca, Miniosa, Pyralina, Subtusa, Viridaria, Moneta, and Flexula; eighty-one G E O M E T E R S , which comprise Legatella (sparsata), Sacraria, Picata, Venosata, Dolobraria and the New Forest Roboraria ; with the single T I N E I D clearwing Mgeria tipuliformis, Clk— FRANK COMPTON STANLEY, Swanmore, Bowes Hill, Rowlands Castle ; 21 September 1950. NOCTU^E ON IVY-BLOSSOM IN OCTOBER 1950.—On 4th our Hon. Secretary and I saw, between Henstead and South Cove, the following species (of the Society's 1937 Memoir), numbers : 71, 79, 86, 116, 117, 124, 137, 138, 147, 149, 162, 163, 168, 169, 170, 171, 175, 177, 18C, 181, 190, 192, 195, 199, 205, 209, 259, 284 and the Tineid Depressaria Yeatesana, Fab., but no Geometers. We considered twenty-nine an unexpectedly large total after so poor a season. But many of them were mere late stragglers. For at onlv Henstead on 13th, there remeined but thirteen species ; with the ädditions of several (176) Macilenta and a single early (445) Dilutata. And on 15th, near St. Olaves in Fritton, the ädditions of (33) Revayana and (402) Obeliscata : bringing the total up to thirty-three different kinds.—JIM BURTON, Lowestoft. LEPIDOPTERA IN 1950.—I snatched a week-end's leave on 23 July and that night attracted seventy-five species, including Micros, to house-light in Stowmarket: Fuliginosa, Cuculatella, Linariata, Coronata, Alchemillata, Ophiogramma and, mirabile dictu, one Spodoptera exigua, easily recognizable by its slender outline outside the window. On 30th seventy-two came to the same light, including Revayana and Ochroleuca, of which the former again appeared there in early October, when Aurago was on Ivy-blossom there

OBSERVATIONS

and at Bosmere, with one Macilenta, var. obsoleta, quite a distinct fellow. From a rough pasture at Purfleet in Essex in mid-July I took at light Luctuosa, Emarginata, Succenturiata, Vitalbata, Thalassina, Donacula mucronella, Loxostega palealis, Nomophila noctuella, Pyralis glaucinalis, Pyrausta aurata and Eucosma faenella. Atalanta, Cardui, Semele and Rhamni were noted bv day. Yorkshire in August showed Chi on tree-trunks at Catterick, Arcuosa Aying in scores on a Scotton hill-side, with Ccesiata on a moorland meadow slope and Cardui.—A. F.. ASTON. H A W K - M O T H S . — I managed to find Stubby Copse in the New Forest, thanks to your directions, on 5 June and there took both Hemaris bombyliformis, Esp., at flowers of Pedicularis palustris, and II. fuciformis, L. Two Hydriomena fluviata, Hb., came to light on Swanage cliff a few days later (H. E. CHIPPERFIELD, 14 June). Single M. stellatarum visited Valerian flowers in my garden at both Felixstow during 18-20 Sept. (ORFORD) and Stowmarket on 9 July, 2 Aug., 29 Sept. and 13 Oct. (ASTON) ; .also three or four in Herringfleet garden during summer (Major RossLEWIN) ; and one in Lowestoft on 30 Sept. No Sphinx pinastri were to be seen on their usual Herringfleet fir-trunks throughout June ; and but one was later noted ( P . J. BURTON). S. ligustri larva on our Newbourn lawn, 10 Sept. ; and an imago of S. convolvuli in the same garden on 16th (LESLIE DOW) ; of the latter a live male was shown me on lOth taken the previous day in Woodbridge (Revd. H. A. HARRIS) ; one in Waldringfield garden on 15 Sept. (WALLER) ; one at Fritton school ( R O S S - L E W I N ) , and another male in the midst of Lowestoft that evening (JIM BURTON). In the local press on 26 Sept. a larva of Acherontia Atropes is mentioned at Middleton ; and on 12th another is recorded from Fressingfield by Miss ADA M. TALBOT ; on 22nd Member JACK E L L I S announced eighteen larvae from seven NE. Suffolk villages, an unusual frequency ; single larva at Stowupland on 11 Aug. and pupa at Creeting Mary on 11 Sept. (THURLOW) ; one pupa emerged at 9.35 a.m. in Stowmarket on 5 Oct. (ASTON) ; a larva occurred at Waldringfield in autumn (WALLER). And Member ORFORD on 27th Sept. adds several larvae on Potatoes at Snape, of which one pupated on 3rd ; two pupae dug up at Felixstow school on 15th : at both places the Potato's relation Datura stramonium has occurred ; one Pinastri larva at Bawdsey that pupated late on 25th ; two Convolvuli on 15 and 18th at Felixstow, where Ligustri and Populi have been very common this year. SUFFOLK BUTTERFLIES OF 1 9 5 0 . — T h e small number of species (or of their collectors) renders this one of our outstandingly bad years for Rhopalocera. Paphia was in fair numbers with several Sibylla and many C. album on 24 July at Northfield Wood in Onehouse, which is slowly being felled though its main glade is

OBSERVATIONS

as yet untouched [the last scarcer in my Monks Soham garden than for a decade past.—Ed.] with a good many Adippe on thistles (ALSTON). A $ Argynnis Aglaia, L., was captured by me on 7 July last on the heath beside Blythburgh Wood : national gridsheet 137 -272.7 : 645.4. This is thefirstspecimen I have caught there. Have other Members recorded it thence ? (JACK ELLIS, Wenhaston). [Quite a new locality for this local species.— Lowestoft Secretary], I took a single specimen at Bentley Woods on 5 July 1942 (PLATTEN). Polychlorosflewover Stowmarket garden on 24 July (ASTON) ; a few were noticed in my Reydon garden during mid-April; but no Cuckoo-call heard yet (COUNSELLOR BOND, 23 April) ; I saw one in Barking Wood during mid-May, but could not get within striking distance (N. R. D. TENNANT) ; I do not recollect seeing one through all its usual NE. Suffolk haunts last June (MORLEY). Atalanta was uncommonly numerous throughout the whole County from Waldringfield (WALLER) to Herringfleet (ROSS-LEWIN) during Sept.-16 Oct., as also but solely along the coast was Cardui. The only Suffolk Machaon of the year disported itsself in my Herringfleet garden at the end of May (Major ROSS-LEWIN). All the Satyrids, excepting Tithonus, have been unusually rare ; Janirafirstappeared on 1 June (JIM BURTON). I caught several Thecla rubi about gorse on 12 May 1948 at Southwold Common, an unrecorded locality (TENNANT). NO more than single specimens of Edusa have been noted at Andover in Hants on 23 September and in Onehouse wood on 2 August (ASTON) ; Walberswick on 6 August (SIMPSON) ; and a $ at Oulton Broad on 1 June (JIM BURTON) ; later solitary specimens appeared at Waldringfield in August (WALLER), Herringfleet on 1 October (ROSS-LEWIN), near Bury on 5th (ASTON) and at Tunstall on 15 October (SIMPSON). One £ Rhamni in Monks Soham garden, 21 April (MORLEY). I had occasion to collect Cabbage-leaves, left standing on stalks since the autumn, on 21st December 1949. Upon two of them I was astonished tofindeight larvae of Pieris brassicce : small, thin and sluggish. They were still feeding on 25th ; but by 4 January six had died, as had thefinaltwo by 16th. The bodies were dry and black, resembling a Swan Vesta stick. Their late survival may doubtless be ascribed to the dry and mild autumn, and theirfinalexit to lack of moisture in the tough and leathery leaves (H. J. BOREHAM).—C. H. S. Vinter. NE. SUFFOLK MICRO-MOTHS IN JUNE.—Crambus pratellus, L., Fritton Warren, lOth ; Anerastiu Loteila, Hb., Pakefiela denes 13 ; Salebrea formosa, Hw., at light Kessingland denes, 22 July (BURTON) ; Phycta palumbella, Fb. et fusca, Hw., Fritton Warren 10 and 17 at light; Emischnia Boisduvalella, Gn., there on both dates. Platiptila goniodactyla, Shf., Pakefield denes, 13 and at Fritton Warren light 17. Psammotis hyalinalis, Hb., Scoparia ambigualis, Tr., Pyralis glauänalis, L. and Aglossa pinguinalis,

OBSERVATIONS

all far from any house at Kessingland denes light, 24. Several Phalonia Smaethmanana, L., on Pakefield cliff and at light there 11-13 ; Ph. atricapitana, St., Fritton Warren light, 10 ; Euxanthis angustana, Hb., Kessingland light, 13 ; E. Hamana, L., frequent at light, Pakefield denes, &c. ; Peronea Schallerana, L., Kessingland light in July ; with Endothenia antiquana and Argyroploce cesspitana, Hb., $ CEgoconia 4-punctata, Hw., Latimer Dam, 13 July. Depressaria zephyrella, Hb., swept open marsh at dusk, Kessingland, 9 ; Tinea cloacella, Hw., ditto far from any house, Oulton, 8 ; T. misella, ZI., occurred in Monks Soham House on 3 August, with Swammerdamia lutarea, Hw., $ at light on 22 July and Galleria mellonella, L., on 8 August.—C.M. N E W BRITISH TORTRICID IN S U F F O L K . — " You will see, by my article upon it in Nature Lover of March 1950, that Laspeyresia zebeana is now known to be wide spread in the Suffolk Breck. It is common enough all over the Elveden estate and in most of the Brandon to Thetford district, forming large resinous galls, often nearly an inch in diameter, on the lowe<- branches of Larch in early spring. Imagines emerge thence in mid-May and are similar to large L. nigricana, bearing a considerable brilliant ocellus. It is nearly, if not completely, confined to the Breck at present, but will doubtless spread in EAnglia : on these sands I have collected off and on for nearly forty years, first in 1912 with my friend D. A. Bower. This addition to the British fauna does not appear likely to become a serious pest; it rarely kills the shoot whereon it galls, which is a low, side one of no commercial value and such as are stipped off when the trunk is cut. The larval borings are now often overgrown by Lichens, showing it to be no new thing in the Breck, though observed but recently," we are told on 7 August 1950 by H. C. HUGGINS, F.R.E.S.,' of 875 London-road, Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex.

Cosmopteryx Druriella, ZETT., L O C A L I S E D . — T h e capture of this exquisite orange-and-silver Tineid, sitting in hot sunshine upon a flower of Heracleum sphondylium in the lane near Shrublandsfarm in Kessingland at noon on 13 June, greatly gratified me. In Suffolk I had never previously noticed it, though it has occurred to me in the New Forest by beating Beech and sweeping Rushes at Denny, Hollands and Bratley woods from 5-18 June 1934-40. It is a local species, with northern limit between Norfolk and Hereford ; Merrin gives no localities, and erroneously places the imago in July ; the larvae are said to eat clear white galleries in the leaves of various Graminese during early autumn, by Meyrick who alone has hitherto recorded the species (Mem. 1937, p. 174) vaguely from " Suffolk." T I N E I D N E W TO S U F F O L K . — A m o n g the unexpectedly few small Moths, that flew (with Arctia villica, L. et cetera) to Mr. Burton's brilliant lamp among the sea-sandhills at Pakefield about

OBSERVATIONS

midnight on 13 June last, was at least one specimen of the local Stomopteryx albipalpella, HS. This Tineid is recorded by Meyrick from only Devon, Surrey (Woking and Guildford, under Gelechia, says Stainton), Essex and Yorkshire. Its larva is parasitised by the Ichneumon Hemiteles areator, Pz., and hibemates between leaves of Genista Anglica that it has spun together : a plant unrecorded from the Suffolk coast. Add to Mem. SN. . 1 9 3 7 , p. 1 7 2 , next before S. vorticella.—CLAUDE MORLEY. SOME HYMENOPTERA OF 1950.—ACUIEATES : A worker of Formicafusca came to light at Fritton Warren, 17 June. Ammophila sabidosa, L., were Aying on Yarmouth north denes in Norfolk on 17th, with A. hirsuta, Scp., several of which were noted at Pakefield denes on l l t h , with A. lutaria, Fb. Pemphredon lugubris, Ltr., in car at Stowmarket on 12 August (ASTON) and at dead Willow in North Cove marsh on 12 J u n e ; Gorytes campestris, L., several on Heracleum flowers at Shrublands farm in Kessingland, 13 June ; Mellinus arvensis, L., on Monks Soham window, 5 September : rare there, on clay. Vespa Crabro, L . , nesting in Earls Soham house-roof, 27 August (H. C . MURRELL) ; Odynerus leevipes, L., one on Heracleum flower at Yarmouth denes in Norfolk on 17 June. Osmia ccerulescens, L., a J 1 beneath old sacking on the ground in Oulton marshes, 9 June : all Beespecies, but Apis mellifica, unusually scarce. S A W F L I E S : Eriocampa ovata, L., a 2 at Catfield marsh in Norfolk, 18 June ; Athalia spinarum, Fb., several at the Yarmouth north denes in Norfolk, close to sea and far from turnips, 17 June ; Allantus arcuatus, Fst. and Macrophya rustica, L., on Heracleum flower at Shrublands-farm in Kessingland, 13 June. I C H N E U M O N S : Stenichneumon trilineatus, Gm., a $ on window of 1 Marine Parade in Lowestoft, 18 June ; several Clistophyga incitator, Gr., $ $ on Monks Soham windows, August 1945-9 ; Megastylus cruentator, Schd., $ on those windows 31 August 1949; Henicospilus repentinus, Hlg., $ at light there on 20 July, with all the hind calcaria dead black ; H. combustus, Gr., flew in to the same light on 23 August, as it had that month on 22nd in 1918, lOth in 1936, 6th in 1938 and 23rd in 1944. Bracon erythrostictus, Msh., a $ on those windows, 4 July 1950.

Apanteles ON Sibylla.—Last May several perasitic larvae emerged from, and spun their yellowish-white cocoons round, a young larvae of Limenitis Sibylla, L., taken in Blythburgh Wood. From these cocoons emerged, at Lowestoft on 16 June following, five females of the Braconid genus Apanteles, which Mr. Morley finds to be A. Gonopterygis, Marshall (Spp. Hym. d'Europ., iii bis., p. 180), who knew only three females that had been reared from Gonepteryx rhamni, L., in " Angleterre." [It is quite distinct from A. Vanessa, Reinh., the sole Apanteles hitherto bred (in Austria) from L. Sibylla.—C.M.] Curiously, from the

OBSERVATIONS

same host on 19 June Mr. Morley received for determination from J. Newton of 11 Oxlease Close at Tetbury in Glos., ten cocoons surrounding a larva, slain by their grubs, which had been " stung when very small, before hibernation." By 29th each cocoon had produced a female Apanteles of the same species as mine ; and all differ from A. Gonopterygis in nothing but their testaceous hind femora, having only the apex black. The male still remains unknown ; and the species is NEW to Suffolk (add next after A. astrarches at Trans, supra, iii, p. 240). A § Sirex gigas, L., was Aying about over Heather under isolated Pine trees on Fritton Warren at 3 p.m. on the dull 24 June.—JIM BURTON.

Volucella zovaria, PODA, IN SUFFOLK ?—This species, of Trans, v. 235, avoids me ; but Mr. W. S. George of Haiesworth, who has forsaken Lepidoptera for Diptera, teils me that he feels sure that he saw one at Covehithe during August 1950. Stratiomys potamida I took at Framlingham in 1946 and again on Angelica flowers in a Stowmarket marsh on 13 August 1950 ; also Sargus iridatus, Scp., at the latter on 17 Sept. A. H. ASTON ; 3 October.— When I was at Folkestone in Kent during last June, I saw at least a dozen V. zonaria in the Sandgate Road, Aying round privetblossoms. F. C. STANLEY ; 21 September. SOME ODD SUFFOLK DIPTERA OF 1950.—Limonia tripunctata, Fb., at light on PakeAeld sea-denes, 13 June and L. maculipennis, Mg., ditto at Fritton Warren, 17th ; Tipula luna, Wsth., CatAeld marsh in Norfolk, 18th; Erioptera stictica, Mg., with brown Gamasus-mite on her tail, sitting outside ground-Aoor window at Monks Soham, 11 a.m. 6 July. Culex Caspius, Pall., biting me indoors there, 3 June. Geosargus iridatus, Scp., Catfield in Norfolk, 18th ; Chloromyia formosa, Scp., in Lowestoft beachshelter, 8th. Scenopinus fenestralis, L., on inn window at Sutton Broad in Norfolk, 18th; later at Monks Soham. Tabanus autumnalis, L., a half-dozen sheltering on telegraph-post at Fritton Warren, 24th. Thereva bipunctata, Mg., in Lowestoft beach-shelter, 8th. Dioctria rufipes, DeG., Fritton Warren on bracken, 1 Ith. Medeterus muralis, Mg., taken imbibing mothsugar there on 17th. Empis tessellata, L., wasfirstseen at North Cove on 16 June, usually about in May; Chelopora albizeta, Zett., NEW to Suffolk : on Monks Soham west bedroom window, 16 July (my sole previous capture was of a dozen specimens swept from Hypericum perforatum in the Lowers Walk at Matlock in Derby 26 June and 2 July 1935). Pyrophcena granditarsa, Forst., Catfield in Norfolk, 18 June ; Syrphus albistriatus, Fall., hovering in Bentley Woods, 25th ; Eristalis sepulchralis, Fb., on Heracleumfiowersat Shrublands farm in Kessingland, 13th; Tropidia scita, Har., Yarmouth north denes in Norfolk and Latimer dam in Kessingland, 7-17th. Echinomyia grossa, L., one (Jona

OBSERVATIONS

Martlesham cow-byre window on afternoon of 12 August (Member KEFFORD) ; E. fera, L. and Microplpus vulpinus, Fall., together on Monks Soham window, 13 August. Fannia armata, Mg., many hovering in sun beneath oak-branch in swampy part of Fritton Warren, noon 11 June. Helomyza variegata, Low., Monks Soham, indoors 7 Dec. 1949. Ceroxys crassipennis, Fsb., on North Cove marsh-herbage, 16 June. Seoptera vibrans, L., Latimer dam in Kessingland, 13th. Tephritis formosa, Low., on east window of 1 Marine Parade in Lowestoft, 16 January 1 9 4 9 ( J I M BURTON). Drosophila phalerata, Mg., on Monks Soham window, 6 July 1950. Borborus nitidus, Mg., very profuse at light there at 8 p.m. on 6 December 1948. U N I Q U E HABIT OF Fannia cunicularis, L . — O n e day in the New Forest, 24 July 1940, I had been searching a sand-pit between Matley Bog and Denny Wood for Beetles, when rain began to fall. So I took advantage of a small dug-out hut, that the recent workmen had constructed in one wall of the pit, for shelter. It was quite roughly put together of odd timbers used for wheeling barrows upon, and roofed with heather : in all about four feet broad inside. While idly watching rain, I found my eye focused upon a Fly gyrating slowly, five feet from the ground, in the exact middle of the h u t ; and, to my astonishment recognised it upon capture as a of the above Small House Fly, so ubiquitous in all houses, just thus slowly gyrating in the centre of (only humanly occupied, I believe) rooms. I have frequently caught them in this apparently aimless exercise and always found them to be S S °f this particular species ; but never before have I discovered them doing so, as in the New Forest case, fully tvvo miles from any house, and in so poor an apology for a sitting-room. I nowhere find reference to this curious habit, unnoticed by even those astute observers, Kirby of Barham and Spence of Hull, among their " Motions of Insects " in the ever-modern Introduction (of which great work our late tireless Hon. Treasurer Elliott gave me a most useful copy of his MS. index).—CLAUDE MORLEY. A CAMBS.SNAIL.—On 17 December 19491 found ThebaCantiana, Mont. (Trans, iv, 13) here, carrying eggs. Thanks for notifications of Meetings ; I regret ill health prevents my attending. All best wishes for the Society's progress.—(Dr.) W. F . BUCKLE, Shelford Parva, Cambs. ; 3 May. T H E LARGEST BRITISH PERCH.—Again Suffolk has had greatness thrust upon her, but in a rather novel direction. A London Paper on 27 January 1950 announced that the heaviest Freshwater Perch (Perca fluviatilis, L.) ever caught anywhere in Britain had just been taken by Mr. P. Clarke, butcher of Felixstow-road in Ipswich, who fishes four days a week and oftenest in the Stour, where he confines himself to this species of fish with fair-sized spoon baits or three-inch Roach live baits on which this large

OBSERVATIONS

specimen was hooked and, after a half-hour's play, landed. " Having made sure that its capture and weight were duly witnessed, he returned it with all reverence to the water " : not, be it noted, anywhere exactly stated to be that of the Stour. The largest previously on record was caught in 1936 ; it weighed five pounds and four ounces. This one was sworn, by two men before a commissioner of oaths on 26 January, to weigh 6 lb. 14 dr. ANOTHER Zeus faber, L I N N . — A John Dory, an unusual Fish on this part of the coast, was caught by Mr. R. Baker while inspecting groynes along Felixstow sea-front on 16th. He found it swimming in a pool near one of the groynes.—Local Paper, 17 March 1950. [Not really unusual: recorded from the Knowl and from Aldeburgh to Gorleston, where it is frequent.—Ed.],

Lampris luna, G M E L . , CONFIRMED IN SUFFOLK.—" An Ophah [sie] fish has been [presumably a day or two earlier] washed up alive between Thorpeness and Aldeburgh [the interval being roughly a mile], It weighs over 70 Ib. This singularly beautiful species only occasionally wanders into our home waters " (Local and London Paper ; 29 September 1950), and is so rare that it appears unknown off the Essex coast. Suffolk hitherto has had to rely upon an example recorded in 1828 from Yarmouth (Trans, supra, ii, 109), so the present record is most welcome, though we should like to know what has become of the Fish. The weight of British speeimens varies between at least 140 pounds and eleven stones.—Ed. SUFFOLK'S 157TH FISH.—It will certainly interest piscatorial Members to know that a Gar-pike or Greenbone, Belone vulgaris, Cuv., was caught off Felixstow on 22 July, and sent to Ipswich Museum, which already possessed an [unrecorded] preserved specimen that was taken off Bawdsey in 1947. So the species is prob ab ly a frequent visitor.—F. W . SIMPSON ; 2 4 July. [Add next after Esox at Trans, supra ii, 120. It is common, especially in summer, from the Dutch coast to the Orkneys ; and doubtless here hitherto merely confused with Syngnathi.—Ed.].

Conger niger, Cuv.—One of the finest speeimens of Conger Eel landed at Lowestoft was brought in on l l t h by the motortrawler Celita; it weighed five stones and was over six feet long (Times, 12 Jan. 1950). Ten-foot Conger Eel was shot on Canvey marshes in Essex (no date : Daily Graphic, 14 Feb. 1950).— C. C. T .

GILES.

Raja batis, LINN.—J. H. Oates gives an interesting account, in the " Field " of 4 March, of how he used to net Sea Trout [Salmo trutta, L.] in a Suffolk estuary ; but now Skate have taken their place, and these he spears from a punt through early May

OBSERVATIONS

until the third week in June. It is not possible to identifv the estuary referred to, and the writer gives no address.—C. C. T . GILES, 5 March 1 9 5 0 . REPTILES.—A Snake nearly three feet long [obviously Tropidonotus natrix, L.] was found in the children's playground on Beccles Common on 26 June. Recently a seven-vear-old girl of Bucklesham-road in Ipswich was discovered to be suffering from acute swelling of the legs after playing on Black Heath there. It was later diagnosed as resulting from the bite of an Adder [Vipera berus, L.], from which she has since recovered by 11 August 1950. A Countv Council official described this as the first Snake-bite recorded from an open space in this part of the County : but cp. Trans, ii, p. 218.—Local Paper. A MONGREL RAT.—Nothing very definite is said of a piebald Rat, trapped in Leiston last September. It was but half-grown and all white with only the head and a dorsal streak black ; but the main feature was the für, which is described as " fluffy, like that of a Kitten than a Rat." It is thought to be probably a half-Dutch Rat, kept as a pet or the descendant of such, with Black Rat, Mus (Epimys) rattus, L. [figured at Trans, ii, 201], ancestry. T h e specimen is preserved in Ipswich Museum (Local Paper, 15 and 17 Sept. 1950).