Notes and Observations 9 Part 1

NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS Spathius exarator L.—Dr. Day writes : " This Braconid is parasitic on the wood-worm, though I have no actual proof of this as the species does not seem to occur about here (Dorchester) or I have overlooked it. We have two other species here (at least) and one which is wingless in the otherwise rather like the above named. I cultivate and make use of them by transplanting from place to place where I notice furniture beetle troubles."

These were found at Great Glemham on a ping-pong table, which is infested with wood-worm.

T H E LARGE WAINSCOT (Arenostola lutosa) IN SUFFOLK.—This insect finds this part of the country ideal and I am sure no other part produces a finer race. T h e females which appear in October, often measure two inches across the expanded wings. In their natural haunts a light will disclose them feeding at night on flowering rush, buf they also fly in considerable numbers into this town. I have found as many as six at a time on a wall near an all-night lamp. Oddly enough, it is the lady of the species which in my experience is thus lured to the lights. I have never yet caught a male in this way. Either the mal es are largely indifferent to light or eise as morning comes they fly off again.

I took a female at random last evening, October 3rd, and found it heavily marked with black streaks. There is no other wainscot which seems to travel such a distance from its natural marshy

surroundings.—ERNEST E. GOLDSMITH, Beccles.

T H E LARGE T H O R N IN S U F F O L K . — I found a male Ennomos autumnaria this morning, October 3rd, at Stowmarket. This seems to prove conclusively that the species has colonised this area. T h e first specimen, a female, was found on October 2nd,

1 9 5 2 . — H . E . CHIPPERFIELD. COLLECTING BEETLES.—The study of beetles has not attracted the young entomologist to the same degree as that of butterflies and moths, maybe because they are not so spectacular. This means that a whole field of work awaits the enterprising collector.

T h e r e is wide scope for anyone interested in this side of entomology, many new species to be discovered and described, and much revision of Classification needed.

Some beetles are of economic importance, and can be studied from this point of view. These can be divided roughly into two groups :—the pests of stored food products. the pests of growing crops.

Both these groups do an untold amount of damage and there is a great deal of research necessary to help in preventing their depredations.

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Not all economic beetles are pests ; for instance, cochineal, the red dye used in cakes, is obtained from a beetle.

Another interesting group of beetles comprises the plantfeeders ; some of these are included in the category of economic beetles as pests ; the rest do no damage, though not much good.

Some plant-feeders however have been found to be carriers of plant virus diseases, though not themselves suffering any harm.

T w o of the most spectacular groups of beetles are those which contain the Stag beetle, " Billy W i t c h e s " (Cockchafers), and the Musk beetle and Timberman. T h e foreign species of these groups are especially striking from the point of view of appearance, being large, decorative, and dressed in gaudy colours.

There are still many groups not so far dealt with, e.g., the Weevils with the long nose-like rostrum, and the Sexton beetles which bury small dead birds and mammals, afterwards laying their eggs in them.

T w o other interesting groups are the ground beetles in which are included the " Alexander " beetles, and the water beetles in which groups are the great diving beetles and the " Whirligigs," which chase one another ceaselessly round and round on the surface of the water.

This is a very brief summary of a large subject which is only slightly explored ; here is an interesting field for the amateur e n t o m o l o g i s t . — D E R E K N . SMEDLEY. A M A L E G R E E N ARCHES (Anaplectoides prasina Schiff.) was found on the outskirts of Belstead Wood on 5th June, 1954. T h e moth was on the ground and was in perfect condition. T h e S.N.S. Memoir, 1937, states for this species in Suffolk—" Quite a rarity, widespread but occurring as a rule only singly."

On 6th June, 1954, the sah marshes near St. Osyth in Essex were visited, and it was pleasing to note that the flooding of the previous year had in no way affected the Ground Lackey (Malacosoma castrensis Linn.), several larval webs of which were found.

On 1 Ith July, 1954, the Norfolk Broads near Stalham were visited and several larvae of the Swallow-tail (Papilio machaon Linn.) were found. A female alighted within a few feet of us and laid an egg on the milk-parsley ; another freshlv laid egg was found close by. This is a very late date for eggs of this species to be laid, and is another example of the general lateness of the season this year.

Owing to lack of sun, this summer has generally been disappointing for watching butterflies, but it is interesting to note that on the aftemoon of 20th August, which was hot and sunny following several dull cold days, there were swarms of butterflies

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Aying on the low-lying ground outside Belstead Wood, feeding on the thisties. At least 19 species were seen in the matter of an hour or so.

Düring the excursion to Belstead Wood on 3rd July, Mr. Chipperfield found a larva of the Black Arches (Lymantria monacha Linn.), which he kindly gave to me. A female emerged in August and it was placed in a lobster-pot type of assembling cage in Belstead Wood in the hope of attracting a male Black Arches, but without success. However, a male Copper Underwing (Amphipyra pyramidea Linn.) was found in the cage one morning ; whether it flew in by chance or whether it was attracted by the scent emitted by the female Black Arches is not known, but it is a fact that the scent from the females of some species will assemble males of some other species. Further experiments could be carried out on these lines.—S. BEAUFOY. PSEUDOSCORPIONES.—The Linnean Society has just published the tenth of its Synopses of the British Fauna," Pseudoscorpiones," with keys to the species, price 3 /- from the Society's rooms, Burlington House, W . l .

Mr. Morley (Trans. S.N.S. IV, p. 167) records from Suffolk eight of the 22 species then known from the British Isles. This booklet describes 26 species as British.—C. Primula vulgaris (Primrose) 4th Oct., 1954. Newton Wood near Needham Market. Quite abundantly in bloom in a small coppiced patch. There were 2 - 5 blooms on about 50 plants in this area, which was coppiced early this year. Among the stools of ash, field maple and sycamore many rosettes of Picris echioides have arisen from seeds blown from an adjacent bank. Coppicing lets in the light, thus stimulating the primrose and other shade plants to bloom, normally in the spring. Possibly in addition the plants have " mistaken the wet summer for winter " and a short drier period has stimulated them as a normal spring does. The peduncles are noticeably short.

Doronicum pardalianches (Great Leopard's bane) 17th May, 1954. Battisford. In a small wood at the foot of Hascot Hill, covering an area of i 30 - 40 Square yards in rather loose sandy soil tunnelled by rabbits. Scattered flowering stems not very frequent. The stigma emerges between the stamens, then splits, the divisions curling over to touch the stamens, a second chance at pollination. Fiat white rhizomes are the perennating organs.

20th June, 1954, about a dozen blooms. 4th Oct., 1954, some young leaves, but plants not strongly in evidence.

Saxifraga granulata (Meadow Saxifrage) 17th May, 1954.

Battisford. Edge of small wood, Hascot Hill, under beech. A few plants.

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Geranium phaeum (Dusky Cranesbill) 17th May, 1954. Barking, in N.W. corner of the churchyard. A strong colony and spreading on to clinker.—N. S. P. M I T C H E L L .

Potentilla recta L. Costi.—This is a new record for Suffolk, not to be confused with P. erecta L, the Common Tormentil.

It was found abundantly in a field belonging to Westwood House, Ipswich, by Mr. P. T . Marsden and brought to me for identification. The flower is much larger than that of P. erecta, 25 mm., and has five deeply notched petals.—J.C.N.W. S I L V E R OR PENDENT L I M E , Tilia petiolaris D E . — I noticed this tree near Westhall Church on August 22nd last. It is over sixty ft. in height with a girth of ten feet at six feet from the ground. I was Struck by its size and huge pendent boughs and by the very dark green glossy leaves—near white on the underside.

It was just coming into flower when other limes were in seed.

The flowers are twice the size of those of the common lime, the stamens shorter, being only about half the length of the petals.

These characters do not agree with any of the three species described by Clapham, Tutin and Warburg. So I sent a bit to Kew, who identified it as above. They say it probably originated in S.E. Europe and is sometimes cultivated in this country.

For many years I have noticed an odd lime in front of my house, a small tree about forty feet high with these characteristics and specially noticed that it always flowered and shed its leaves at least six weeks later than all the others, but it had not occurred to me that it was a different species. I have now, Sept. 20th, picked some of the fruits, they are large and ribbed, like those of T. petiolaris.

Why is this tree not used to line our roads and avenues in parks rather than the common lime, which sheds its leaves by the end of September ? Moreover, it is in every way a more beautiful tree.—J.C.N.W. C O M M O N M A L L O W , Malva sylvestris L —Mr. Boreham has sent me a curious speeimen which he found growing on a roadside bank at Fornham St. Martin on July 25th. All the branches were fasciated so that they appeared like a broad ribbon with tufts of short peduncles bearing flowers Coming out at intervals and a great mass of these at the top. There were three or four of these ribbons on the one plant. Further along the road he found another plant showing a similar monstrosity. I found in Sachs' ' Text Book of Botany' that cohesions or adhesions of this sort sometimes occur as a result of very vigorous growth when the intervals between the vegetative points also grow and unite the stems. Mr. Boreham referred me to Turrill's " British Plant L i f e " for a photograph of a fasciated stem of mallow seven inches wide.

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FERN PROPAGATION.—Spores collected f r o m Royal Ferns (IOsmunda regalis) at the end of June were sprinkled on a selection of rooting materials in four shallow earthenware dishes. These Containers were covered with glass, placed in saucers of water, and put in light but shaded from the direct rays of the sun. Three of the materials, peat, coarse sand and vermiculite had previously been sterilised with boiling water. T h e remaining dish contained unsterilised peat.

Minute heart-shaped prothalli appeared on this last dish at the end of August, the time taken for germination having been two months. Step's " Wayside and Woodland Ferns " states, " a few days in the case of Osmunda." T h e three sterilised materials also produced prothalli during the next fortnight, but these are not developing as fast as those on the piain peat. Is this an indication that Sterilisation, carried out in order to kill ingredients harmful to the young plants, perhaps also destroys some nourishment ?

In 1953 spores of many species, including Osmunda, were sown on dishes of unsterilised peat, but in the course of six months the only plant life visible was flourishing colonies of moss.— ANN

BEAUFOY.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE B A N K V O L E (Clethrionomys glareolus britannicus Miller).—At Hardwick there is a roadside hedge of whitethorn which has grown so as to be interwoven with a three stranded barbed wire fence. On January 23rd, 1954, I saw a Bank Vole running along the top Strand of wire, pausing at intervals to raise its head and sniff the air for any danger : surely a wonderful feat of balance. On and near the banks of a woodland stream at Nowton on March 3Ist I had two Bank Voles under Observation : one was slightly larger than the other, both were foraging under the carpet of dry leaves and deeper leaf-mould, both occasionally came singly to within a yard of where I was sitting. T h e smaller, after some uneasy movements, disappeared into the workings of a mole. T h e larger continued to forage undisturbed, occasionally climbing small saplings of sycamore, some 12 ins. to 15 ins. high. In each case, when it reached a point where its weight bent the sapling over, it hung on by its teeth and forefeet until its hind feet touched the ground.

It then bit off an inch or so of the top shoot and leaves and ate them. In this wood, saplings damaged in this way—damage which at first sight would be attributed to rabbits—were widely scattered but numerous and all of about the same height.—H. J. BOREHAM.

BADGER.—Lord Cranworth reports that one was killed at Grundisburgh in the spring of 1954.

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HARVEST MOUSE.—Düring September 1 9 5 4 , I found several Harvest Mouse nests built amongst wheat stalks. T h e crop contained a lot of corn sowthistle and some of the nests were lined with the downy pappus of this p l a n t — M . G . RUTTERFORD. C O Y P U I N W E S T SUFFOLK.—Düring the weed cutting Operations along the road between Lakenheath and Eriswell in July 1954, a coypu weighing 14 lbs. was captured by the workmen.—M. G. RUTTERFORD. C O Y P U AGAIN.—Miss Whiting writes that a Coypu is suspected of eating all her Purple Sprouting Broccoli at Blythburgh last year.

RECORDS OF MIMOMYS.—There was in the Crowfoot collection a tooth of M. intermedius from the Norwich Crag at Dunwich, an exposure now covered byjshingle. No trace of this specimen can now be found but since it was determined by Newton, the original describer of the species, it can be said to be the first known specimen of M. intermedius from Suffolk. Forsyth-Major (P.Z.S. 1902) records M. pliocaenicus from Kyson, near Woodbridge. C. S U B - L I T T O R A L F A U N A of Felixstowe Bay.—One of my pupils at Felixstowe Grammar School, Ann Brinkley, has brought in the following :

Sea-mouse, a large polychaeta worm, Aphrodite aculeata L. A peculiarity of this worm is a bright scarlet nervous system.

Squid, Eusepia officinalis L., or Ink Fish (one specimen 24 ins. long) which produces a " smoke screen " from an ink sac.

Garfish, Belone betone Linn., = B. vulgaris Day, one specimen 19 ins. long. In this fish the jaws are prolonged into a slender beak and all the dorsal and anal rays are connected by a membrane.

Both jaws are provided with long slender teeth. The bones are green. It is good food fish.

Greater Pipe-Fish, Symgathus acus Linn. Several specimens.

T h e young of this family of fish are reared in a marsupial pouch or fold of skin of the male. T h e eggs were present in several specimens.

Gunnel or Butter Fish, Pholis gunnellus Linn. = Centronotus gunnellus Day. Grey Gurnard, Trigla cuculus Linn. These are quite common and known as Hard Heads.—H. C . G R A N T .

T H E D O M E S T I C C A T AND THE C A T - M I N T (Nepeta cataria).—-\ have often heard these two questions asked : why are some species of mint called catmint, and what have cats to do with mint ?

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T h e following observations cover a period of about three years in which I found that they will eat it, lie and sleep in it, roll in it, and fondle it by running their chins and side-feelers (whiskers) over and along it. I have watched them eating both leaves and flowers. Their greatest liking is for the flowers and their stalks ; it appears from the regulär daily inspection of plants that most is eaten at night. I once watched a tomcat, in the month of January, scraping the soil away from a plant, uncovering the young shoots and eating them, on this occasion the tom may have eaten it as a sexual stimulant, as two days after this incident some courtship and mating were taking place. On other occasions it may be eaten for its medicinal virtues, and by lying and rolling in it, the leaves are bruised and the odour which is then imparted helps to cleanse and act as a deterrent to the insect vermin which so often infest the cats' für, but they may also eat it for nothing more than its refreshing flavour, as my own cat (which is a tom) will eat both the cultivated species of Horsemint, Mentha longifolia, and spearmint, Mentha spicata, when these have been cooked b y b o i l i n g . — H E N R Y J . BOREHAM, 1953.

T A S T E S DIFFER.—My cats do not care for Cat-Mint.

Perhaps I should move it to a sunnier spot. They like the tender shoots of young raspberry canes which they strip and even bend down to munch off the tops.

My return from an excursion is welcomed when I bring stränge grasses and sedges. Some Rice-grass or Spartina was nearly all chewed up before I had a chance to examine it. But the greatest excitement was a Caterpillar I carried home from Wicken Fen for Alfred Waller. T h e cats snuffed my vasculum and climbed after it wherever I put it. I transferred the Caterpillar to a jam jar and tied muslin over it and put it on the mantelpiece.

Gilbert walked daintily among my Ornaments and gently pushed the jar upon the floor and proceeded to pull off the muslin. I put the thing in another room and he kept waggling the door handle. I sniffed too but could smell nothing. However, I handed over the Caterpillar safely next day.

My cats enjoy all insects and spiders, especially Privet Hawk Moths and Caterpillars—Ough.—J.C.N.W.