ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 251 



only one of them fluttering to the ground when approached, and 

 was then quite easily secured ; another I had to gently move from 

 the bark with a feather before securing it. It is curious to notice 

 the different degrees of alertness in different species ; for while Cleora 

 glabraria and Venusia cambrica almost invariably remained im- 

 movable, Larentia cccsiata and Ypsipetes elutata and other common 

 species dashed wildly away on anything like a near approach. 

 A curious habit of Alucita polydactyla I noticed in May last. I saw 

 a specimen settle on a leaf, and on nearing it, it suddenly dropped 

 to the ground as if feigning death. This species seems to be in- 

 creasing, as I took four specimens one night lately ; three of them 

 of full normal size, one abnormally small, but quite perfect. Hydro- 

 canipa nymphtzata is another species I have lately taken, but not 

 formerly in Roxburghshire. A. ELLIOT, Caverton, Roxburgh. 



Rare Insects at Peebles. Last August on a bank covered with 

 Scabiosa succisa, about two miles from Peebles, I had the great pleasure 

 of taking the following uncommon Diptera : Didea alneti, Fin., 

 one $ ; Didea fasciata, Mcq., $ and $ ; Syrphus annulipes, Ztt., 

 five 9 ; and Sericomyia borealis, Fin., one $ . Beyond a couple 

 of the common Syrphus ribesii, L., these were the only flies seen. 

 Rubbed specimens of C/iar&as graminis, L., were not uncommon, and 

 a single specimen of the very local beetle Chrysoincla iiiarginata, L., 

 was taken on the wing by Mr. James Black. ALFRED THORNLEY. 



Syrphus annulipes, Ztt., and some other Diptera in the 

 Edinburgh District. On 3oth May last I caught a female of this 

 fly near Balerno in this county. I have shown it to Mr. P. H. 

 Grimshaw, who says it is rightly determined. I have also a number 

 of other good flies taken in the district, among them being the 

 following : 



Merodon equestris, Fab. ; <, Newbattle Terrace, Edinburgh, 6th 

 June 1899. 



Pyrophtzna rosarum, Fab. ; two, Aberfoyle, 2yth July 1900. 



Anthrax panisats, Rossi; Leven Links, a few, August 1893; 

 half a dozen, Tyninghame, August 1894; Gullane, $ and ?, 2ist 

 July 1898; Elie, one, 24th August 1899. 



Trypeta cornuta, Fab. ; $ and $ , Gullane, 2oth July 1898. 



Philonicus albiceps, Mg. ; <$ , Tyninghame, August 1894; <j> > 

 Falkland, August 1895. 



Tipula httescens, Fab. ; one near Midcalder, July 1900. 



Some of the above species have not, I understand, been 

 previously recorded for Scotland, and all the specimens have been 

 shown to Mr. Grimshaw, to whom I am indebted for the names of 

 most of them. WILLIAM EVANS, Edinburgh. 



Salda muelleri, GmeL, in Kinross-shire and Argyll. On the 



nth of August last I captured two examples of this Hemipteron in 



