ZOOLOGICAL NOTES 79 



to time are imported, but there is no reason why it should not breed 

 in Britain." Judging from the length of the antennas it is evidently 

 a male. On referring to Fowler's " British Coleoptera," in which, 

 however, the insect is not figured, I find it described as " very rare, 

 and probably an importation " (I presume from the Continent). Only 

 six localities are given, all of them in England. WILLIAM EVANS, 

 Edinburgh. 



Sphinx convolvuli, Z., at Dumfries. This handsome moth is 

 a scarce species in Scotland, yet hardly a season passes without one 

 or more being captured in this district. I was presented with a 

 specimen unfortunately in a terribly battered condition which had 

 been caught in St. -Michael Street early on the yth of September 

 last. It is somewhat remarkable that three-fourths of all the speci- 

 mens that I and others have known of here have been caught in 

 the immediate vicinity of the Dock Park. Many years ago Mr. 

 William Lennon took the species in the larval condition in Castle- 

 dykes grounds. ROBERT SERVICE, Maxwelltown. 



[Mr. Wm. Evans has shown me a specimen of this moth, in his 

 possession, which was captured at Peebles about the same date as 

 the above. W. E. C.] 



Sirex gigas, Z., in the neighbourhood of Dunbar. On i6th 

 August last, a specimen of this large Sawfly was captured here by 

 Mr. T. Williams, and brought to me alive to name. Three days 

 later, another was brought to me from Thurston, about five miles 

 from here, by Mr. A. Denholm. The Thurston specimen I have 

 shown to Mr. W. Evans, Edinburgh, who assures me it is an un- 

 doubted example of Sirex gigas. G. Pow, Dunbar. 



BOTANICAL NOTES 



Cauliflower Disease of Strawberry at Aberdeen. In the last 

 (fourteenth) of Miss Ormerod's valuable reports on Injurious Insects 

 and Farm Pests a disease of strawberries is described and figured, 

 which a good deal resembles the cauliflower head on a small scale. 

 It is the work of eelworms or An^uilliilLC^ nearly related to the gall 

 makers of this family already known, but of a distinct species, which 

 has recently received the name Aphdenchus Fragariai from Dr. 

 Ritzema Bos. The malformation is composed of short flattened 

 distorted inflorescences or stems, with many abortive flower and 

 leaf buds. In the course of the past summer I observed in Old 

 Aberdeen a few examples of this disease, not previously recorded 

 from Scotland. They occurred on old plants only. Probably the 

 disease will be found in other gardens when attention is drawn to 

 their existence here. The best treatment in our present state of 



