CURRENT LITERATURE 201 



Halyzia 16-guttata, L., and Coccinella conglobata, L., in 

 Main Argyll. One example of the scarce ladybird, H. i6-Gicttata, 

 was taken by beating birches in Glen More, Lochgoilhead, dur- 

 ing September 191 5. In the Clyde area it has only previously 

 been found at Luss (Dumbarton) by the Rev. J. E. Somerville. 

 C. conglobata, another scarce species of the same group, occurred in 

 Glen More at the same time on Hazel. Curiously enough it has 

 also been recorded from Luss, where two specimens were taken by 

 Mr A. A. Dalglish in 1900. The only other Scottish record for 

 this species is from Aberfoyle (West Perth), where Mr Evans found 

 two specimens, one on oak in May 1896, and the other in September 

 1897. A. Fergusson, Glasgow. 



CURRENT LITERATURE. 



The Food of the Bullfinch. Dr Collinge, on evidence 

 gathered from an examination of 484 adult Bullfinches and 34 

 nestlings collected in four Midland counties of England, condemns 

 the Bullfinch {Coioitry Life, 3rd May 1919). He finds that 

 " practically the whole of the food consumed is vegetable matter," 

 and that " of the total bulk found in these birds 41 per cent, consisted 

 of cultivated fruits, 15 per cent, of wild fruits, and 44 per cent, of 

 weed seeds." This makes up the full 100 per cent. ; yet, curiously 

 enough, although almost half of Dr Collinge's adult birds (228 out 

 of 484) were collected in April and May, and although a main 

 antipathy of gardeners to the Bullfinch is due to its destruction of 

 blossom buds in the springtime, Dr Collinge appears to have found 

 no trace of such vegetable matter at all. From replies to queries 

 he has learned that the Bullfinch is increasing in numbers, that for 

 half the year it is "most destructive" in fruit orchards, and that 

 fruit-growers would welcome any measure that tended to reduce the 

 numbers of the bird. 



Deronectes depressus and D. elegans. An interesting 

 paper' on Deronectes depressjis, Fab., and D. elegans, Panz., two 

 British Water-beetles, appears in the Annals atid Magazine of 

 Natural History for April (pp. 293-308 and pis. vii.-viii.). The 

 author is Frank Balfour-Browne, who, after a careful examina- 

 tion of a long series of specimens, comes to the conclusion that 

 the species named are distinct but closely related. Both forms 

 have hitherto been included by British authors under the name 

 95 AND 96 Z 



