22 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



wrote his volume on the British SyrphidcB (1901), his records 

 were confined to Cornwall, Hampshire, Kent, Buckingham- 

 shire, Cambridgeshire, and Norfolk. What its present 

 distribution in England may be I am unable to say, but it 

 does not appear to have been previously detected in Scotland. 

 Mr Grimshaw, to whom I have shown my specimens, is not 

 aware of any other Scottish record. As regards its life- 

 history, Verrall mentions that more than seventy years ago 

 Bouche bred the flies from bulbs of the common onion, 

 a whole crop of which was sometimes destroyed by their 

 larvs. Leon Dufour appears also to have bred the species 

 from an onion. According to a leaflet (No. 286) issued by 

 the Board of Agriculture in 19 14, it shares with Merodon 

 equestris, F., the odium of being a Narcissus pest. To quote 

 from the leaflet : " Eurnerus strigatus, which may be known 

 as ' the Small Narcissus Fly,' has only recently proved to be 

 a serious pest to Narcissi. Though widely distributed on 

 the Continent, it has usually been considered a scarce insect 

 in this country ; it has now, however, been recorded from 

 several bulb-growing centres, and, as it is an exceedingly 

 destructive insect, is likely to prove as serious a pest even 

 as Merodon. . . . The plants attacked are the Narcissus, 

 Hyacinth, Onion, and Shallot (the two latter only on the 

 Continent)." The life-history had not then been completely 

 traced, so that little could be suggested in regard to remedial 

 measures. Within a short distance of the shrubbery where 

 I found the flies in July last, there is, it may be mentioned, 

 a piece of partly cultivated ground on which a number of 

 Narcissus bulbs were lying about : in the neighbourhood 

 there is also a considerable area of allotments. Now that 

 the species is known to have reached Scotland, it will be 

 interesting to see if it succeeds in establishing itself as 

 Merodon has done. Readers who may be in possession of 

 any facts bearing on the subject will, it is hoped, make them 

 known in the pages of this magazine. As regards Merodon^ 

 I may say that, besides being present in many of our 

 gardens, it has been taken by me (July 191 3) "at large" in 

 Corstorphine Hill Wood, where blue-bell hyacinths grow in 

 quantity. 



