190 THE entomologist's RECORD, 



been covered by a pearly white web and killed by an attack of countless 

 numbers of Tetrcmychns UntcariuH, an extremely small mite which 

 congregated in reddish-brown dust-like patches. Mr. Step had seen a 

 similar attack of a mite on lime at Mickleham. Mr. R. Adkin, 

 aberrations of Colias edum, including a ^ with very pale marginal 

 bands, one-half the usual size, and a yellowish form of the var. Iielice. 



Mai/ 28th. — Hybrid Nyssia-Apocheima. — Mr. Buckstone, 1 ^ and 

 3 ? hybrids of the cross Nyssia zonaria $ and Apocheiiiia Idspidaria 

 ? . The larvae were very like those of the latter species and were 

 constitutionally weak, only four imagines resulting from some 300 

 fertile ova. Capture of a very rare Hemipteron, P. bidentata. — Mr. 

 West (Greenwich), a specimen of the extremely rare Hemipteron, 

 Pygolanipifi bidentata taken by him in the New Forest in May. Only 

 one specimen had previously been captured in Britain. Pupa of S. 

 pRUNi. — Mr. Newman, a living pupa of Strymuii pnuii, which closely 

 resembles bird's excrement. Occurrence of an exotic Coccid at 

 Bedford Park. — Mr. Gahan, examples of a mealy-bug, both sexes of 

 which had occurred two years running on flowering currant in his 

 garden at Bedford Park. It was supposed to be Pseuducoccun citri, a 

 hothouse species. Paper. — Mr. K. G. Blair read a paper on "Luminous 

 Insects," many examples of which were exhibited by himself, Messrs. 

 Main, Edwards, and H. Moore. 



The Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological Society. — 

 March IQth, 1914. — Lecture. — ^ Professor Robert Newstead, M.Sc, 

 P.R.S., gave a lecture entitled " Some Observations on the Natural 

 History of Nyassaland." The lecture, which dealt with the Professor's 

 own experiences during an expedition undertaken to discover the 

 breeding habits of the Glosdnidae, was most interesting, especially the 

 account of the finding of the first pupa of Glussina inorsitan.'i, and of the 

 connection between this fiy and sleeping sickness and " ngana." A 

 capital photograph shown on the screen recorded this historic event. 

 Exhibits.— Mr. A. W. Hughes exhibited Pliiijalia pedaria (pilomria), 

 including a pale olive unicolorous variety, from Eastham, also 

 Hyhernia leiicop/iaearia and var. inarinorinaria from the same locality ; 

 he further reported that Ni/ssia zonaria had been plentiful at Crosby. 



April 20th, 1914— Address.— Mr. A. W. Boyd, M.A., P.E.S., gave 

 an address entitled " The Natural History of Rostherne Mere." 

 Having described the physical characters of the mere and the probable 

 causes of its formation, the nature of the surrounding land and its 

 flora, both arboreal and herbaceous, he dealt exhaustively with the 

 birds known to frequent the mere and finally the Insecta of the locality 

 were discussed. Several very interesting records have been made, viz., 

 Acidalia circtilata, a fine female specimen in 1918, Orni.v avellanella, 

 Laverna raschkiella, this species being an addition to the Lancashire 

 and Cheshire county list, and Nepticnla arfientipedella. Mr. Boyd 

 exhibited the Lepidoptera catalogued for the locality and was con- 

 gratulated upon having made such good use of the opportunity of 

 collecting upon the private ground surrounding the mere. At the 

 close of the address Mr. Boyd was heartily thanked for his kindness in 

 coming from Manchester to give his experiences. Exhibits. — Mr. W. 

 Mansbridge exhibited several xanthic varieties of Fuionia atomaria, 

 bred among a large number of the species from Burnley females. 

 The xanthism was conhned to the hindwings, and in most of the 

 specimens it affected only one of the hindwings ; in two instances, 



