1912.] 215 



Abraxas grossulariata, var. nigra. — ^The 'all-black' form alluded to in the 

 foregoing, which has quite lost the characteristic of var. nigrosparsata, I propose 

 to name Abraxas grossulariata, var. nigra, and it may briefly but effectively, be 

 described as follows : — 



All the wings both above and underneath of a very dark blue-black, with 

 the usual black markings of the species showing through of a still more intense 

 black, except that on the hind-wings there are no spots except the marginal 

 series, and these smaller than iisual. Head, thorax, and abdomen of the more 

 intense shade of black. The only trace of bright colour consists of a very few 

 dark orange scales just at the junction of the hind-wings with the thorax. J . 



Described from the slightly finer specimen of the two, and which stands in 

 my cabinet as the type of the form. 



I have adojited the name nigra for this variety, in preference to another 

 name I had half decided on for it, to prevent confusion. In tlie " Entomologist's 

 Kecord," Vol. XXI, p. 272, the Rev. G. H. Eaynor suggests the name nigra as 

 applicable to "a pure black form which Mr. Beattie bred from Mickleham, and 

 Mr. L. W. Newman from larvie of ab. varlerjata." Possil)ly the Mickleham 

 specimen may have been of the form above described, as I do not know that var. 

 varleyata has ever been recorded from the south of England ; but Mr. Newman's 

 specimen, which I examined, certainly was not : it was merely a somewhat 

 small second brood specimen of varleyata in which the white of the forewings 

 was obliterated. I bred a siinikir one myself, also a second brood specimen, last 

 year, and have bred a nmnber of others nearly approaching it. The form is in 

 no way entitled to a separate appellation. Mr. Raynor had apparently neither 

 of the specimens before him ; it is well, therefore, that it should be definitely 

 known to what form the name belongs. — Geo. T. Porkitt, : August 12th, 1912. 



Syrphas tonus, O.-S., and S. luniger, Meig., bred. —Early in May last I 

 noticed that various young pines on one of oiu* commons here were much 

 infested with two species of Aphis, and on examining these trees a little more 

 closely, nunieroiis Syrphid larvae, and many Cocciuellids, were found to be prey- 

 ing \ipon the Aphids. Most of the larvae were green, witli two sinuous vermilion- 

 red lines, separated by a black streak, running down the middle of the dorsal 

 surface. On May 13th, I handed over a number of these larvse, which appeared 

 to be full-fed, to Mr. F. W. Edwards of the British Museum, to see if he could 

 breed them. Two or three days later, he tells me, they pupated, and altogether 

 about 3U examples of S. torvus emerged in the Musemn, on May 28th — 3Uth, 

 With these handsome S. torvus larva? there were a few' others of a more uniform 

 green coloiu-, from which three specimens of S. luniger, Meig., were bred on the 

 same dates. Mr. Metcalf has recently given an account of the lite-history of 

 S. torvus [Ohio Nat. ii, pp. 341 — 34-4, pi. 17 (1911)], but his description of the 

 larva does not accord very well with those taken by me. He says it is brownish 

 in colour, and tliat "laterad to the black mid-dorsal blood vessel are two long 



