38 [February, 



brown or dark liver-colour, without cocoon. It seems to be well worthj of 

 consideration whether, as indicated above, the ravages of this insect might not be 

 Terj greatlj checked bj cutting,' off the top joint and tuft of male flower as soon as 

 the ear is set, and thereby removing tiie infant larvte. The destruction of the re- 

 moved portion would be (.lifficult, but surely some method can be found if the 

 safety of the crop depeiitls upon it.1 



{To be continued) 



SyrphidiE in North Kent. — -As most of the British Syrphidce can now be easily 

 identified — thanks to Mr. Verrall's book — the following records of some of the less 

 generally distributed species from various localities in North Kent may be of 

 interest to Dipterists : — 



Pipiza liiteUavsis, Ztt. — I have taken several c? s of this species on lilac leaves 

 in gardens at Eltham towards the end of May. Plati/chirus sticticns, Mg. — Oncc? 

 on 27th May, 1!302, in a garden at Eltham, flying together with /'. nlbimanus and scu- 

 tatus. Syrphux labiatarum, Verr.— Three !j? s taken at Greenwich Marshes on 26th 

 July,10U2. In one of these the right hand spot on the 3rd abdominal segment is absent; 

 the segment itself is slightly twisted and the marginal pubescence wanting (this is also 

 the case in three other specimens of >iyrphid(e, which have one or other of the abdom- 

 inal spots missing). S. lasiophthalmus, Ztt. — I took a $ of this species at Eltham on 

 22nd April, lOUl, and found both sexes fairly common at sallow blossom at Bexley 

 on 13lh April, 19U2. ^'. barbifrons, Eln. — One J at sallows, ftidcup, lUth April, 

 1902. Xanthogramma citrofascialum, De G. — On ::7th May, 19(-'0, 1 took one 9 *t 

 Lamorbey, near Sidcup. folucella inanis, L. — Two c? s and 4 5? s at Chattenden 

 Woods on 3rd and 5th August, 1901. Eristalis ceneus, Scop. — On the 11th August, 

 1901, 1 took a c7 of this species on a chalk down near Farninghani (I also took 

 several specimens at Southwold, in Suffolk, in the first half of September, 1899). 

 £. intricarius, var. furvus, Verr. — One ? at Eltham, 16th October, 1901. Helu- 

 philus trivittatus, F. — This species occurred sparingly at New Eltham on a piece of 

 waste ground in July, 1899. 11. vUtalua, Mg. — I took one S at Gravcsend Marshes 

 on 12th July, 1902 ; not recognising the species I did not look for more, but it was 

 certainly not abundant (c/". Verrall's Brit. Flies, vol. viii, p. 550). Criorrhina 

 berberina, F. — 1 have taken this species in woods at Bexley both in 1901 anil 1902, 

 in June. C. floccusa, Mg. — Odd specimens have occurred at Eltham in 1900, 1901, 

 and 1902, at the end of May and beginning of June. Xylota lenta, Mg. — I took 

 a cj at Chattenden 29th June, 1901. Chrysotoxum octomactdalum, Curt. — I have 

 taken the J s — and, I think, the $ s also — of this species, at Eltham on the 

 6tli August, 1900, and at Bexley on 20th August, 1902. Microdon deviiis, L. — I 

 unexpectedly took a $ while collecting Lepidoptera at Shoreham (Kent) on 

 28th June, 1902. — H. W. Andkkws, 9, Victoria Koad, Eltham : January Gth, 1903. 



Therioplectes luridux, Fin., and other <? TabanidcB, at Chattenden. — On the 

 12th July last I had the good fortune to capture a ^ of the above-mentioned 

 Dipteron off a tree-trunk at Chattenden. The ? of this species is known from 



