1905.] 



47 



and often towards the close of the afternoon. In some years, during June and July 

 "summer chafers" are very common in East Dorset, and are eagerly chased by 

 poultry, which are very partial to them, and soom become adepts in their capture 

 of them as tlie insects skim along a foot or so above the ground. I referred to this 

 circumstance in notes fo (I think) the " Naturalist's Journal," 1899, and " Science 

 Gossip," January, 1900. I am unaware whether the chafers also circle round trees, 

 high up, as described by Mr. Joy, but they would probably be found to do so. — 

 E. J. B. Sopp : January, 1905. 



Limotettix xfactogala, Fieb., at Ryde. -Hhe tamarisk bushes on the front at 

 Ryde, I. W., contained this species in the greatest profusion, as I was enabled to 

 observe from September 25th to October 9th this year, though a cursory examina- 

 tion of the same plant in similar situations at Cowes on October 8th failed to reveal 

 a single individual. . At the former locality the insect could be counted in its 

 thousands ; a thick hedge half a mile long was often covered with them, but their 

 colour so well assimilated with that of their pabulum that they were quite incon- 

 spicuous. They often, I noticed, congregate in groups of eight or ten, and were on 

 several occasions found in cop. ; one spider's web, an inch and half in diameter, 

 contained eleven examples. They appear to prefer the base of the outermost, 

 though not the highest, shoots, and fly freely in the sunshine. On the later date, 

 after a biting northerly breeze, their numbers were less, though their vitality 

 appeared to have been but very slightly impaired. Mr. E. A. Butler, who first 

 detected it in Britain {cf. Ent. Mo. Mag., 1902, p. 215), tells me that it was abso- 

 lutely swarming where he found it, and that he expects it occurs in most places 

 where tamarisk grows —though I have failed to find it in Suffolk. — Claude Moklet, 

 Monks' Soham, Suffolk : December, 1904. 



Schizocerox furcafus, ViJl., at Chattenden Roughs. — Mr. Morice, when kindly 

 looking over my saw-flics a short time ago, detected a specimen of this rare insect, 

 taken by me at Chattenden Roughs in June, 1896, but overlooked until now. As 

 its present occurrence in Britain has been doubted by him in his " Help Notes" he 

 asked me to record it. My specimen is a male. An example (male) of the other 

 species {yeminatus, Gir.) was taken by Mr. Morice himself tiiis spring when col- 

 lecting with me on May 25th. It was sitting on the hedge in the valley below my 

 house where so many rare insects have occurred. — A. J. Ciiitty, Faversham : 

 January 1st, 1905. 



Limnophilus elegans in the Isle of Man. — In a box of Trlcho^dera recently sent 

 to me for determination by Dr. R. T. Cassal, and taken by him in the Isle of Man 

 during last season, I was delighted to see three specimens (all males) of the rare 

 Limnophilus elegans. Dr. Cassal had taken them near Ballaugh, in the northern 

 part of the Island, during the first fortnight in June. Old recorded localities for 

 the species are the New Forest and Dclamere Forest, but in recent years it seems 

 only to have been taken at Rannoch, and there very sparingly. Its occurrence in the 

 Isle of Man is very interesting.— Geo. T. Pobritt, Huddersfield : Jan. lith, 1905. 



