1921.] 275 



weevil from an Azolla he had under ohservatlon, I felt there could be 

 no doubt that it was Stenopelmus rufinasiis, and on November 5th I paid 

 a visit to the Bm-e marslies, and on the Azolla there found the beetle 

 not uncommonly. It is, liovvever, extremeh' difficult to see, as it nestles 

 closely among the fronds of the Azolla and exactly resembles the shoots 

 of the plant, from which it is not readily shaken, but I secured a supply 

 by carefully examining the plants individually under a magnifying- 

 glass. 



November is scarcely the month one would consider the best time 

 to find such a beetle, but I judge it is so in the case of this species, as it 

 appeared to be just emerging, and some of the specimens, although in 

 beautifully fresh condition, were not fully mature. On the plants were 

 larvae and pupae, evidently of the weevil, the former yellowish-green 

 maggots with black heads, which were eating holes in the fronds, and the 

 latter spun up in black cocoons among the bases of the rootlets. 



It may be interesting to recall that Azolla filiculoides is a small 

 plant which floats on the surface of stagnant water after the manner of 

 duckweed, to which, however, it has not a close relationship, being a 

 flowerless plant allied to the ferns. It is a native of California, and was 

 first noticed in the ditches on the Bure marshes in 1908. It now occurs 

 over a wide area in the district. 



I may mention that Mr. Champion has very kindly examined specimens 

 of the beetle and has confirmed the identification. 



'' Corfe," College Road, Norwich. 

 November litk, 1921. 



Physocephala rufipes and Aphomia coloneUa in a nest of Boinhus lucorum. 

 — A nest of this Bovibus in a haybox was sent to me last autumn by a corre- 

 spondent at Shouldham, Norfolk, and from it emerged a fine $ of the Dipteron 

 P. rufipes on June 8th, 30 A. colonella {sociella) exhibiting a fair range of 

 variation, sume scores of Oecophora pseudospretella, and hundreds of Endrosis 

 lineella. There were also swarms of an Acarid, Glycyphagus plumiger, amongst 

 the debris of the nest, but these may have originated in the hay (of which this 

 mite is very tond), and simply invaded the Bombus nest therefrom as a likely 

 source of attractive provender.— C. Nicholson : October \^2\. 



Note on Aleyrodes prohtella Z.— The Cabbage White-fly is always with 

 us, but this autumn it seems to have been unusually abundant. From through- 

 out southern England complaints have been sent in regarding it. It is not 



