1922.] 55 



at the roots of the heather, ami the larvae, when hatched, feed on the lichen 

 and algae at the roots of the herbage. It is also probable that as the J like- 

 wise sits on the ^/7c«,both sexes devour the nectar of the flowers — the 2 thus 

 putting the plant to a twofold use. 



Cassida nehulosa L. My experience with this beetle has so far been rather 

 unfortunate ; although T have perhaps been able to add a little to the 

 knowledge of its life-history. Having heard that it had been taken by the 

 late W. E. Sharp and others on Gnaphalium, in the neighbourhood of 

 Wokingham, I paid a visit to that locality on September 6th, 1920. After 

 much exploring I found a field in which the food-plant occurred in abundance. 

 Having swept for some time without result, I settled down to searching the 

 plants, and eventually found two Cassida 7iebulosa pupae, but nothing more. 

 The pupa is narrower, more pointed, and has shorter tail-forks than in other 

 species I have previously reared, i. e., C. viarraea, C. viridis, etc. 



Neither of the two nehulosa pupae hatched, but from both some thirteen 

 very small Chalcids emerged from two and three holes bored through the 

 dorsal surface of the mesothorax and abdomen. In July 1921 I again visited 

 this field, only to find it had been ploughed up— no sign of the food-plant 

 being present. I next went to Cambridgeshire, as Mr. Allen had kindly 

 furnished me with a plan of a fen near Waterbeach, where he and Dr. 

 Nicholson had taken C. iiebnlosa on Chenopodium album in 1919. I journeyed 

 to Cambridge on August 24th, and, hiring a bicycle, rode out to the spot, only 

 to find that this field also had been ploughed up, no C7ieno2)odiuin being 

 present. Having noticed, as I rode out from Waterbeach, a field with mixed 

 herbage, which had looked likely to me, I returned to that spot, where I at 

 once found a good patch of Chenopodium album. By sweeping and searching 

 J obtained one perfect insect and one larva. (I also found a specimen of 

 Cassida equestris on the Chenopodium — there being no Water-mint, the usual 

 food-plant of C. equestris, anywhere near. This specimen had beautiful 

 golden rims to the base of the thorax and elytra, which persisted for some 

 weeks after death before they disappeared.) C. albxwi is plentiful in some of the 

 roads near my house at Putney. The perfect insect ate the leaves and buds of 

 the plant, and the larvae round holes in the leaves. The excreta, which is 

 carried on the forked tails, closely resembles the buds of the plant. The larva 

 pupated on August 28th, but, alas! early in September a number of the same 

 small Chalcids emerged from four holes bored through the dorsal surface of 

 the meso-, metathorax, and first abdominal segments. 



Apion brachypterum Sharp. In July I swept a number of a small red 

 Ainon in Richmond Park, which Dr. Sharp tells me is A. br achy pte rum. 'J he 

 beetle was very abundant (July 26th, etc.), but only on bracken in one pait of 

 the Park. 



Xyleborus saxeseni Ptatz. This little Scolytid was very common on the 

 trees in Richmond Park on which I had found Laemophloeus bimaculatus. I 

 have frequently found it before, both in the Park and elsewhere, but never in 

 feuch numbers, nor had I ever found the male. On May 6th and July 19th I 

 captured single specimens of that sex for the first time. 



19 ILulewell Road, Putney Hill, S.W. 15. 

 January 30th, 1922. 



