1922.] 59 



In Professor Poulton's lists o£ " Predaceous Insects and their Prey " 

 Tortrix viridana is mentioned (Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. 190G, pp. 356, 

 382 389) as being the prey o£ the Asilid fly Neoitamus cyanurus, and 

 of Empis livida, in great numbers in both cases. In Mr. H. Campion's 

 lists of " Dragonflies and their Prey " [Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (8) xiii, 

 1914, pp. 495-504] it appears in four separate records, as the prey of 

 Enallagma cyathigenm, Agrion puella (twice), and Anax imperator. 



IV. FURTHER RECORDS OF SWARMS OF CHALCIDIDAE 

 IN BUILDINGS. 

 A. Pteromalus deplanatus. It is unnecessary to recapitulate 

 the particulars given in my former paper. Some additional informa- 

 tion may be condensed as follows : — 



Hascombe, Surrey. The Rev. C. Sadler, who supplied most of the infor- 

 mation on which my former paper was based, has reported tliat the Chalcidid 

 invasion was just as had in 1919 as in 1918, while in 1920 the insects were 

 much less abundant, causing practically no inconvenience ni the house, though 

 during mild weather in November, and when artificial heating was begun m 

 the church, they appeared in the latter building in considerable numbers. In 

 1921 Mr Sadler wrote on February 25th, that after a mild spell the creatures 

 had reappeared in his house in a semi-torpid state ; but during the succeeding 

 summer they were so much less than in the preceding years that he scarcely 

 noticed them again till after October 23rd, when, artificial heating having been 

 started in the church, they appeared in great numbers in the stoke-hole and 

 crawling about other parts of the buikling. He also alluded (wntmg 25.n.l921) 

 to a cottao-e about two miles away, where a first-floor room facmg East had 

 been severely infested, while in the ground-floor room below none of the 

 Pteromali had been seen. 



Heve7' Kent. Mr. E. G. B. Meade-Waldo reported that while the 

 Chalcidid incm-sion into his house was bad in 1918, it was much worse in 

 1919, but very much less in 1920. This tallies with the report from 

 Hascombe. Mr. Meade- Waldo stated that in 1919 the mvasion seemed to 

 be at its heioht later than in the preceding ye^ir, October, November, and 

 December being the months when the greatest inconvenience was caused: 

 even carpets were covered with the creatures, which sometimes extin- 

 guished lights by their numbers. Their extreme abundance in 1919 coincided 

 with the worst visitation of Tortrix viridana and other oak-moths which he 

 could remember occurring in the district. The woods were hare tdl July.* 

 In 1920 on the other hand, defoliation of the woods was bad early m tlie 

 season, but seemed to be suddenly checked about May, after which the trees 

 recovered. . 



*Mr.Meade-Waldo'^i^hat larvae fell and ate plants beneath ^^llll^l^^l'^l^'^^^tZ 

 in the same year. 



