242 THE entomologist's reooRd. 



entomological labours wei-e suspended for a while, and some of the 

 beauties of a spot hallowed by generations of pilgrims were explored ; 

 the grand old tree, l)eneath whose shade tradition asserts Ben Jonson 

 and J^rummond sat and talked, the caves where Robert Bruce hid, and 

 many another memento of by-gone days in the stormy and ever- 

 fascinating histoi-y of Scotland. Time slipped quickly by on that 

 suuny morning as I sat on a platform at the back of the old mansion 

 looking up the glen, the trees on the steep banks clad in the most 

 exquisite green, and the river, far below, brawling over its stony bed, 

 its water glistening in the bright sunlight, as fair and beautiful a 

 scene as one could wish to see. When I returned in the evening my 

 bag was as satisfactory as the memories of that never-to-be-forgotten 

 walk. .Just outside the lodge gates of Hawthornden I swept off 

 Alliuria ojjidnaUs, Cfiithniin/nc/nis ryanipenni^. Germ., quite common, 

 (\ (jiiadridi'vs, Pz., and (\ liHlrirol/ifi, Gyll., also P/ii/llntreta neninrum, 

 L., and P. undidata, Kuts., the latter in this case was the commoner 

 of the two species, though Dr. Sharp seems to have found just the 

 reverse in the Solway district. Sweeping at the side of a small burn 

 running into the river in the park, produced Hdudcs inarifinata, F., 

 Plectroxcdis concinna, Marsh., and Anthobium toriiuatitm,^l-d,t&h.., while 

 by beating young trees I secured Ant/mpltaiius testaceua, Grav., in plenty. 

 •Just beyond the village of Roslin, on a piece of ground much over- 

 grown with rank herbage, I'/ii/llahiits n'ridicollis, F., was found in 

 abundance on nettles, and Trupip/ionis iiirnnriali.s, F., in scanty 

 nunibers, the river bank at this point was lined with alders, and off 

 them 1 beat Plii/lliihiiis cdhaiatNs, F., in some numbers. Walking 

 back to the station I beat oft' birch the var. ciiicirus of I'/n/llohin.< 

 niacidiciiynis, Germ. — T. Hudson Beark, F.E.S., 10, Regent Terrace, 

 Edinburgh. Aiiini^t 'lltli, 1902. 



Notes on the Habits of Aeoialia ruea. — This very local insect, 

 previously known as only occurring at Wallasey, Cheshire, and High- 

 town, near Liverpool, has appeared this year in a new locality in the 

 Lancashire district, namely, the Birkdale sandhills. In order that 

 the conditions of its occurrence may be understood and appreciated, it 

 is necessary to describe briefly the topography of these sandhills, 

 especially of the spot where At'i/ialia was taken. The ]^)irkdale sand- 

 hills may be described as consisting of two ranges of hills running 

 parallel w'ith the coast line, and separated by a low-lying plain 

 covered with Sali.r n'jirns, etc. In one place a few yeai's ago ihe wind 

 dislodged a large quantity of sand from the seaward range and spread 

 it over a part of this plain, where it forms a bank of bare sand perhaps 

 twenty by twenty yards in extent. All round this bank star-grass 

 and creeping willow are struggling through the sand. 1 have very 

 frequently searched this bank and the neighbouring sandy hollows for 

 some years, as they happen to form a particularly good collecting ground, 

 but no Aciiia/ia rnfa occurred before the present year. On Whit-Monday 

 1 found a solitary specimen. The next day Mr. Wilding showed me 

 a pair that he had taken. On the following Thursday it was abun- 

 dant, and Mr. Wilding and myself were able to make some interesting 

 observations regarding the insect, observations amply verified subse- 

 (piently. We noted that it did not occur uniformly over the whole of 

 the bare sandy surface of the bank, but affected a very limited area, 

 perhaps six feet by six feet. Thither, as the afternoon advanced, 



