82 THE ENTOMOLOOflST's KECORD. 



I had thought at the time, and, accordingly, exhibited them at a meet- 

 ing of the Entomological Society of London, where I gathered that 

 the form was known (Verrall, Brit. Flies, vol. viii., p. 391, "I 

 have seen a curious melanic form, in which the abdominal markings 

 were practically lost "), but that my specimens were unusually dark. 

 Except in the abdominal markings, they do not differ appreciably from 

 typical specimens, but, in the darkest, the whole abdomen is a shining 

 black, above and beneath, with the following exceptions : — The 2nd 

 segment has the basal spots faintly distinguished, and, quite separate, 

 two narrow spots, which are broad at the side margins and taper off 

 towards the disc ; the 3rd segment has about the middle fifth of the 

 front margin yellow, and a small yellow spot just beneath ; the ith 

 segment has similar, but smaller and fainter markings, and a faint 

 orange hind margin. The other two specimens have the yellow 

 markings slightly more developed, though in no case, except on the 

 2nd segment, do they reach the side margins. In all three the mar- 

 ginal pubescence is normal. As Mr. Verrall mentions {loc. cit. ) no 

 locality, I conclude that he does not consider this a permanent variety, 

 but only an occasional form. There is an apparent tendency in some 

 species of Diptera towards darker coloration m the smaller specimens, 

 and, perhaps, the cold dull summer may have had some effect on the 

 colouring of these dark examples. Several other specimens (<? and 

 $ ) of iS'. halteatiis taken this summer and autumn have all the black 

 bands strongly marked, but I have not sufficient material to make a 

 comparison with other seasons. — H. W. Andrews, F.E.S., 9, Victoria 

 Road, Eltham. Januarii 1th, 1903. 



(gfURRE NT NOTES. 



The Officers and Council of the South London Entomological and 

 Natural History Society, elected for the current year are as follows : — 

 President, E. Step, F.L.S. ; Vice-Presidents, F. Noad Clark, and J. 

 H. Carpenter, F.E.S.; Treasurer, T. W. Hall, F.E.S.; Hon. Curator, 

 W. West; Hon. Librarian, H. D. Sauze; Hon. Secretaries, S. 

 Edwards, F.L.S., and H. J. Turner, F.E.S. ; Council, R. Adkin, 

 F.E.S., T. A. Chapman, M.D., H. T. Fremlin, F.E.S. , A. Harrison, 

 F.L.S. , (i. W. Kirkaldv, F.E.S., W. J. Lucas, B.A., and H. Main, 

 B.Sc. 



The Entomological Club held its last meeting in the Entomo- 

 logical Salon of the Holborn Restaurant on the evening of 

 January 20th. The host was Mr, Verrall, who, with his usual 

 lavish hospitality, had invited a large number of guests, many of 

 whom were present. Among others, we noticed Professors R. 

 Meldola and E. B. Poulton ; Drs. T. A. Chapman, F. Dixey ; 

 Revs. E. A. Eaton, W. W. Fowler, F. Morice ; Colonels Bingham, 

 Swinhoe, Yerbury ; Messrs. Adams, Adkin, Andrews, Barker, Borrer, 

 Bouskell, Boyd, (Rowland-) Brown, Burr, Cant, Carrington, Carpenter, 

 Champion, Chitty, Clark, Collin, Cornish, Distant, Donisthorpe, Ellis, 

 Fenn, Frohawk, Gahan, Goss, Harrison, Jacoby, Janson, Jones, Kaye, 

 Kemp, Kirby, Kirkaldy, Lloyd, Lucas, Main, Morley, E. B. Nevinson, 

 B. G. Nevinson, Porritt, E. Smith, South, Step, Tutt, Turner, Tuck, 

 Wainwright, C. O. Waterhouse, E. A. Waterhouse, Tathom. 

 From 6.80 p.m. -9 p.m. a conversazione was held, when many 



