SOCIETIES. 189 



shire in 1883, it was also in Miss Decie's collection captured at Westward 

 Ho ! and one specimen captured by Mr. Harwood, of Colchester. 

 Erisialis sepukhralis, L., a male of this scarce Dipteron was taken at 

 Plumstead by himself on the 17th of July last, as also a female of 

 Hypoderma bovis, Deg. With reference to this species Mr. Billups said it 

 was rare indeed to find it in the perfect imago stage, and that it belonged 

 to the sub-family ^sii-idce, Leach (bot-flies, breeze-flies), the larvae 

 living in sub-cutaneous galls or bots beneath the skin of various 

 animals ; the larvse of this species being found in the month of May 

 in galls or tumours on the backs of cattle. When fully fed, which is 

 mostly in July, they work their way out and fall to the ground to 

 pupate, the state of pupation lasting some 25 or 30 days. The species 

 is to be found in all parts of the civilized world. It is a curious coin- 

 cidence that Mr. Bignell in this month's Ent. Mo. Mag. records the 

 capture of this species on the gth of June, on a moor between Yelveston 

 and Clearbrook, our member, Mr, Coryndon Matthews, having identified 

 the species both for Mr. Bignell and Mr. Billups. Phytomyza aquilegice. 

 This small species of diptera was reared by the exhibitor from some mined 

 leaves of Aqui/egia vulgaris, L. (the common columbine) growing in 

 his own garden, the leaves being picked last September and kept until 

 the following April, when the little fly began to emerge, its pretty little 

 Hymenopterous parasite, Rhizarcha arolaris, Nees., not emerging until 

 nearly a month later. Mr. Billups also exhibited both sexes of the 

 very handsome Polysphincta varipes, (ir., which he had reared from a 

 cluster of cocoons presented to him by Mr. C. Fenn from the larvse of 

 Odonestis potatoria. Also a cocoon of Attacus cecropia, from New 

 York State, presented to him by Mr. Turner on the 4th of May last, 

 and from which he had reared no less than 48 specimens of a species 

 of Cryptus, closely allied to our British species, Cryptus digltatus, 

 Gmel., the females largely preponderating, there being 34, and only 14 

 males. Mr. Billups called attention to the curious arrangement of cells 

 formed by this internal parasite in the cocoon of Aitaais, the outer 

 circle consisting of 12 cells, the second of 8, and the third or inner 

 one of 4, so there must have been at least some 48 or 50 cells or in- 

 ternal puparia, which certainly seemed enormous considering the 

 large size of this handsome species of Ichneumonidce. — Ed. 



Errata. — On page 166, lines 4 and 5, for '• Mr. Tugwell, a short 

 series of Dioryctria abietella bred from fir cones," read, " Mr. Tugwell 

 a short series of Dioryctria decuriella, Hb., = Nephophteryx abietella, 

 S.V., bred from shoots of Scotch fir bearing resinous nodes of Retinia 

 resinanai" — W. H. Tugwell. September 27id, 1891. 



Psyche villosella. — In the note of the meeting of the South 

 Eondon Entomological Society which appeared in the Entomologisf s 

 Record for September, p. 105, there is a notice of my paper on Psyche 

 villosella, in which it is stated that '* the female was never observed to 

 leave the case " ; I did not say this, but that I had never seen the 

 skin of the pupa of a female of P. villosella projecting from the case ; 

 I have seen them emerge from the case. I did not say that the young 

 larvae left " the central portion of their cases free from pieces," but that 

 I had observed they were able to lengthen the cases by additions either 

 at the proximate or distant end. — J. Jenner Weir, Beckenham. 



