1917.] 1Q 



between the shells, when they have inadvertently been placed in an " open " 

 oyster, but I have never previously heard of a fly meeting this fate. 



Obviously, in this case, the incident must have occurred after the oyster 

 was brought ashore. Apparently for some reason the mollusc must have opened 

 its shells, and the fly have seized the opportimity of giving its progeny a 

 specially dainty pabulum. It is difficult to explain, however, how such a 

 blundering and large fly a.s Calli/phora, once it got inside, did not stimulate the 

 oj'ster to close its shells immediately, and I can only imagine that the shells 

 were very gently sh\xt while oviposition Avas well under way. With the shells 

 closed it is surely only good fortune on the part of the fly that it was not killed, 

 but possibly being well within it was crushed between the shell and the soft body 

 of the oyster, and remained in that position until released by the oyster-knife. 

 The question arises : how long did the fly endure such imprisonment and yet be 

 capable of flight ? On this point the only answer I can give is that the oysters 

 were boxed and in transit for 24 hours, while this particular oyster was not 

 opened for two days after arrival in London. 



A letter to the Whitstable oyster fisheries asking for particulars of the 

 methods adopted in regard to the storage of the oysters and the time that 

 usually elapses before consignment to customers has brought no reply — probably 

 on account of the managers interpreting the occurrence as a slur upon their 

 methods of dealing with their wares ! 



Although the eggs had not hatched up to the time when they were last 

 seen, I see no reason to sixppose that they would not have done so ultimately, 

 even in the presence of the salt fluid surrounding the body of the oyster, as two 

 years ago in Boston, where I happened to be breeding large numbers of Calli- 

 phora for work on experimentally induced myiasis, it was the practice to feed 

 the larvae on a variety of diet including dry salt fish. — Malcolm Evan 

 MacGkegor, B.A. (Cantab.) (AVellccme Bureau cf Scientific Research), 10, 

 Henrietta Stret^t, London, W. : November 1st, 1916. 



^bituarg. 



Dr. Bertii Robert Popyius, the Finnish entomologist, died at Copenhagen 

 on November 27th, aged only K) years. During many years he studied Coleo- 

 ptera, and has piiblished numerous papers on Siberian and North European 

 forms, but later he began to study the Ilemipterous families Capsidae 

 and Anthocoridae. His most important works are : — " Monograph of the 

 holarctic sub-genus Cryobius (Carabidae)," and his great " Monograph of the 

 Ethiopian Capsidae " (2 V'ols., 1912-19H.). One paper by him, entitled " Contri- 

 butions to the knowledge of the Coleopterous fauna of tlu; Slietland and Orkney 

 Islands" (Ofv. Finskiji Vet.-Soc. Porh., 47, 1905), dealt with British insects.— 

 E. Beruroth, Jamsii, Finland : December 'ird, 19K). 



