1917.] 237 



of the latter distinguishes it at a glance. — R. C. L. Perkins, Park Hill House, 

 Paignton: Sept. llth, 1917. 



Cannihaliam in plnjtophagoHs larvae when in confinement. — Has any satis- 

 factory explanation been given to account for this well-known fact ? Does it 

 ever occur in larvae living in natural conditions ? I am led to ask these 

 questions from reading Mr. Ling Roth's compi-ehensive study of " The Growth 

 aud Habits of Caransius morosus Br." (Trans. Ent. Soc. 1916, pp. 34>-386). 

 Dt-aling with cannibalism (p. 381) he ascribes it to insufficiency of food, but 

 aduiits two cases where cannibalism occurred when food was in pleutj\ My 

 experience with large numbers of the same species and with numerous other 

 species of phytophagous larvae has led me to reject altogether this explanation 

 and to favour that of irritation due to confinement in the same company. To 

 confirm this theory it must be shown that larvae known to develop this habit 

 in confinement are blameless when at large in a natural condition. Hence this 

 query. — E. G. Bayford, 2 Rockingham Street, Barnsley : September 14^/j, 1917. 



Aylax tara.vaci Ashm. in Derbyshire. — I was much interested in 

 Mr. Bagnall's note on this species in the Sept. no. of the Ent. Mo. Mag. I have 

 a specimen of this gall on the petiole of a dandelion leaf from Eyam, Derbyshire, 

 Aug. 19th, 1902, which up to the present has remained in mj' collection un- 

 identified. The petiole is swollen, slightly distorted, and when fresh was 

 somewhat reddish in colour, and on section recently appears of a similar con- 

 sistence to the gall caused by Aylax hieracii Bouche on hawkweed. I failed 

 to breed the fly. — Wm. J, Fordham : Sept. loth, 1917. 



f ocii'ltr. 



The South London Entomological and Natural History Society : 

 Auytist Qth, 1917. — Mr. Hv. J. Turner, F.E.S., President, in the Chair, 



The Rev. A. O. Loames, M.A., F.E.S., Bromley, Kent, was elected a 

 Member. 



Mr. Ashdown exhibited Tipula gigantea from the New Forest, and the 

 Tachinid Echinomyia grossa from the same place. Mr. Edwards, a living pupa 

 of the stag-beetle, ZwcaHWi! cervus from Blackheath, and specimens typical of 

 the groups of exotic Hesperiidae. Mr. Hugh Main, a food-mass of Copris 

 liinaris (Coleoptera) containing a nearly lull-fed larva, and living larvae and 

 pupae of Gortyna ochracea in stems of thistles, aud pointed out the exit 

 arranged for the emergence of the imago, closed by a thin "door" of 

 epidermis. Mr. Turner, a very light grey aberration of Amorpha populi 

 bred from the egg, and two males of Hypvnomenta cagnagellus united with 

 one female. Mr. B. Adkin, an aberration of Argynnis cydippe (adippe) from 

 Kent, with silver dots in some of the black blotches on the underside of fore 

 wings. Mr. Brooks reported an abnormal pairing of Ptychopvda auersata $ 

 and Camptogramma bilineata J. It was generally noted that the three species 

 of Pieris were almost everywhere in considerable abundance. Vanessa io was 

 also locally abundant, and JEvgotiia polychlorus had been seen about twenty- 

 miles from London. 



