260 [November. 



five years in Soutli Devon seen butterflies so numeroiis. The other day 

 I went into a small garden, walled in, and close to the town, and it is no exag- 

 geration to say that there was a butterfly on almost every fl^ower, including 

 such things as dahlias and asters, not at all attractive ordinarily. There were 

 hundreds of Vanessa nrticae, and lots of V. atalanta. V. to has been very 

 abundant, too, and Culias ednm is fairly numerous." Mr. Mayor also says that 

 CalUmorpha hera, although late iu appearance, was exceptionally plentiful, 

 and that Sphinx convolvuU was flying about the tobacco plants. 



Unfortunately we shall know little as to how the Noctuae have been this 

 year, as " Defence of the Realm Regulations " have almost entirely prevented 

 " sugaring,'' or the use of " light " in any way at night. — Geo. T. Pokiiitt, 

 Elm Lea, Dalton, Huddersfield: October 8th, 1917. 



OBSEEVATIONS ON BRITISH COCCIDAE ; WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF 



NEW SPECIES. 

 BT E. EE]ST:ST GEEEN, F.Z.S., E.E.S. 



No. IV.* 



Physokermes ahietis Geoffr. 

 This species occurs plentifully at Camberley, on some small spruces 

 in my garden, and has also been observed on many other spruce trees in 

 the neighbourhood. It is so extraordinarily well concealed by its simi- 

 larity to the natural scale-buds of the tree, that I had entirely overlooked 

 its presence until it was pointed out to me by Prof. Newstcad, whose 

 previous acquaintance with the insect enabled him to recognise it im- 

 mediately. Examples under observation were producing larvae on 



July 25th. 



Gossvparia ulmi Geo&. 



I have been keeping under observation the colony of this insect that 

 was reported in an earlier jjaper on British Coccidae in this Magazine 

 (vol. ii, p. 28, Feb. 191G). The young Cornish Elm, upon which the 

 insects were found, was transjilanted into my garden. As, to my know- 

 ledge, there are no other Elm trees growing in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood, I considered that there would be no danger of the insect escaping 

 and becoming a nuisance. 



During the winter, the young larvae remained quiescent in the 

 crevices of the bark. They were then of a chocolate-brown colour, with 

 glistening white points across each segment, and measured approximately 

 1 mm. in length. 



On April 5th, it was noticed that some of the larvae had covered 

 themselves with thin felted sacs of white secretion, of a long-ovate form, 



* No. Ill, ante. luj. 201-210, Sept. 1917. 



