44 LJuly, 



The object of this record, mostly of negations, is to elicit information of a prac- 

 tical nature, with respect particularly to the larvae and food-plants of Aleurodes, for 

 it seems hopeless to be able to arrive at the facts of the natural-history of the species, 

 and thus to determine accurately how many there are, and if there be any variation 

 of the adult form in a succession of broods — if such there be — without a better 

 knowledge of the preparatory states than at present exists. 



I should be very glad indeed to obtain, from any one who may have the oppor- 

 tunity to look for them during the ensuing summer and autumn, the larvae of any species 

 of which the various food-plants were noted by me (1. c), or failing these, or in addition 

 thereto, any examples of the perfect insects that may occur, and any particulars which 

 may lead to a knowledge, or give a hint, of their natural-history. In my former notice I 

 omitted to refer to a note respecting A. phillyrecB, communicated to the Entomological 

 Society on 2nd October, 1848, by Mr. W. Thompson, of Belfast (Trans. Ent. Soc, v, 

 proceed., xlviii), and I now conclude therewith : — 



" Having remarked from a little distance the very lucid and even black appear- 

 ance of a fine large plant of Phillyrea Jatifolia, I went to ascertain the cause, and 

 found hosts of this beautiful creature on the under-side of the leaves, to which only 

 the perfect insect, as well as in its other stages, was attached, just after the manner 

 of Aphides. If you have not seen this species, you can imagine the beautiful sight 

 afforded on my shaking the plant, when hundreds of minute moths (as it were), not 

 exceeding a line and a half in length, and of a snowy whiteness, hovered over the 

 gloomy Phillyrea. I visited the plant yesterday, and found the Aleurodes just as I 

 had seen it a month before. The Phillyrea, however, was the worse, a few of the leaves 

 being killed, and others tending towards decay. Not a leaf, excepting the very few 

 young ones put forth, but is affected, in hue at least. The Phillyrea is in the midst 

 of shrubs of various kinds, none of which, nor any other plant of the same species 

 in the ground, is attacked." — J. W. Dou&las, 8, Beaufort Gardens, Lewisham : bth 

 May, 1879. 



A Dipterous parasite neiv to England. — A few days ago, I sent to Dr. R. H. 

 Meade a Dipterous parasite I had bred from a larva of Acronycta alni taken at 

 Wakefield. Mr. Meade replied as follows : — " I am much obliged to you for the fly. 

 It is a specimen of Exorista hortulana, Meigen, a species not recorded as having 

 occurred before in England, nor found by Zctterstedt in Scandinavia. It bears con- 

 siderable general resemblance to Exorista vulgaris, but is quite distinct." — Geo. T, 

 POERITT, Highroyd House, Huddersfield : June ^rd, 1879. 



Economic Entomology. — At the meeting of the Bath and West of England 

 Agricultural Society, held at Exeter, we exhibited a series of cases illustrating the 

 injuries to garden and field crops, pasture lands, timber trees, and grains, re- 

 sulting from the attacks of destructive British insects. 



The contents of the cases are intended to show the importance of the study of 

 entomology to the farmer, gardener, and forester. The collection was commenced 

 in the autumn of last year, and time and opportunity have not permitted its full 

 development. It must, therefore, be regarded as only a beginning towards carrying 

 out the idea of a collection of economic entomology which shall illustrate the 

 injuries resulting from the attacks of destructive insects in Britain, shewing the 

 transformations of each species, the natural checks which exist to their increase, in 



