194 t-^'^^y- 



Sympetrum Fonscolomhii in Stirretj. — On the 8th instant, at a pond not very 

 far from Leatherhead, I had the good fortune to find a Sympetrum which I believed 

 to be S. Fonscolombii, a belief which my friend Mr. McLachlan has since confirmed. 

 My brother and I secured a few examples, all J , but the locality is a very restricted 

 one, as they only occurred at one portion of one pond, although two other ponds 

 were within a hundred yards. 



When alive they are certainly magnificent insects, as the rich blood-coloured 

 scarlet of the body, the carmine nervures of the wings, and the prominences of the 

 thorax, give them a very vivid appearance. Some are much affected by a dark 

 carmine-coloured Acarus. On one specimen I counted 85. Do these Acari extract 

 any colouring matter from their host? They exactly match the colouring of the 

 nervures, and one that I squeezed gave out a similar coloured fluid. 



There have been but three, or perhaps four, previous occurrences of this dragon 

 fly in G-reat Britain. The oldest one is that in Mr. J. F. Stephens' cabinet now in 

 the British Museum ; this is a ? . The next (a S) formerly in Mr. Desvignes' col- 

 lection, is now in Mr. McLachlan's cabinet. The third {& S) was taken by Mr. 

 Hall at Deal in 1881, and is now, I believe, in the Dover Museum. It has been 

 mentioned that one taken at Exmouth was exhibited at the Entomological Society 

 in 1887, but I can find no record of it in the Proceedings. 



At the time we took these we also took P. depressum and L. quadrimaculata 

 freely, IS. cyathigeruni and A. puella in abundance, a few /. elegans and P. pennipes, 

 and one C. splendens. — C. A. Briggs, 55, Lincoln's Inn Fields: June \^th, 1892. 



Drepanopteryx phalafnoides. — It may interest you to know that I captured on 

 June 6th another specimen of D. phalcBnoides. From three points of view — one 

 local, the others general — the incident is of importance. First, the locality is a 

 good seven or eight miles from Cleghorn. Second, the time of year ; all my previous 

 captures have been autumnal. Third, the example was caught in flight at dusk ; 

 previous captures were made by beating, and L. phalcenoides thus appears to be 

 crepuscular, like its commoner relatives. It was taken for a moth — an argument in 

 favour of attending to more than one Order. The locality is again near water — at 

 the side of the Clyde, near the opening of a little glen. 



The weather is fine and warm. Everything has come out at once, and the show 

 of laburnum, lilac, mountain ash, apple and other blossom is making the country 

 look very pretty. — Kenneth J. Morton, Carluke : June 9th, 1892. 



Mutilla europcea at Chobham.—On May 21st I captured a female Mutilla 

 europoea on a sand bank at Chobham. At the first glance it reminded me of Clerus 

 formicaria, which. I have taken in abundance in Scotland. — A. Beaumont, 

 Lewishara : May, 1892. 



The Hope Professorship. — A vacancy in the list of Curators of the Hope 

 Professorship at Oxford having occurred through the death of Prof. H. N. Moseley, 

 Mr. Stainton has been appointed. We need scarcely remind our readers that the 

 Hope Professor is the veteran J. O. Westwood. 



