1915.] 219 



"On the food-pliints of sonio British weevils" (pp. 1(57-9), Mr. F. B. Jennings 

 mentions the finding- of Barypithes ^^eHMcicZus on buttercups. It may be 

 interesting to notice the occurrence in Cambridgeshire last year of a great 

 swarm of this weevil, which has been recorded by Mr. F. E. Petherbridge, of 

 the Cambridge University Agricultural Department, in Ann. Applied Biology 

 Vol. 1, Nos. 3-4, pp. 390-392, January, 1915 (from which the following particu- 

 lars are extracted). The swarm occurred at Mr. Charles Townsend's nursery at 

 Fordham, on May 13th and subsequent days ; the insect was present in 

 enormous numbers; it being quite easy to gather handfuls of specinxens 

 particularly from some rabbit-holes where the beetles congregated, apparently 

 to shelter from the sun. A plan of the nursery is given. Plots of Thovisand- 

 head Kale, Kohl-Eabi, Paeony-flowered Poppy, and Nemophila insignis were 

 eaten off so that the ground was quite bare. Collinsia hicolor and Candytuft 

 were badly damaged, and specimens were also found feeding on the leaves 

 of some trees (Acer marginata aurea and Acer negundo), and of a thistle. 

 Leaves of cabbage and rhubarb were put down, and, when lifted a few hours 

 after, were entirely covered beneath with the beetles. On the other hand, a 

 plot of Gypsophila elegans escaped though situated in the midst of the worst- 

 infested area, and potatoes, peas, and spruces were also free from attack. The 

 beetles generally feed on the lower svirfaces of the leaves (at any rate in sun- 

 light), eating large holes out of them and pieces out of their edges ; and many 

 seedlings were eaten right off just above the ground. The nursery was treated 

 with 75 bushels of soot and 30 bushels of lime : on May 16th and subsequently 

 many of the beetles were found dead, and on June 17th only three could be 

 found alive. 



A sample series from the swarm was given by Mr. Petherbridge to the 

 writer, and is now in the University Museum. The specimens all belong to the 

 longer, more slender-legged form, that is to B. pellucidus as restricted by 

 Mr. J. H. Keys in 191 1 (Ent. Mo. Mag., p. 128), when he separated and described 

 the shorter-legged, stouter form as B. duplicatus. Mr. Keys states that the 

 swarm fovind on the shore at Kingsgate, Kent, in 1 886, and recorded as B. pellu- 

 cidus, is really referable to B. duplicatus, and that the same thing probably applies 

 to that recorded at Eastry, Kent, in 1872. In this case, both species are evidently 

 liable to occur in extreme profusion at particular times and places. [In the 

 Cambridge Museum the late G. E. Crotch's British collection contains two 

 specimens without locality-data, determined as B. pellucidus, hxxt evidently 

 referable to B. duplicatus Keys]. — Hugh Scott, University Museum of 

 Zoology, Cambridge : June, 1915. 



Philopedon geminatus F., as a general feeder. — Mr. Fx-yer {antea, p. 193) 

 having called attention to the various food-plants of this weevil, it may be 

 stated that on May 22nd I came across the species in numbers at Guildford in 

 a sandy, uncultivated field. Specimens were found beneath Lycopsis, Plantago, 

 Stellaria, Silene, Viola, &c., and the insect presumably was feeding upon more 

 than one of these plants.* — G. C. Champion, Horsell, Woking : June 12th, 1915. 



* The field was again visited ou .June I'.Hli, and but few living examples seen, though several 

 dead specimens wore noticed beneath !iilin(. — U.C.C. 



B2 



