CURRENT NOTES. 



341 



dinner was served, and, thanks to the hosts, a most happy and enjoy- 

 able evening was spent. 



Miss Mary E. Murtfeldt gives {Can. Knt., xxxvi.,p. 334) an account 

 of Eucnaeiiiidophorua rhndodactijlua found on roses in the gardens around 

 St. Louis, U.S.A. She seems to accept it without question as an intro- 

 duced species, and adds the remarkable statement to her description 

 of the pupa, that " it is held in position by a fine thoracic band.'" 

 Alucitid puptp do not have, we think, thoracic bands. 



At the meeting of the Entomological Society of London, held on 

 November 2nd, 1904, Mr. J. E. Collin exhibited a specimen of I'laty- 

 phora lubbocki, Verr., a species of Phoridae parasitic upon ants. 

 No specimen has been recorded since the one originally bred by 

 Lord Avebury in 1875, and described for him by Mr. G. H. Verrall in 

 the Journal of the Linnean Society for 1877. The example exhibited 

 was caught by Dr. Wood of Tarrington, Hereford, at Stokes Wood, on 

 July 6th, 1904. 



At the same meeting, Mr. J. Edwards sent for exhibition three 

 specimens of Iia(jous Intosus, Gyll., one found by himself on Wretham 

 Heath, Norfolk,' on August 4th, 1900— the first authentic British 

 example — and two taken in the same locality by Mr. Thouless, on May 

 22nd, 1903; also liai/oKs ulabriostris, Herbst, from Camber, Sussex, 

 for comparison. 



At the same meeting Dr. T. A. Chapman exhibited bred specimens 

 of Hastiila {Kpaiioj/e, Hb. ?) Iii/erana, Mill., from larvirie taken at Hyeres 

 last March, and said that the fact that the pale forms only have hitherto 

 been known, whereas of those bred nearly half are dark, suggests either 

 that really very few specimens are in collections — which is the most 

 probable case — or that melanism is now affecting the species. The 

 larvae are not uncommon at Hyeres. Before he bred the species this 

 year, a single dark specimen only was known, viz., one taken by Lord 

 Walsingham at Gibraltar, named by him in MSS. warginata, in doubt 

 whether it was a var. of hyerana, or a new species. H. hyerana lives in 

 Asphoddns rnicrocarpiis, and is interestingly parallel to, but very different 

 from, Tortrix iinicolorana, Dup., which feeds in various species of 

 asphodels, to which its ravages are beneficial, unlike the havoc caused 

 by H. hyerana. The latter, after spinning its cocoon in April, moults 

 into an sestivating form of larva, of much the same colour as the 

 moth, this festivating larva eats the cast larval skin, except the head, 

 which it puts on one side and covers with some further silk. It 

 remains quiescent all summer and pupates in July, August, or Sep- 

 tember, emerging a few weeks later. The larva? of Xanthandriis 

 conituH eat the larvae (of which a number usually occur on one plant), 

 following them into their tubes and burrows when the larva gives them 

 a chance. As the fly emerges in April and May, it must have an 

 alternative way of living over to its next brood, as it is unlikely the flies 

 live till late autumn, but as to the possibility of this he had no know- 

 ledge. Mr. J. AV. Tutt remarked that the variation presented by the 

 yellow type and leaden form of this species found a parallel in the 

 variation common to the Lithosiids. The fact of a larva, having 

 reached its full development, moulting without further feeding before 

 pupation, had only been observed by him in connection with some of 

 the Psychid larvfe, and the double moult at the end of the larval life 

 was, therefore, very remarkable. 



