NOTES ON COLLECTING. 91 



Melanophthalma truncatella, Mannh., a new British Beetle. 



By NORMAN H. JOY, M.R.C.S., F.E.S. 



This species resembles i\l. fidvipc!^, Com., but differs in the following 

 details. The colour is entirely testaceous (in M. fidvipfs, the breast 

 and abdomen are always, and the elytra are generally, fuscous). The 

 first joint of the club of the antenna; is longer, being distinctly longer 

 than broad ; the thorax is rather broader in proportion with the elytra ; 

 the elytra are less rounded at the sides, and have no shoulder callosities ; 

 it is also slightly larger. 



I have tw^o specimens of M. truncatella which are labelled "Norfolk, 

 August, 1904," which I must have taken either at Sherringham or 

 Wells, and I have seen one from Lowestoft belonging to Mr. Newber}'. 

 Ganglbauer records it from north and middle Europe, whereas he 

 records M. fnlripes from the Mediterranean region. Canon Fowler is 

 probably right in saying that the latter does not occur further north 

 than the London district, but perhaps M. tnincatella occurs with it in 

 the south. 



W" AR I A T 10 N . 



Small example of Parnassius apollo. — I send as a curiosity a 

 dwarfed J specimen of Parnassius apollo which was bred in 1906 

 from ova of the previous year. The rest of the brood were of normal 

 size, indeed, some of them were particularly fine examples. This 

 particular individual has a wing expanse of about 56mm., with a 

 distinct, but small, red spot in the usual position in the black spot on 

 the costa of the forewing. — W. H. St. Quintin, F.E.S., Scampston 

 Hall, Rillington, York. 



:^OTES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



SiREx NocTiLio IN YORKSHIRE. — In the November number of the 

 Entoinolof/ist's Record, p. 265, Mr. J. Anderson refers to the capture of 

 a specimen of Sirc.i- jitvencus, F. (corrected in .the February no., p. 63, 

 to Sireu- noctilio, ¥.). I have a specimen, which I take to be the same 

 species, captured in the vicarage at Cowthorpe in this county last 

 September, and which it may be well to place on record. — W. H. 

 St. Quixtin, Scampston Hall, Rillington, York. [The specimen has 

 since been determined as S. noctilio by the Rev. F, D. Morice. — Ed.] 



Argyrolepia (Phalonia) badiana larv^ in seedheads of Arctium 

 lappa on Greenwich marshes. — In working through back vols, of the 

 Kntomoloijist for references to incorporate in British Lcpidoptera, I 

 have just observed a statement (vol. xxxviii., p. 276) by my friend, 

 Mr. E. Bankes, that, " in Tutt's Practical Hints, pt. i., pp. H8-4 (1901), 

 we read " The seedheads of burdock, Arctium lappa, should be collected 

 in September for the larvae of An/yrolepia badiana, which pupate 

 among rubbish at the roots of the plant, this hint being doubtless 

 based on Mr. Machin's note, which is quoted above." I should like 

 to suggest that there is considerable doubt about the hint being based 

 on Machin's note. The specie^^, 25 years ago, was, in the palmy days 

 of Greenwich Marshes, one of the most abundant species there, and 

 Messrs. Herbert E. Page, and Edwin Brown, then lads at school, used 

 to collect the larv* for me year after year in considerable numbers. 



