Proceedings. 



Ordinary Meeting, October i6, 1888. 



Professor OSBORNE Reynolds, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S., 

 President, in the Chair. 



Mr. John Boyd communicated the following note by 

 Mr. P. Cameron on "The excessive abundance of Aphis 

 dianthi, Schr., round Manchester in September, 1888" : — 



The extreme abundance of Aphis dianthi in the Man- 

 chester district in September, calls for some remark. My 

 own experience of it has been chiefly in Cheshire, where it 

 occurred in such numbers as to be a perfect nuisance, through 

 •getting into the eyes of travellers. Near Wilmslow I came 

 across a swarm which formed a black cloud. In various 

 places I have noticed them congregating in heaps on plants 

 and walls, so as to blacken the surface on which they rested. 

 In the city they appeared in great swarms on many days. 

 It does not, of course, follow that these were bred in the city 

 or suburbs ; for, when these insects appear in such dense 

 clouds, they are driven about by the wind in all directions 

 and to great distances. Great numbers, too, must have been 

 brought into town on the market garden waggons, on the 

 clothes of passengers, and in other ways. This is not 

 the first occasion on which Aphis dianthi has come forth 

 in swarms. Gilbert White, in one of his letters, alludes to 

 them under the name of " smother flies," and notes them 

 as forming clouds which " almost obscured daylight." In 

 1834 they spread over Belgium in countless swarms, and 

 Morren, who records their presence, states his belief that 

 they were blown over from England. The species feeds 

 on a very large number of plants. In this country it is 

 always more or less injurious to turnips (hence it was 

 named Aphis rapi by Curtis), potato, cabbage, and mangold. 



