94 THE ENtOMOLOGIST. 



is the caterpillar of bidentata when taken from Scotch firs — humped 

 and marbled with greens and reds — but the moths as closely like 

 each other as in the case of Acronijcta tridens and A. psi.) 



Dragondies, on the whole, were also few. ^sclina grandis, one 

 of our commonest, was conspicuously scarce, but ^^. cyanea was 

 frequently seen close to Chester, a specimen being captured in a 

 chemist's shop. 



But it is an ill wind that blows nobody good. The disastrous 

 1916 even affected insect garden pests. Abraxas grossulariata 

 (always severely typical), Halia vauaria (ivavaria), and the well- 

 known sawfly refrained from violent attacks on gooseberry bushes, 

 while the extraordinary show of roses was probably due to the 

 almost entire absence of the common green A2}his. (A strawberry 

 bed in my garden was nearly ruined in 1915 by the latter pest.) 

 Referring again to roses, it was interesting to watch one or two leaf- 

 cutting bees ('? Megachile circumcincta) cutting semi-circular pieces 

 out of the leaves, rolling them up under their legs so as to present 

 the smallest possible obstruction to the air in flight and then dis- 

 appear in a hole in a brick wall so inconspicuous that the flight 

 of the insect had to be followed with the eye before the hole could 

 be discovered. 



Wild bees evidently suffered from the cold spring. In 1915 

 they were abundant — Bomb^is lapidarius, B. terrestris, var lucorum, 

 and^. muscorum = agronim. A similar fate befell saw flies and hover- 

 flies. — J. Arkle ; 25, King Street, Chester. 



The Barrett Collection. — Lepidopterists will be interested to 

 hear that the collections of the late Mr. J. Piatt Barrett were 

 bequeathed to the Horniman Museum. They include many beautiful 

 aberrations of butterflies and moths, among them the extraordinary 

 lachesis-likQ example of Melanargia galatea taken by Mr. Barrett in 

 North Kent, and similar to that figured and described by the late 

 S. Stevens in the ' Entomologist ' (vol. ix, p. 193). It is figured 

 (PL xii) in the Proceedings of the South London Natural History, 

 Society for 1915-16. The collection also contains rich series of 

 Sicilian butterflies taken during his residence at Messina. — H. R.-B. 



SOCIETIES. 



The South London Entomological and Natural History 

 iiociETY.— January 11th, 1917.— Mr. Hy. J. Turner, F.E.S., President, 

 in the chair.— The death of Mr. J. Piatt Barrett was announced. — 

 Mr. Brooks reported Hibernia dcfoliaria taken by Mr. B. S. Williams, 

 quite freshly emerged, in January. — Mr. Moore, the deep green 

 Sphingid, Euchloron iiicgcera, from South Africa. — Rev. F. M. B. 

 Barr, his captures of the past season in Staffordshire and in the Wye 

 Valley, with Agriades coridon aberrations from Royston, and including 

 Lcptosia sinapis, Brenthis sclenc, Eubjpc hasiata, Venusia cambrica, 

 etc. — Mr. Hugh Main, a cage made by him to facilitate the breeding 

 of Geotrupid beetles and to allow full observation of the digging 

 of the galleries, massing the pabulum, laying the ova, feeding and 

 -growth of the larva, etc., and read a paper, his observations being 

 frequently at variance with those previously recorded. 



