116 *rHE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Note on Cerceris arenaria (Hymenoptera). — On July 29th last 

 a strong colony of Cerceris arenaria, L., in a sand-bank on West 

 Knighton Heath, were busy at 4 p.m. My son excavated several 

 burrows, and found that in every case they were stored with Otio- 

 rkynchus picipes, F., alone. No other prey whatever was excavated, 

 but I netted one ? , about to enter her hole, who was carrying, and 

 dropped as I boxed her, a very good specimen of Hypera polygoni, L. 

 — E. H. Haines ; Brookside, Winfrith, Dorset, March 18th, 1917. 



The Ox- Warble, or Bot Fly.— The Eoyal Agricultural Society 

 of England have just issued a leaflet, prepared by the Society's 

 Zoologist, Mr. Cecil Warburton, M.A., of the School of Agriculture, 

 Cambridge, giving particulars of the history of the insect and advice 

 to farmers and cattle-breeders as to the methods to be adopted for 

 its destruction. Copies of the leaflet can be had on application to 

 the Secretary, Eoyal Agricultural Society of England, 16, Bedford 

 Square, London, W.C. 1. 



Hypena obsitalis in Britain — a Correction. — Mr. Milman 

 writes to draw attention to my statement {antea p. 96) that the 

 late Eev. O. Pickard-Cambridge was captor of the sole British 

 recorded example of Hypena obsitalis. As may be seen by reference 

 to the February number of this magazine (p. 44), Mr. Milman 

 reported an example taken in 1908 by Mr. E. J. Milman, and pub- 

 lished the occurrence, curiously enough, within a few weeks of the 

 decease of the original authority. I must apologise to Mr. Milman 

 for an oversight due to the obituary notice of Mr. Pickard-Cambridge 

 being sent to press extremely late. — H. E.-B. 



Scoparia, Hw. — Through the kindness of Mr. Pierce, I have 

 been able to see the ' Transactions of the Entomological Society ' 

 for 1911, parts iii and iv, containing Dr. Chapman's article on this 

 and allied genera. I have read it with great interest, and think his 

 arrangement of our British species (p. 507), founded largely on struc- 

 tural details, cannot be beaten. This arrangement I shall follow in 

 a small fresh collection I am now making. That the genus Scoparia 

 was capable of division I have long been aware, moss feeders and 

 (as far as we are at present aware) root feeders ; but we have a good 

 deal to learn about the larvae of the latter. What is known about 

 the larva of the common amhig^ialis, for instance ? Stainton, Mey- 

 rick, and Merrin all state that it is a moss feeder, whilst Dr. Chapman 

 clearly shows it {loc. cit.) to belong to the other group. Can any one 

 give me any definite information about the larva and its food plant ? 

 With regard to imllida, it evidently is intermediate (between Scoparia 

 and Eudorea), and for this reason it is placed in the sub-genus 

 Witlesia or Wittlesia. for in Dr. Chapman's paper it is spelled both 

 ways. It may be of interest to remark that Whittlesea is spelled 

 " Witesie" in the Domesday book. The fact that surprised me most 

 was that Gratcegella was not nearly allied to frequcntella ; in fact, it 

 stands by itself, so far as our British species are concerned, in the 

 sub-genus Dipleurina. Eeverting to pallida, Mr. Pierce, in the March 

 issue (p. 68) states, in reply to my note in the February number, that 

 it comes in the group Eudorea ; as a matter of fact, it is one of the 



