NOTES AND ODSERVATIONS. 187 



ber 21st, 1915. Singly it has been found by Piffard at Feldon in 

 Herts and Capron at Sheve in Surrey. (I liave not seen Kennedy's 

 note in ' Phil. Mag.,' 1838, p. 14.) Consequently the occurrence of 

 several together is rather an event! On June 7th, 1919, I took one 

 here walking on the lirickwork of an outhouse erected in 1892, facing 

 west, with a stiff, warm southerly breeze sweeping across it ; this was 

 at noon. And at 5 p.m. (scientific time) a second was running on 

 the old-painted door-post in the same wall within a foot of the first. 

 Between the post and the wall was a crevice with a few cobwebs 

 containing Sialis lutaria, etc. ; on the lintel was Corynetes cceruleus, 

 always common here ; on the brickwork were some dozen of the 

 spider, Salticus scenicus, Clerck, in various stages of growth ; their 

 numbers were remai'kable, considering the dearth of insects, for 

 single Odyiierus j^d'^'iaii'iws, L., and Crahro elongatulus, Lind., with 

 several Chrysis ignita, L. (unusually abundant this spring), alone 

 were seen. The following day four more, including one male, 

 Caratomus, occurred in the same place and situation at 2 p.m. ; I 

 watched for half an hour or so but saw no more, and no other insects 

 were present but the beetle Anthocomus fasciatus, Linn., the 

 ichneumon, GUstopygaincHator, Fab., which is said (but uncertainly) 

 to be parasitic upon both Anohium and Ptilinus ; and the fly, 

 Mcdcterus muralis, Meig. All this threw no direct light on the host 

 of Caratomus, thougli the Corynetes is a known parasite of Anohium 

 domesticum, and Ptilinus piectinicornis lives in the above willow ; so 

 considering its peculiarly buccate head, the probability lies between 

 these two beetles and the smaller Fossors, witli a leaning (as I have 

 indicated at ' Ichn. Brit.,' iii, p. 2) towards the former. If the host 

 be hymenopterous, it will, I expect, prove to be Diodonttts minutus. 

 Fab., which I have since the 8th taken flying about this brick-wall as 

 well as sitting commonly, cheek by jowl, with Ptilinus pectinicornis 

 on the above willow-trunk. I do not now think that this distinctly 

 pdtiolate genus has relationship with either the Cleoiayminae or 

 Pteromalinte, between which it is placed in my 1910 Catalogue of 

 British Chalcididi^e ; the petiole is very narrow, represented by only 

 the two central lines in the capital figure of Vollenhoven's ' Schets.,' 

 pi. ix, fig. 63. — Claude Moeley ; Monks' Soham House, June 12th, 

 1919. 



Devastation of Oak Trees by Spring Lary^. — At about this 

 time last year I wrote of the devastation of the oak trees throughout 

 the Tilgate Forest and adjacent areas by spring larvae (' Ento- 

 mologist,' li, p. 161). This year the phenomenon has been repeated, 

 but whereas in 1918 the area affected appeared in this neighbour- 

 hood to extend only from just south of Hay ward's Heath to Horley, 

 this year it embraces the whole breadth of the weald, from the foot of 

 the South Downs near Hassocks to the North Downs at Merstham. 

 Although the two attacks have much in common there are differ- 

 ences that should be noted. In 1918 the trees leafed early and 

 were as a rule well covered with leaf before the attack commenced, 

 but this year they were much later and in many cases the buds had 

 only just connnenced to expand when the larvae devoured them, so 

 that in such cases the trees never had the chance of showing leaf. 



