XIX 



with which they were mixed, and found the number to 

 be 112. 



" I also noticed large numbers of seed-coverings, nibbled 

 and split, apparently by field-mice, which had extracted them 

 from the birds' droppings. These small rodents had evidently 

 taken advantage of the fact that the pulp had been removed, 

 and no doubt many seeds were taken away and stored for 

 future use." 



Chalcididae bred by Mr. J. Collins from beetles in 



DOG-BISCUITS AND PLUM-BRANCHES. — Prof. POULTON exhibited 



two $ specimens of Lariophagus distinguendus Forst. (Ptero- 

 malidae), found alive by Mr. Collins among living Ptimis 

 tectus Boield., in broken-up dog-biscuits from Mr. Best's house 

 — The Firs, Summertown, near Oxford (September 26, 1921). 

 The beetles, also exhibited, were in far larger numbers than 

 their parasites. 



Also two $ Elachertus {Entedon) leucogramma Ratz. (Eulo- 

 phidae, Entedoninae), and three Scolytus rugidosus Ratz., 

 bred in June 1921 by Mr. Collins from a plum-branch received 

 from Mr. Ashe of Hartlebury, near Worcester. The propor- 

 tions of host and parasite were as in the preceding examples. 



A NEW POINT IN THE PROCRYPTIC RESTING ATTITUDE OF 



PoLYGONiA (Grapta) C-ALBUM L. — Prof. PoULTON Said Dr. 

 R. C. L. Perkins, F.R.S., had written to him on January 8, 

 1922, from Newton Abbot :— 



" My youngest boy, who has become a very keen Lepido- 

 pterist, and I were breeding some Comma butterflies this 

 year, and I made the enclosed rough outline drawing of one 

 in the resting position. Later I was reminded of this on 

 reading your remarks about the white C [Trans. S.E. Union 

 Sci. Societies, 1921, p. 8 ; also Proc. Ent. Soc. Lond., May 6, 

 1903], and I have just come across the sketch. You will see 

 that if the edge of the closed wings, instead of the broad 

 surface is looked at, a most wonderfully vegetable-like growth 

 is represented, owing to all those lobes on the wing not meet- 

 ing flatly, but being turned outwards. The appearance is 

 that of numbers of little leaflets rising up from a stem beneath 

 them. The outline of this specimen I made with camera 

 litcida, and it only feebly shows the plant-like aj)pearance of 



