( 9 ) 



Mg., on a sandy path, near Shotover Hill, Oxford, on August 

 7th, 1907. The path is very much frequented by various 

 species of Aculeate Hymenoptera, about the burrows of 

 which they were captured. (Vide E. M. M., 1909, p. 105.) 



(3) A specimen of If. punctatum, Mg., was one of several ob- 

 served following the bee, Colletes succincta, L. The fly exhibited 

 was captured as it was following a male of the bee along a sandy 

 bank, near Lyndhurst, on August 2nd, 1907, both it and the 

 bee being taken in a single sweep of the net, Mr. Hamm 

 and his friend, Mr. G. Arnold, watched them frequently fol- 

 lowing the Colletes, but not so persistently, as in the case of 

 Chortophila nnilineata, Ztt., recoi'ded in Proc. Ent. Soc. Lond., 

 February 7th, 1906. 



(4) A specimen of Sphecapata conlca, Fin., was one of two 

 which very persistently followed the Fossor, Crabro scutellaris, 

 Sm., $ . All three were netted together, but one of the flies 

 escaped while endeavouring to box them. The observations 

 were made and the specimens captured near Denny Bog, in the 

 New Forest, August 14th, 1908. 



A RARE CaSTNIA BRED FROM AN OrCHID IN ENGLAND.— 



Professor Poulton exhibited an example of the rare Castniid 

 moth, Castnia ilierapon, Kollar, captured on December 26th, 

 1908, flying in his orchid-house at Broadstone, Dorset, by 

 Dr. A. Pi.. Wallace. The empty pupa-case, also exhibited, 

 was found among the roots of a Stanliopea, which had been 

 more than a year in Dr. Wallace's possession. Its previous 

 history was set forth in the following statement received by 

 xxxv] 



him from Mr. Hall, of Buenos Ayres : " The Slanliopea I sent 

 you had been in my conservatories for some years. It origin- 

 ally came from Santos, Brazil (Province of Sao Paulo)." Dr. 

 Wallace had written to Professor E. B. Poulton concerning 

 this very interesting observation : "As Mr. Hall's conserva- 

 tories are in the suburbs of Buenos Ayres, the Castnia is 

 hardly likely to have inhabited that treeless region. South- 

 west of Santos there appears to be an almost uninhabited tract 

 of hilly country between the Sierra and the sea, and therefore 

 probably forest-clad and more likely to produce both the 

 orchid and the moth. I .should not wonder if the coast forests 

 of Sao Paulo were very rich and perhaps not much known, as 



