30 



YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS' UNION. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SECTION. 



On October 30th, well attended meetings of this section were held in the 

 Institute, Leeds, Mr. G. T. Porritt presiding. Altliough the past wet 

 season had generally been disastrous for insects, much useful work was 

 reported. 



After the election of officers, the following were exhibited :■ — 



Coleoptera, •tc.^ — Mr. W. J. Fordham exhibited the Solitary' Ant 

 Muiilla europaea, $$ from Ravenscar and a^J from Bournemouth, and 

 the sawfly Loderus gilvipes from Lancashire, new to Britain (see E.M.M.). 

 Beetles — Plagiarihriua fordhamiana Keys, from Bubwith ; Saperda 

 populnea and Phytodecta nifipes from IMartin Beck Wcxxl ; Stenostola 

 ferrea from Kdlington (H. D. Smart) ; Ptinus tectus from bird seed at 

 Selby and Pachyta cerambyciformis from Wharncliffe. Exhibited by 

 Mr. H. H. Corbett : Cassida nobilis and Cryptocephalus julvus from 

 Doncaster district. Exhibited by Master Kitchen : various Necrophori 

 (burying beetles) from Leeds district. Exhibited by Master Caird : a 

 box of Chrysomelidae from the Leeds district. Exhibited by Master 

 Hincks : several beetles from Leeds district, including Rhynchites nanus, 

 Limonius niinutus, Silpha sinuata and Necrobia ruficollis. 



Hymenoptera. — Mr. A. E. Bradley showed males of Bombus 

 luconim Sm. taken in Littondale during August. In these males the 

 face was black and the coloration generally of the female type. Hitherto 

 Mr. Bradley had only taken such dark males ver>' rarely and as isolated 

 examples, but on the high Callunce moors above Litton he found them in 

 great numbers and apparently replacing the common form altogether. 

 He also brought from the neighbourhood of Leeds a series of the males of 

 Psithvnis campestris which ranged in colour from almost entirely yellow 

 to entirely black ; ' yellow-tailed ' and also extremely dark forms of the 

 males of both Ps. distinctus and Ps. quadricolor ; and a queen of I'espa 

 vufa which had the dark markings of the abdomen so extended as to 

 produce a broad black band on each segment. 



Mr. Rosse Butterheld showed specimens of most of the Andrenas 

 found in Britain. 



In reporting some observations made upon bees and wasps during the 

 past season, Mr. Bradley mentioned that the female of Andrena lapponica 

 Zett. does not, as has been supposed hitherto, gather pollen only from the 

 flowers of Vaccinium. In some of the northern suburbs of Leeds, from 

 ■which most or all of the bilberry has now disappeared, A. lapponica is 

 still fairly common, and three females were taken early last June on the 

 capitula of the Cat's-Ear (Hypochaeris radicata) , the scopa and floccus of 

 each bee being more or less charged with the pollen of that plant. Shortly 

 afterwards, several bees, taken in various parts of the same district, were 

 found to be carrying pollen apparently identical with that of the Cat's- 

 Ear. Farther out from Leeds, where bilberry is common, as at Adel, the 

 lapponica females do appear to confine themselves to the flowers of the 

 last-named plant. 



At the end of August and in early September, old queen bumble-bees, 

 usually very faded and ragged, were frequently to be seen gathering 

 pollen from Scabious and other flowers. In a normal season, such queens 

 do not, as a rule, stir from the nest after the early months of summer, " 

 and one may suppose these individuals to have come from nests where 

 the brood of ' workers ' had failed or starved, partially or entirely. 



Alluding to the new county record for Awmophila. sabulosa, reported at 

 the last Annual Meeting as having been taken at Spurn by Mr. Cheetliam. 

 Mr. Bradley stated that he had found amongst the late \V. D. Roebuck's 

 collection a specimen of this species taken at Strensall Common near 

 York, in 1009, by the late Mr. W. Hewett. 



Lepidoptera. — Exhibited by Mr. Porritt : a rayed form of Melanippe 

 hastata from Honley, nr. Huddersfield ; Aplasia ononaria from Folkstone, 



Naturalist 



