Yorkshire Naturalists' Union : Annual Report, 1920. 43 



April, 1918. Two other spiders have not been recorded before for the 

 Huddersfield district. Mr. A. Clarke found a female Epeira cornuta 

 in his garden, and in Sun Dean, a fine male Ettrophrys frontalis Walck. 

 was captured beneath a stone in June last. The latter is a rare spider 

 in the western half of the county, there being only two previous records, 

 viz., Bradford (Dr. Meade) and Linton Common, near Wetherby. The 

 ' Spiders of Yorkshire,' begun in June, 1918, continues its serial publica- 

 tion in The Naturalist. 



Good progress has been made in the investigation of the mite fauna, 

 the distribution of many species being extended and others added to the 

 list, so that now there are some 260 species to be recorded for the county. 

 Mr. Winter contributes the names of those recently found in the Bradford 

 area by Mr. F. Rhodes and himself. Acting on information received 

 from the Rev. R. A. Taylor, now of Elland, I entered into communication 

 with Mr. C. D. Soar, who very kindly supplied a valuable list of the 

 water mites gathered by himself and Mr. Taylor in various parts of the 

 county. The localisation of the latter's finds was obtained from the 

 records of the Scarborough Field Naturalists' Society, per Mr. G. B. 

 Walsh. Amongst the few I submitted later to Mr. Soar were four species 

 new to the county, namely, V.C. 61., Eylais infundibulifera Koen., 

 and E. discreta Koch, Barmston Drain, Hull (Mr. T. Stainforth) ; 

 V.C. 63, E. gigas Pier, and E. triarcuata Pier, near Doncaster (the late; 

 Captain Corbett). With these, the total in this group is now 36. The 

 names of 15 gall mites are included in ' Plant Galls from Wensleydale ' 

 (Jan., p. 30) and twelve from Swaledale in a forthcoming paper. A 

 living tick, Ixodes hexagonu's Leach, taken from a domestic cat (not 

 its usual host) at Selby, was sent for identification by Mr. Cheesman in 

 June. Although a common species in some places, it does not seem to 

 have been recorded before for the county. The false-scoprion, Chernes 

 nodosus Schr., as usual clinging to the legs of flies, has occurred in two 

 successive years to an observant Huddersfield resident, and is the sixth 

 of the eight Yorkshire species to be noted in the district. A momentous 

 discovery at the Parasitology Laboratory of Aberdeen adds a mite new to 

 science to the British list, viz., Tarsonema woodii, stated to be the cause 

 of the fatal Isle of Wight disease, which has devastated countless hives 

 of bees in Yorkshire as elsewhere. 



BOTANICAL SECTION. 



Mr. J. F. Robinson writes :• — The resuscitation of floristic interest 

 referred to appreciatively in the last two or three annual reports has well 

 maintained itself, and, we believe, is even increasing in intensity. 

 Many new and flourishing stations of several, not absolutely common, 

 plants have been discovered, notably may be mentioned Hypericum 

 montannni. Spiraea Filipendula, Atropa Belladonna (with much flower 

 and fruit), Campanula glomerata, and Verbascum Thapsus on the chalk 

 slopes of East Riding dales ; Statice Limoniuni and Hyoscyamus niger, 

 near the Humber Shore ; and U tricularia vulgaris, with Ceratophyllmn 

 demersu'.n , in old brickponds within the boundaries of the only E. Riding 

 City. 



As to the vegetative aspect, never have we noticed plants more rank 

 and luxuriant than during the season 1920 ; flowering also, especially in 

 the later part of the year, was tolerably profuse, but of fruiting generally 

 perhaps the less said the better. Both wild and cultivated species of 

 prunus have in many instances been a complete failure. Apple and Pear 

 are a very little better, whilst Oak, Ash and Elm, which we said did only 

 fairly well in 1919, are very much worse this year. The later flowering 

 plants, e.g., the rubi (Raspberry, Bramble, etc.) have shown a very good 

 average crop of good fruit. 



Mr. C. A. Cheetham adds : — Many early flowers were seen in February, 



1921 Jan. 1 



