l86 CommiUce of Suggestions : Insect Associations. 



preclude its being earlier than 1,000 A.D., when hcav}' horses were 

 first introduced as chargers. 



Was pan the result of peat formation or did it precede the peat? 



On the round topped hills of Lakeland, peat often occurred at cloud 

 level, i.e., about 700 feet altitude. Was it so in Yorkshire? 



All the trees seen during the afternoon were near streams, i.e., near the 

 drainage system. Did the distribution of timber in the peat in Yorkshire 

 indicate changes in climate, or was it limited to positions where natural 

 drainage encouraged trees ? 



In conclusion the lecturer suggested that the identification of organic 

 remains in the peat offered work to the zoologist and the botanist which, 

 despite its difficulty, necessitating the special study of minute structure, 

 would, if successfully accomplished, throw valuable light on the con- 

 ditions existing from time to time during the growth of the moors. 



W. H. Bl'rrell. 



COMMITTEE OF SUGGESTIONS : 

 INSECT ASSOCIATIONS. 



A REPRESENTATIVE meeting of Yorkshire Naturalists' Union Entomolo- 

 gists took place at the Leeds University on March 17th ; the Chairman of 

 the Committee, Prof. Priestley, presiding. Mr. H. H. Wallis, whose 

 paper in The Naturalist for March provided the basis for discussion, 

 stated the work that had been done in this subject. Dr. Cameron's work 

 in Cheshire, Col. Gunter's compilation of insect appearances with various 

 weather factors in The Transactions of the Entomological Society, and Mr. 

 Shelford's notes on evaporation factors and time of emergence, being 

 referred to more especially. Mr. T. H. Taylor pointed out reasons why 

 more intensive study of a few definite insects was desirable ; he cited 

 the Turnip Moth, A . segetum, and stated that he was quite unable to say 

 how much of the damage ascribed to this might be due to A . exclamationis ; 

 he also mentioned the Antler Moth and its sudden enormous development 

 and then comparative absence ; very little is known as to when its eggs, 

 laid in the autumn, hatch out and develop. Another type of insects 

 requiring careful study are the Click Beetles. 



Prof. Priestley pointed out that in the botanical world ecology by 

 systematizing and tabulating had happily brought together the results 

 of the field and the laboratory workers, either of whom previously spoke 

 and recorded their discoveries in language that the other could not 

 understand, and similar conjoint work is wanted in entomology. 



Mr. E. G. Bayford said that in Mr. Wallis's paper there was an 

 evident mistake, Dytiscus punctulatus should be lapponicus . He stated 

 that the reason for the scarcity of such species as the Swallow-tail and 

 Black-veined White Butterflies* is due to extermination by collectors ; 

 he instanced Thorne Waste as an area so well worked that an insect 

 association could be drawn up for it from published records. 



Mr. B. Morlcy, who has done much work in Lepidoptera on the lines 

 suggested, remarked on the interesting features some insects show when 

 their distribution is mapped, compared with other more protean species ; 

 also on the necessity for very careful examination of all data, and as an 

 example he pointed to a larva mentioned by Cameron as feeding on certain 

 low herbs, whereas it hides in these during the day and feeds on the trees 

 above at night. He mentioned that certain different species seem always 

 to occur together, a suggestion of small associations. 



Mr. W. H. Poarsall thought the matter would not rest with plants 



* Both the Swallow-tail .md Black veined White Hutterllics are now 

 abundant in their British localities ; the Swallow-tail never has been 

 scarce. — G.T.P. 



Naturalist 



