CURRENT NOTES. 57 



The ova are placed on the young flowering spikes of the monkshood, 

 and in 1919 I had three small lots on the spikes, in small webs, bat I 

 found that they wandered away after the first moult if there were any 

 Delphiniums near. In 1919 I was very puzzled by the disappearance 

 of the larvae, I thought the birds had made a discovery, but I soon after 

 solved the puzzle by finding both the full fed larva and the cocoons on 

 the underside of Delphinium foliage. The Monkshood and Delphi- 

 niums grow close together in my garden. I do not take the trouble to 

 look for them in the first stage, but if any friend requires a few I now 

 look for them in the advanced stages. I have never found them in the 

 webs on Delphinium. During the last season I have not seen either a 

 Vanessa io or Enchloe, cardamines. — William Daws, 39, Wood Street, 

 Mansfield, Notts. 



(CURRENT NOTES AND SHORT NOTICES. 



The Entomological Society, London, held its inaugural meeting in 

 its new premises on March 2nd, when quite a hundred Fellows and 

 their friends were welcomed by the President, the Rt. Honble. Lord 

 Rothschild, M.A., F.R.S. General satisfaction was expressed at what 

 had been done by the Housing Committee of the Society. A large 

 number of exhibits were discussed and after the usual conversazione, 

 tea, etc., in the spacious library, the meeting closed at a late hour. 

 For a time the Library of the Society will be closed to borrowers 

 during the rearrangement, although visitors may even now be able to 

 consult the section devoted to periodical magazines, most of the volumes 

 of which have been placed. 



In the Ent. News for November last is the report of an occurrence 

 of what we may term a case of pseudophoresy. Mr. Mann of the U.S. 

 Bureau of Entomology, Washington, recently received " specimens of 

 Mallophaga, several of a small species of Gyropus, and one of Trico- 

 dectes, which he found at Quebrada La Camelia, Colombia, attached to 

 a dragonfly, Ischnogomphus jessei." Gyropus species are said to live 

 exclusively on small terrestrial rodents, and the dragonfly has a habit 

 of alighting on the ground and on low objects, hence we must infer 

 that the insects became attached when the dragonfly may have settled 

 on a dead rodent. 



In a note on Mental Attitudes towards Insects the Editor of the 

 Ent. News gives a personal illustration. He had been trying to realise 

 what must have been the mental attitude of many a cultured Egyptian, 

 Greek, or Roman towards insects, when the local butcher came. The 

 Editor continues, " His business transacted, the butcher observed that 

 the coming winter was likely to be cold only in the latter part — 

 because he had been feeling the caterpillars along the road and they 

 were hard to the touch only at their hind ends." 



In the November number of the Can. Ent. there is a very 

 interesting account of the life-history and metamorphoses of a " stick- 

 insect," Diapheromia femorata (Phasmidae), found defoliating oak, 

 basswood and hazel in Quebec. There is an illustration of the curious 

 manner of copulation ; full details of the oviposition and early stages 

 are given at length. 



SOCIETIES. 



Lancashire and Cheshire Entomological Society. 

 November 15th, 1920.— New Members.— Mr. G. H. E. Hopkins, 



