210 THE ENTOBIOLOG-ISt's RECORD. 



b. Flowers (sometimes dwarfed) remaining closed, slightly swollen ; 

 larvfe white with creamish or sometimes pinkish tinge. 



Scotland, Links at North Berwick and at Tantallon Castle, E.S.B. 



Cecidomyid sp. 



A minute deepish yellow larva in the seed of Poa. 

 Northumberland, Ninebanks, J.W.H.H. 



Cecidomyid sp. 



Bright yellow to golden-yellow larvse in the spikelets of Cocks-foot 

 grass {Dactylis glomerata). 

 Durham, Penshaw, E.S.B. 



{To be continued.) 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Ichneumons versus the Pierids of our Cabbage-patches. — 

 Quite a deal of comment and anxiety have been excited in our 

 quiet locality by the prevalence of vast numbers of larvffi of the com- 

 mon Fieridae {brassicae and rapae) in our fields and "cabbage patches." 

 At a time when all possible efforts are being made to increase food 

 production, the visitation does seem unfortunate. But how quickly 

 nature steps in to restore the balance. On one side of my tarred 

 fence, 33 paces long, I count at least 200 of these larv^, whose 

 efforts at completing their life cycle have been frustrated by the at- 

 tacks of their foes, and which now either brood over the piled up 

 cocoons of their parasites, or have already fallen away shrivelled and 

 dead. Amongst this mass of failure I count 2 pupae of P. brassicae. 

 This examination refers only to the inside of the fence. The outside, 

 exposed to the road, has attracted the attention of passing children 

 and others, who have employed themselves destroying the yellow 

 clusters, under the common impression that they are the ova of the 

 next brood of butterflies. On this outer side I can, however, still 

 count one pupa of P. rapae, with the remains of, perhaps, half a dozen 

 more which have been destroyed. There are still dozens of larvae 

 climbing about, seeking a resting place, but I assume they have no 

 better chance than their brethren. I may note that while sweeping 

 hedges and herbage for Micro-lepidoptera, during the whole season, I 

 have been continuously struck by the numbers and variety of the 

 Ichne\n)ions which I have found in my net. — C.R.N.B. 



Pieris BRASsiciE VERSUS IcHNEUMONS. — In my small garden at New 

 Cross, late in August, I found larvae of the " large white " feeding on 

 the Nasturtium. Of these forty-nine and one larva of P. rapae were 

 put into a cage and supplied with food. The result is that I have 

 forty-nine apparently healthy pupae of P. brassicae and one of P. rapae,. 

 not one having been attacked by a parasite. Most of the larvae were 

 nearly full grown when collected. This seems rather remarkable com- 

 pared with the evidences of other observers, who all agree that the 

 great bulk of the larvte of the " whites " this year have succumbed to 

 the attacks of parasites. I may say that a solitary larva of P. brassicae 

 of a previous brood, taken in the early summer, produced a Dipteron. 

 — H.J.T. 



Abnormal Union. — On August 19th I took Poli/niiimatiis icarus ^ 



