CUERENT NOTES. 237 



CURRENT NOTES AND SHORT NOTICES. 



In the Entomologist for August, Mr. W. J. Lucas gives his annual 

 summary of observations on the " British Odonata." Mr. P. B. 

 Newnham describes a remarkable aberration of Argynnis aglaia. " All 

 the wings of the insect, which is a female, are yellow, not brown, 

 while the usual black markings of the upperside are replaced by similar 

 silver markings, which are very bright in certain lights." This 

 aberration is named by the captor as ab. molyhdena. 



Our colleague Mr. E. S. Bagnall, F.L.S., in conjunction with Mr. 

 J. W. H. Harrison, D.Sc, has compiled a "Preliminary Catalogue of 

 British Cecidomyidae," which will be published in the Transactions of 

 the Entomological Society of London for the present year. 



The concluding part of the Transactions of the Entomological Society 

 of London for 1916, has just been issued, the whole issue for the year 

 is, as usual, a handsome contribution to the literature of Entomology 

 and we must congratulate the Officers and Council of the Society on 

 its production. 



In the Fynt. Mo. Mag. for August, Command. J. J. Walker describes 

 a 1917 visit to the New Forest chiefly for Coleoptera; Mr. G. T. Porritt 

 writes on the excessive abundance of Charaeas graminis in the Peek 

 District ; Prof. A. D. Imms discusses the Biology of the same species 

 from the economic point of view ; and Mr. E. A. Butler discusses the 

 correction of the identification of the Hemipteron hitherto known as 

 Aphelochirus aestivalis to A. montandoni. 



The Bull. Soc. ejit. France for June contains the descriptions of 

 three new European species of Ant, Formica, by M. J. Bondroit, which 

 he names F. lemani, from the mountains of France and Switzerland 

 and the Ardennes (dedicated to the defender of Liege), F. gerardi from 

 the Eastern Pyrenees, and F. tonibeuri from Portugal, (dedicated to 

 the victorious general in Africa) ; and M. Charles Oberthiir gives an 

 account of the Lepidoptera Heterocera taken at Eennes around the 

 electric arc lamps, and calls attention to the abundance of Sphingidae^ 

 Notodontidae, Lasiocampidae, and Noctuidae ; included in the last family 

 are a number of species which occurred commonly but which are very 

 uncommon generally. 



The Canadian Entomologist for August contains in its " Practical 

 Entomology " column an account of the Strawberry-root Weevil in 

 British Columbia, and includes a summary of the recent studies of the 

 beetle Otiorliynckus ovatus. The control measures given are (1) 

 Eotation of crops, (2) Production of strawberries on the "one" or 

 "two year cropping" plan, (3) The removal of old and infested 

 plantations by ploughing at the end of the egg-laying period. To these 

 a further control is described, that of "burning over" an infested field, 

 but the initial results of this experiment showed that it might be far 

 from thoroughly effective. The remainder of the number is mainly 

 composed of descriptions and notes on new spiders, new and note- 

 worthy Coleoptera of W. Florida, etc., and Notes on Bembecine 

 Hymenoptera from Nebraska..*. 



To the September number of the I^aturalist Mv. J. W. H. Harrison 

 contributes the eleventh of his comprehensive articles on the " Moths 

 of the subfamily Bistoninae." 



In the Ent. Mo. Mag. for September, Dr. Chapman describes a 

 curious instance of a " double pupal skin " in a chrysalis of Pieris brassicae. 



