SOCIETIES. 191 



short spell in the afternoon. During the past five years he has 

 captured more than twenty specimens at all times from about 8 o'clock 

 in the morning until nearly 5 p.m., on the 4th of July, 1915, three 

 specimens at the same place. lie says that the females have the same 

 liking for putrid matter in the roads through the wood as the males 

 have. M. Lambillion describes a new aberration of Lytiiantria dispar 

 as ab. iitediofusca, in which the forewings have a wide fuscous trans- 

 verse median area above, and below have a large irregular brown band 

 occupying the outer half of the wing. M. Derenne describes (1) an 

 aberration of Xylocampa areola as ab. rhodana, in which the forewings 

 are suffused rosy, as are also the marginal area of the hindwings, and 

 states that it is somewhat common each year near Namur. This 

 appears to have been already named rosea by Tutt {Brit. Noct., iii., 

 98), and hence the name rhodana is redundant ; (2) an aberration of 

 Cydopides palaeuion as ab. niyra, in which the forewings are so much 

 suffused with black that the yellow spots become almost lines, and the 

 hindwings have the series of yellow submarginal dots almost effaced. 



The South- hJnstehi Naturalut, the organ of the South-Eastern 

 Union of Scientific Societies, for 1918 (!) has just been issued. The 

 name " Naturalist " is justified by the five or six pages on "Mosquitoes 

 and Malaria in Britain," contributed by Sir Ronald Ross, and by the 

 paper on "Allotment pests," by Lieut. Robt. W. Ashcroft, of the 

 Board of Agriculture. It is a great pity that this admirable organisa- 

 tion for linked working has not been backed by a section of the active 

 zoological workers of London and the south-eastern counties. It is 

 very unusual to find letters of the wrong font scattered over the pages 

 •even in war time, there has been plenty of time since June, 1918, to 

 revise. 



In the Ent. Mo. May. for September, K. G. Blair, F.E.S., writes an 

 article on the rose beetle, Cetonia aurata, and announces the occur- 

 rence of the shining black aberration var. nigra of the European list, 

 hitherto not recorded in the'British Isles. E. A. Butler, B.A., B.Sc, 

 announces the addition of Lasiacantha capucina, a Hemipteron new to 

 Britain. It was found by J. H. Keys, on the cliffs at the Lizard, 

 Cornwall, on its known food plant, wild thyme, in June last. The 

 Rev. F. D. Morice announces a sawfly new to Britain, Lyyaeonematus 

 wesmaeli, bred in May, 1918, from larvee first observed in August, 1917, 

 in Yorkshire, on larch. It is closely allied to L. laricis, and has been 

 recorded from Holland and Germany. 



SOCIETIES. 



The South London Entomological and Natural History Society. 



June 2Qth. — Life-histories of various Coleoptera. — Mr. K. G, 

 Blair exhibited Chrysoinela distinguenda with ova and larvte on toadflax, 

 on behalf of Mr. Campbell Smith Cetonia aurata from Berks, and on 

 behalf of Mr. G. Wright, Lytta vescicatoria from Norfolk, giving 

 particulars of the life-history of the last. 



Pupa of A. iris. — Mr. Neave, for Mr. Tatchell, a pupa of Apatnra 

 iris from the New Forest. 



Life-histories of Coleoptera. — Mr. H. Main, the beetle Necrophorus 

 vespillo and larvse, and ova of Melolontha vulgaris and gave notes on the 

 life-histories. 



