206 THE entomologist's RECORD. 



beneath the white fascia on the forewings, both in exqnisita and pnlchra- 

 the underside is suffused with white over about two-thirds of its area. 

 Altogether I have bred about a dozen pulchya (occurring mostly in 

 exqnisita families) including one with a yellow fascia. Should I next 

 year breed an exqnisita with an orange fascia my present aspirations 

 would be satisfied. — (Rev.) G. H. Raynor, M.A., Hazeleigh Rectory, 

 Maldon. October 30th, 1919. 



I2^0TES ON COLLECTING, Etc. 



Paraege megera in Essex and Gloucestershire. — In connection 

 with Mr. Burrows note (p. 168) on this species, it may be useful to 

 record that in a visit to Chignals on the 23rd August last 1 found 

 megera very common in the neighbourhood. I walked round from 

 Chelmsford station through the fields and lanes to the Chignals, and 

 sometimes had 3 or 4 specimens, mostly males, sporting and flitting 

 along the path in front of me. In the Stroud district of Gloucester- 

 shire the species has been noticed commonly at the end of July and 

 beginning of August during my visits of recent years, and it seemed 

 particularly attached to stone walls dividing fields, especially on the 

 footpath side where there was a footpath. — C. Nicholson, Hale End, 

 Chingford. 



Some suggestions to Mr. Ashby on specimens collected in 

 Italy. — I was very interested in Mr. Ashby's notes, but a few names 

 have struck me as possibly being incorrect : Glaucopxyche welanops 

 would be quite new to Italy ; is it not cyllarus race pauper, Vrty. ? Is 

 not Hesjjeria alvetm instead an annoricantis, Obth., more likely at that 

 altitude? Is not malvae instead )tialvoides, Elw. and Edw. ? H. 

 malcae in Italy is only found locally in the Alpine region. A. coridon 

 found in June strongly suggests aragonensis, Vrty., first brood, coridon 

 only appearing late in the summer. S. j^i'ti^ii is an interesting catch 

 for Italy, of which I should like confirmation. — R. Verity, M.D., 

 Florence. 



Saint Mark's Fly (Bibio marci). — Some black flies which were 

 swarming in our neighbours' — the Misses Jarman — garden on May 

 7th, were sent by me to Mr. Guermonprez, of Bognor, for naming, and 

 he kindly identified them as Bihio marci (Saint Mark's Fly), so called 

 from their appearance about St. Mark's Day, April 26th, Their food 

 is decaying vegetation and manure. He did not think them injurious. 

 Noticing, however, that a bed of polyanthus flowers in our garden 

 looked very sickly, our gardener dug them up, and the roots were 

 found to be infested with a swarm of white maggots. These were 

 removed and the plants soon began to recover. It has occurred to us 

 that the larv^ may have been of this fly. Many were collected and 

 placed in a tin box, with a view to rearing to the perfect state. 

 Unfortunately all have died, and the species cannot be determined in 

 consequence. — Joseph Anderson, Chichester. 



SiREX GiGAs AT Chichester. — A male Sirex gigas was taken here in 

 our conservatory on July 3rd. The roof of this was being removed, 

 and a new one put in in place of it. It is possible that the insect 



