138 [June, 



fields, and of watching the result. I am not aware that the idea o£ a 

 Close-Time for Butterflies has previously been promulgated, 



[P.S. — In Birds the Protection Act has been found insufficient 

 in certain cases, and the Zoological Society of London is endeavouring, 

 in a most praiseworthy manner, to avert the extinction of some species 

 by bestowing medals upon residents in the vicinity of the breeding 

 places who have shown themselves ready to protect the Birds and 

 their nests. — R. McL.]. 



A new Coccid in an ant's nest. — On April 24th Mi'. C. W. Dale kindly forwarded 

 two specimens of a large Coccid which he had taken in a nest of Formica nigra at 

 Chesil Beach. The species is new, and undoubtedly belongs to the genus Lecanopsis, 

 Targ.-Tozz., although it has eight joints to the antennae instead of six. The speci- 

 mens measured — long., 5 — 5?, wide, 2 — 2^ mm., and may be roughly described as 

 of a dusky yellow or reddish-yellow, with two broad, interrupted, subdorsal stripes 

 of dark purplish-brown. In form it is not much unlike a young woodlouse, and 

 might be overlooked as such. Full description of this interesting species will appear 

 in this Journal in due course ; meanwhile, I should be glad if collectors searching 

 in ants' nests would kindly be on the look out for such insects, as it is necessary to 

 examine more specimens if possible. I have given it provisionally the specific name 

 formicarum, MS. — R. Newstead, Chester : May 10th, 1893. 



Mytilaspis pomorum, Souche, on Cytisus in Teneriffe and Guernsey. — Specimens 

 from Gruernsey were found on the common broom {SarotJiamnus scoparius) by Mr. 

 W. A. Luff on the 7th inst. These were specially interesting from the fact that, in 

 addition to the adult 9 scales, there were many $ scales. Hitherto the latter have 

 not been observed in this country, and the food-plant is a new one. Possibly the S 

 may yet be found in England, for Prof. Comstock remarks (Eeport, 1880, p. 326), 

 " Although the male of M. pomorum is rare on apple, it is not at all so on other 

 plants." The scales of the $ were exceptionally straight, due in a measure to the 

 narrow grooves in the stems of the food-plant, in which they were generally located. 

 The specimens " from the peak of Teneriffe on Cytisus nubigenus at 7 — 8000 ft.,"' 

 collected there by Mr. D. Morris, of Kew G-ardens, were sent to me by Mr. J. W. 

 Douglas on the 4th inst., on a small piece of the food-plant, which was completely 

 covered with the light brown contorted scales of the ^ . 



I have given the specimens from each locality a careful microscopic examination, 

 compared them with M. pomorum from apple, and find them to agree in every way 

 with this common species, except as to the number of spinnerets, which exceed those 

 given by any author. I attach little importance to this, providing the marginal 

 appendages are always the same, which I found to be the case in all the specimens 

 examined. Below are the number of spinnerets seen : — 



Guernsey specimens... anterior, 10; anterior laterals, 20 — 21 ; posterior do., 12 — 17. 

 Teneriffe „ ... „ 14—15; „ 20—31; „ 19—24. 



—Id. 



