136 [June. 



Eumicrus rufus near Shirley. — I have much pleasure in recording the capture 

 of Eumicrus rufus near Shirley. I took three specimens of this very rare beetle on 

 April 15th in wood stack refuse, and I went down again to-day and succeeded in 

 taking six more. — Horace Donisthorpe, 73, West Cromwell Eoad, South Ken- 

 sington : April I2th, 1891. 



Lecanium ruhl, Schrank. — Since the rediscovery of this species in 1892 {cf. 

 vol. iii, n. s., p. 105) the scales have not been noticed, but on April 24th I saw on a 

 bramble shoot of last year's growth, unaccompanied by even a single ant, one, and 

 only one, finely developed ? , radiant in her nuptial adornment, which consisted of 

 a series of transverse white lines, showing effectively on the dark dorsal surface of 

 the scale. It was attached to the under-side of the shoot, the locality being about 

 a mile from the original place of capture ; thus the species is well distributed, and 

 is, I apprehend, not so rare as might be indicated from the fewness of its captures 

 recently, and that it was not seen at all anywhere for 90 years ; but there are 

 reasons for the apparent scarcity of this large and conspicuous Coccid. Firstly, the 

 intensely spiny habitat is deterrent of investigation ; 2ndly, the scale being attached 

 to the under-side of a shoot is not visible from above ; and 3rdly (in this country, 

 as far as my experience goes), the species affects brambles that grow in hawthorn 

 hedges, and as these are pruned and trimmed during the winter, the young shoots, 

 to which the scales are attached, are either cut away entirely or are shortened, and 

 so the scales are destroyed, the race being continued only from those casually left 

 by the hedgers and ditchers. — J. W. Douglas, 153, Lewisham Road, S.E. : 

 May 1st, 1894. 



The European bluebottle jly in New Zealand. — In the March No. of this 

 Magazine Mr. W. W. Smith has recorded the presence of this fly in considerable 

 numbers in New Zealand. There are two distinct but very similar looking species, 

 belonging to the genus Calliphora, Dsv., respecting the names of which there 

 has been some confusion. One, the Musca vomitoria of Linnaeus, has the lower 

 part of the face and chin of a bluish-black colour, bearded with yellow or reddish 

 hairs. The other, the C. erythrocephala of Meigen, has the face and mentum fulvous 

 or rufous, and the beard black. E. Desvoidy and Macquart named the latter C 

 voniitoria,c3iX\\ng the former C.fulvibarbis; Meigen's name, however, has tlie priority, 

 and is now universally adopted. Mr. Smith forwarded some of the New Zealand 

 specimens to Mr. McLachlan, who kindly sent them on to me, and I find that they 

 all belong to the black bearded species (C. erythrocephala). These meat flies have 

 lately swarmed in immense numbers in the Falkland Islands, and (some of them 

 having been sent to me through Miss Ormerod) I found that they were all of the 

 same species as those from New Zealand. Baron C. R. Osten-Sacken records both 

 species as inhabitants of North America. In England I find that C. erythrocephala 

 is by far the most common in and about houses and towns, while C. vomitoria 

 usually occurs in fields and country places. — R. H. Meade, Bradford : April, 1894. 



Alternating Generations : a Biological Study of Oak-Galls and 

 Gall-Flies : by Hermann Adler, M.D. Translated and edited by Charles E.. 

 Straton, F.R.C.S., F.E.S. 8vo, pp. xliii and 198, with three plates. Oxford : 

 Clarendon Press ; London: H. Frowde. 1894. 



