1G4 [July. 



observers: Ratzeburg, in 18')2, bi-ocl a small male, 3 mm. in length, from 

 Nematus (Pteronus) salicis Linn. (Ichu. d. Forst. iii, p. 99), and Brischke 

 raised it from X. (P.) perspicillan's {(h'muJiatns Lep.) (Sclir. Nat. Ges. 

 Dantzig, 1880, p. 111). I have to-day received a fine, live female, 16 mm. in 

 lenorth, from Dr. Chapman, just emerged from the cocoon of Trichiosomn 

 ^'tibiale" — Mr. Morice has not yet cleared up the synonymy of this sawfly. 

 Its exit had been effected through a small and irregularly oval hole, entirely 

 bitton away and very unlike the neat circular cap excised by the emerging 

 sawfly itself. In.side the parasitic larva had, as is always the case when 

 within sufficient shelter, simply pupated in the indurated skin of its host- 

 l.irvn, whence it had emerged through the capital extremity. While 

 examining this cocoon I discovered, in a small separate cocoon of its own 

 construction near the capital extremity of the host and ffrmly affixed thereto, 

 another Ichneumon. This was an isolated (S of the Cryptid, Panaryifrops 

 cldi'u/er Tasch,, by no means a common species here or upon the Continent, 

 though known to attack the sawflies, Lophyrus ^nn^ and Emphytus cinctuft. 

 This is a small and fragile insect ; and, I think, we may suppose our single c^" 

 to be the survival of the fittest: /. e. that the remainder of the brood — for 

 Cryptids are usually gregarious— had met an untimely death through starva- 

 tion owing to the exigent appetite of the great Pimpla larva. — Claude 

 MoRLEY, Monk Soham House, Frnmlingham, Suffolk : May ^th, 1918. 



Odontomyia argentata F. at Oxford. — As so few records of this Stratio- 

 . myid tiy have been made for many years,* its occurrence here in some numbers 

 may be of interest to other Dipterists. On the 4th of the present month I was 

 sweeping, during the late afternoon and evening, the old and partially dried-up 

 stems of last season's Juncus in Hogley Bog, and to my surprise found a 

 5 O. argentata in the net. This capture acting as a stimulus, I continued to 

 sweep for an hour or more, and eventually secured two (5 specimens in addition. 

 On May lltli I agsiin visited the same locality and by patient and persistent 

 sweeping of the Juncua as before, succeeded on this occasion in taking three <5 

 and two $ examples all from the partially dried stems of the plant. One cf was 

 disturbed in sweeping and was netted on the wing, when the glistening silvery 

 pubescence was seen to perfection, making it a beautiful object in the sunshine 

 and reminding one of the Dolichopodid Aigyra argentina, but more conspicuous 

 Owing to its larger size. — A. H. Ham^i, 22 Southtield Road, Oxford ; May 17th, 

 1918. 



The South London Entomological and Natural History Society : 

 March '28th, 1918. — Mr. Stanley Edw\rds, F.L.S., President, in the Chair. 



Mr. Ashdown exhibited Lister's edition of Goedartius " De Insectis," 168o. 

 Mr. Newman, a ver^' long fine series of Cosymhia pendulariu var. decoraria 

 (subroaeata) , bred from o^a in January and February, including almost all 

 combinations and permutations of the dark grey and rosy areas. Mr. H. J. 



* "British Flies," Yerrall, 1909. vol. v, p. 131, and Kirkpatrick, Ent. Mo. Mag. 1914, p. 244. 



