200 [September, 



worth while to note that a larva believed to be that of the Cajmodis 

 was found in the bark of a living healthy tree, the cavity made by the 

 beetle being full of very Huid resin without any apparent inconvenience 

 to its occupant. Another insect one sees sometimes around a second tar 

 installation, is the Longicorn NotJiorrhina muricata, but this is more 

 probably atlmcted by the resin stored in the vicinity, whei'cas the 

 Melanophila seems definitely to prefer the hot and tarry places, such 

 as result from the action of fire. I am thankful to say that there has 

 been no opportunity" this season to see burnt or burning areas. 



June 20th, 1918. 



*^* Melanophila iynicola, n. sp. — Closely related to the holarctic M. acu- 

 tninata de Gear ( = appendiculata F. and obscurata Lewis), and differing as 

 follows : — The protborax rounded at the sides, with the hind angles obtuse, 

 the sculpture very slightly finer on the disc than on the lateral portions, the 

 basal fovea deep ; the elytra duller and less uneven, obscure aeneo-piceous in 

 colour, with a short yellowish streak near the suture below the base (wanting 

 in one specimen), and several very small scattered similarly coloured spots on 

 the disc, four or six of which are more distinct than the rest and arranged in 

 a common arcuate series towards the apex, the reticulate sculpture finer, the 

 narrow, fineh* denticulate apices simpl}^ rounded, and not produced into a sharp 

 point as in M. acuminata. The under surface shining, metallic bronze ; fifth 

 ventral segment broadly arcuato-emarginate, the emargination limited on each 

 side by a conspicuous tooth. Penis-sheath simply acuminate ; lateral lobes 

 abruptly narrowed from about the apical third, the narrow distal portions 

 curving inwards and pointed at the tip, and fringed externally with very long, 

 curled, projecting hairs. — Length 8f-10|, breadth 3^-4 mm. 



Hah. IxDiA, W. Almora Division, Kumaon. 



Described from three males, one of which was bred in June 1917. 

 The only species of the genus recorded from India is the variable M. cori- 

 acea Kerremans (1894), found by Pere Cardon at Barway, Bengal; this 

 insect also has the elytra sharply produced at the tip and immacu- 

 late as in M. acuminata. M. ohscurata Lewis (1893), from Japan, can 

 be matched exactly in a series of M. acuminata from Europe or 

 N. America. The type of M. ignicola has been deposited in the British 

 Museum. — G. C. C. 



NOTES ON SOME APHIDES COLLECTED IN SOUTH-EASTERN RUSSIA 



IN 1917. 



BT MAUD D. HAA^LAND. 



In the summer of 1917, I made a small collection of insects on the 

 Steppes of South-Eastern Russia. The time and facilities for collecting 

 were very limited, but I was able to obtain, and preserve in sj^irit, certain 



