1918.] 201 



species of Aphidae. The following notes are offered in case they may 



be of interest to other students of the Homopterous fauna of the region. 



At the end of June and beginning of July I collected on the shore of 



the Black Sea, close to Odessa. The rest of the summer was spent at 



Reni, on the Steppe near Galatz. 



Macrosiplium sonchi Linn. Apterous examples were taken on Oichorium 

 in August at Bolgrad, Bessarabia, and on Centaurea in October at 

 Odessa. 



Myzus cerasi Fab. Not uncommon on wild cherry at Reni in July. 



Hhopalosiplium rihis Linn. At the end of June, the shoots of a currant 

 in a garden at Odessa were twisted and distorted by an aphis. No 

 specimens were collected, but examination with a hand-lens showed 

 them to be of this species. A day or two later, apterous examples 

 of Rhopalosi'phum lactucae Kalt. were seen. 



Aphis cardui Linn. {= myosotidis Koch).* Taken from thistle at 

 Odessa on June 30th. 



Aphis lahurm Kalt. This species was very abundant at Odessa at the 

 end of June. It twisted and stunted the young shoots of acacia 

 trees, smearing them with honeydew in a disgusting manner. The 

 winged form was then just emerging, and the following week 

 I found numerous newly-established colonies on melilot (Meli- 

 lotus officinalis) and lucerne (^Medicago), Another aphis, which 

 infested a species of Saiiibucus in garden shrubberies, and also 

 appeared on Chenopodium near the sea, seems, after comparison of 

 spirit specimens, to be identical with A. laburni. This insect was 

 preyed upon by the larva of a large five-spotted Coccinellid, and 

 also by Garden Warblers (Sylvia hortensis^, which climbed up and 

 down the infected shoots, methodically picking off the aphides. 

 In October I again spent a few days in Odessa, and one warm 

 afternoon a grove of acacias near the sea was invaded by a swarm 

 of A. lahurni, which may possibly have been the return migration 

 of the sexual forms. 



Aphis myosotidis Koch (= cardui Linn.).* Apterous examples were 

 taken from thistle at Odessa on June 29th, where they were 

 severely parasitised by a small Braconid. 



Aphis sp. ? A very small bright green species, of which some apterous 

 specimens and one winged form were found clustering round the 

 corolla of Nigella on the seashore near Odessa. So far, and with- 

 out access to Russian collections, I have not been able satisfactorily 

 to determine either this species or the next. 



* Dobrovliansky (Bulletin on pests of agriculture. Kiev, 1916). 



