244 NOTKS — HLMIPTERA AND GEOLOGY 



NO TE—HEMIPTERA. 



Mussel Scale at Wilton, Cumberland.— On June 2nd I received the 



following; letter from a gentleman at Wig ton, Cumberland : — ' I enclose herewith 

 small twig of plum tree infested by the deposit of some insect, which is causing 

 great destruction here, mostly of the plum trees, but it is also found on both the 

 apple and rose trees. If you open the brown globes attached to the stems, and 

 empty the powder-like contents on to a slide and examine under the microscope, 

 you will find them to be beautiful eggs (apparently) in large numbers. Perhaps 

 they are common to you, but I have not noticed them before, and I thought they 

 might interest you. If all these eggs hatch the swarm of insects must be 

 enormous/ The box contains specimens of the Mussel Scries {Mytilaspis 

 pom&rum B.), a very widespread form of Coccus, which infests various fruit and 

 other trees. Its history, and the precautions to l>e taken for its extermination, are 

 given in Miss Ormerod's admirable ' Manual of Injurious Insects,' 2nd ed., 1890, 

 p. 297 et seq.— Hildekic Friend, Cockermouth, 16th June, 1896. 



NOTE— GEOLOGY. 



Arctic Plants and Apus Remains at Kirkmichael, in the Isle of Man. — 



The following extract from the Report of the Director-General of the Geological 

 Survey for 1895 records the occurrence of Arctic plants and Apus remains in the 

 Isle of Man :— 'The completion of the survey of the northern end of the Isle of 

 Man has entirely confirmed the conclusions announced in my last report as having 

 been formed by Mr. Lampiugh regarding the history of the superficial deposits of 

 the island. This officer has continued the separation of the insular from the extra- 

 insular drifts, the former being found by him to occupy the hilly ground while the 

 latter are spread over the northern plain and touch the flanks of the island in 

 projecting portions like Maughold Head and Clay Head. In addition to the 

 striated rock-surfaces previously reported he has obtained many new examples, 

 one of these lying within 200 feet of the top of Snaefell, the highest point in the 



island. From the direction of the stride now traced over the whole district, it is 

 ascertained that the general course of the ice-sheet was from a point slightly west 

 of north, but that along the eastern side of the island it swept round the flanks of 

 the hills. During the melting of the ice local sheets of freshwater appear to have 

 gathered round the base of the slones. and to haw ahhepH hwthAir rlriinnrrf* curious 



can 



Reference was made in my last Report to certain peaty layers which were met 

 with in sinking a well in the high level gravel at Kirkmichael, and to the deter- 

 mination by Mr. Clement Reid of the seeds found in this peat. As all these seeds 

 belonged to bog plants still indigenous in the Isle of Man, and widely distributed 

 over the globe, they furnished no precise information as to the climate of the 

 period in which the peat was accumulated. That they were relics of the glacial 

 flora seemed tolerably certain from their occurrence in these upper gravels. But 

 this question has now been definitely settled by a further examination of the peat 

 material by Mr. James Bennie, the skilled fossil collector of the Scottish branch 

 of the survey, who by carefully washing this material has succeeded in detecting 

 abundant remains of what Air. Reid has identified as an Arctic Willow (Salix 

 kerbaa-a). Carer alpina, an Alpine plant confined in Britain to the higher 

 Scottish mountains, and also of the little arctic crustacean Apus (Lefidttras). 

 The latter has not hitherto been found so far south in Britain. I referred to it last 

 year as having been detected abundantly by Mr. Bennie in the glacial deposits of 

 Fife. ^ Thus the glacial age of high-level gravels of the Isle of Man is completely 

 established. • 



Tr <- wtoestmg discovery led to m ^,inn ation .J^-~r-:A othti beshwafei 



deposits in the same districts. But these were all at lower levels, and the 

 vegetable remains yielded by them furnished no satisfactory indication of the 

 climate in which they flourished/ 



From Appendix to the 43rd Report of Department of Science and Art, p. 1 3 

 [communicated 6jr Mr. James Benni 



Nit f r 



