THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 15 



Scent of Cynips Lignicola. — Mr. Albert Muller made some 

 observations on the scent, when handled, of Cynips Lignicola 

 and another species which forms a gall on the under side of 

 oak-leaves : this scent was probably protective, and gave the 

 insect an immunity from the attacks of birds, &c. ; and the 

 rapid spread of Cynips Lignicola over the country might be 

 due to its rejection on account of its peculiar odour. Mr. 

 J. Jenner Weir added that the musk-beetle was free from 

 attack by birds, and this was doubtless due to its scent. 



Deiopeia pulchella at Folkestone. — Mr. Briggs exhibited 

 a specimen of Deiopeia pulchella, captured near Folkestone 

 on the 1st of October : its habit was to fly only a few yards 

 at a time, and its appearance on the wing was described as 

 resembling one of the Geometers. 



Swarms of CoccinellcB and Syrphi. — Mr. Dunning referred 

 to the swarms of insects of various kinds which had been 

 reported during the autumn : he had himself encountered 

 hosts of Coccinellge (principally C. 7-punctata, but inter- 

 mixed with a considerable number of C. bipunctata) both iu 

 Essex and in Yorkshire ; and at Walton-on-the-Naze, on the 

 24th of August, he fell in with a countless swarm of Syrphi, 

 which appeared to have all hatched simultaneously, and to 

 have at once commenced buzzing about in the hot sunshine 

 in a foolish kind of way, without caring to take food, for 

 most of them seemed to be mere shells without any substance 

 inside. Noticing that Mr. Home had recorded (Entom. iv. 

 356) the occurrence of a swarm at Margate on the same day, 

 which was said to have included specimens of Syrphus 

 balteatus, S. decorus, S. tseniatus, S. topiarius, and Eristalis 

 tenax ?, Mr. Dunning placed in the hands of Mr. Verrall, for 

 examination, a few remnants of the Walton swarm, and had 

 been favoured with the following note : — *' Having looked 

 closely through the Diptera you sent me, I find that out of 

 fifty-six or fifty-seven specimens which 1 can recognize from 

 the fragments, there are twenty-seven Syrphus Ribesii, six- 

 teen S. Corollae, eight S. Pyrastri, two S. luniger, one S. 

 balteatus, one or two S. viiripennis ?, and one S. Pyrastri 

 var. unicolor. This last variety is generally rare, but has 

 this year appeared in tolerable abundance. The specimens 

 of S. vitripennis are in such condition that 1 cannot speak 

 for certain about them : they may be small examples of S. 



