96 BR. J. ENT. NAT. HIST., 7: 1994 



found, the glossy black of the abdomen and contrasting yellow bands were very bright, 

 suggesting that the specimen was freshly emerged rather than freshly blown from abroad. 



He also showed several specimens of Carpophilus sexpustulatus (F.) (Coleoptera: 

 Nitidulidae) found under fungoid beech bark at Knole Park, Sevenoaks, on 

 15. xi. 1993. Several Carpophilus species are cosmopolitan, and are regularly 

 introduced into Britain in stored food products. Such was the case with this species 

 at the turn of the century, when only two (imported) specimens were known. By 

 the 1930s it had been found out of doors, although only very rarely. It has since 

 spread and although not very common is recorded across a wide range of sites, 

 often in abundance. In Knole Park on this occasion it was very common under 

 bark infected with Bulgaria inquinans, the black bulgar fungus also known by 

 the delightful name 'rubber buttons'. 



Mr C. B. Ashby showed a home-made slide viewer which accommodates six 

 35-mm transparencies side by side above a light box lit with a small fluorescent tube. 

 Above the transparencies was a lens mounted on two rails so that it could be slid 

 along to view each slide in turn. The device is particularly useful for comparing similar 

 slides in order to select the best exposure and image. The slides used to demonstrate 

 the viewer were of Roesel's bush cricket, Metrioptera roeselii (Hagenb.). This species 

 has become more widespread in southern England in recent years and the slides were 

 taken at a recently discovered site at Cherry Orchard Farm, Ewell, Surrey, where 

 it was discovered by Dr I. Menzies. 



Mr R. Softly showed a live sawfly larva (subsequently identified as a Dolerus 

 sp.) that had crawled into an actinic light trap he had been running recently in his 

 garden at Hampstead. The larva had been feeding in captivity on the leaves of 

 pendulous sedge, Carex pendula Hudson, a plant that was growing near the trap site. 

 The majority of sawflies overwinter as non-feeding prepupal larvae in the soil and 

 subsequently pupate during the spring. 



Mr R. Uffen said that he had also recently found a sawfly larva feeding on Carex. 

 It appeared to be a different species to that shown by Mr Softly. 



The following persons were elected as members at the December Council meeting: 

 Stephen Hallam, Peter G. Kelly, Michael Dockery, William G. Kittle, Michael E. 

 New, Nigel L. Sawyer, Stuart W. Campbell, Thomas D. Sleep, David B. Spencer, 

 Anthony P. Pittaway, David F. Lloyd, Bernard Verdcourt, Charles Watson, Brian 

 J. Warne, David John Slade, Stuart P. M. Roberts, John Derek Baston, Brian 

 Eversham and Adrian Barnes; the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (Scotland) 

 was elected as a corporate member and James Brian Prout was elected as a life member. 

 Existing members Ken Merrifield and Henry S. Barlow have converted from ordinary 

 to life membership. 



Mr R. Hawkins reported that the hoverfly book had been reprinted and was now 

 available again. 



Dr J. Ismay then spoke on the subject of an entomologist in Papua New 

 Guinea, where he had worked as the only insect taxonomist with the Department 

 of Agriculture between 1980 and 1986. He showed a series of slides to indicate 

 the variety of habitats found on the island, including mangrove swamps, agricultural 

 activities ranging from plantation crops to mountainside smallholdings, rain forest 

 and hill tops. The fauna of Papua New Guinea was depicted with a series of slides 

 of frogs, lizards, snakes, crabs, millipedes and centipedes, spiders and a wide 

 range of insects. Many of these are larger and more colourful than their British 

 counterparts. Dr Ismay closed his talk with some pictures of the native people in 

 ceremonial dress. These costumes involve the use of large numbers of bird of 

 paradise feathers. 



