Notes. 



W. F. GuNN showed Leocarpus fragilis, one of the Mycetozoa. This 

 species is not common in Ireland, only four previous records existing. 

 The sporangia are somewhat pyriform in shape, of a ruddy brown colour, 

 and are borne on pale yellowish membranaceous stalks. The specimen 

 exhibited was obtained in Westmeath, and is the first from that county. 



NOTES. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Dermestes vulpinus in Belfast. 



On October i8th I received from my friend, Mr. C. M. Davies, a little 

 box containing a couple of beetles, and the accompanying letter explained 

 that they had been found in a bale of flax which had come from Egypt. 

 On examination the beetles proved to be Dermestes vulpinus F,, a species 

 which is practically cosmopolitan. The larvae of these beetles live in 

 hides, furs, and natural history specimens, if these last be not properly 

 preserved. They often do a great deal of damage, and are very difficult 

 to get rid of, as the remedies which would destroy the beetles are also 

 injurious to the hides. It is recorded that they destroyed a whole cargo 

 of cork. They are probably the oldest larva known, as a number of 

 them were found in Egyptian mummies, and from the conditions under 

 which they were found it would appear most probable that they had 

 entered the body before embalmment {vide Fowler, " British Coleoptera," 

 vol. iii.). I wrote and asked Mr. Davies whether they had done any 

 harm to the flax, but he replied that none had been detected, and in a 

 further consignment sent me not only more D. vulpinus but also a larva 

 probably of vulpinus, and a specimen of Necrodes nifipes De G. as well, 

 whose habits are similar to those of Dermestes. The question, of course, 

 arises, how did these beetles come to be in such apparently unsuitable 

 surroundings ? The bale of fliax may have been near some hides or 

 such like in which the Dermestes were and then have crawled into the 

 flax promiscuously, or the larvae may have entered the flax for the 

 purpose of pupating therein, for it appears that they are not very 

 particular where they pupate. In the Proceedings of the Entomological 

 Society of London for 1899, p. v., Mr. Blandford exhibits lumps of common 

 salt sent from Queensland into which these laryae had burrowed, evidently 

 in order to pupate, as salt would hardly be a very nourishing diet for 

 them. The fact that no harm had been done to the flax though a living 

 larva was found in it would point to the conclusion that they had 

 gone into the flax to pupate. As far as I know there is only one other 

 record for D. vulpinus from Ireland, and that is also from Belfast, where 

 specimens were obtained by the late H. L. Orr (vide Johnson and Halbert, 

 Proc. R.I. A., vol. xix., p. 723). I am much obliged to Mr. Davies for 

 Sending me these beetles and giving me the information I asked for. 



Poyntzpass. W. F. Johnson. 



