1892.] 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



264 



exhibited a g3'nandromorphous specimens of Halias pvasinana ; Mr. Newstead 

 Vedalia cardinalis which was imported into Alexandria in 1885 by proiessor Rile}', of 

 U.S.A., as a means of exterminating Iccrya cgvptiaca, a coccid injurious to orange trees, 

 under the supervision of Admiral Bloomfield ; alsj the specimeu of Pulyoiiiiuutus 

 bceiica, captured at Heswell by Master McFee, in 1886 or 1887. Mr. Gregson, Sesiu 

 scolio'formis and JEcoplwra graiidis from North Wales. Mr. Harker, a pale variety of 

 Trif-hcBna orboiia, with the transverse lines very strongly marked ; Mr. Jone.-;, 

 autumnal lepidoptera ; Mr. Prince, two varieties o( Boiiibyx rnbi, the wings of which 

 were semidiaphinous and the middle lines distorted ; Mr. Stott, a number of 

 Coleoptera from the Swiss Alps ; Mr. Newstead also exhibited a case corjtaining the 

 \\ieh\siory oi Anthonoinus pomoniiu the apple blossom weevil. - F. N. Piekce, lion 

 Sec, 143, Smithdown Lane, Liverpool 16th, 1892. 



General Notes. 



MicRO-LARv^ FOR THE MoNTH. — With the month of December, 

 the season of root-collecting^ may be said to commence, and at every 

 opportunity we should j^et away to some of the places marked down 

 in our previous rambles during' the past summer and autumn that are 

 likely to produce good results, for it is as well to e.Kamine all the 

 rough, uncultivated, and waste places, in as many districts as possible, 

 for roots that contain larvae, and if these localities should be many 

 miles apart so much tlie better, for we are more likely to get some 

 species in abundance that are perhaps scarce in others, to say nothing 

 of the chance of turning up some very local or rare species. This 

 mode of collecting is, 1 must admit, far from easy, and to be successful 

 one must not mind an aching back or soiled hands, although the 

 latter can in a measure be avoided by wearing soft gardening gloves, 

 and in all our trips we must not forget a good strong hand bag and 

 longish chisel, or digger, for some of the roots go deep, and require 

 to be unearthed with as little damage as possible, and when out of 

 the ground will be found rather heavy, but the v/hole of the earth 

 must not be shaken from the roots, but cut away to the larger and 

 thicker parts before being placed in the bag, and as this mode of 

 collecting may be pursued during this, and the remaining two months 

 it is unnecessary to overload ourselves. In the roots of ragwort 

 (Seiiecio jacobcr) the whitish lar\'a^ of A. cducana, is now feeding, more 

 particularly in the smaller plants, and in those of larger growth, the 

 larvae of E. atvicapitana and K. tn\i^-ciiiiii(! iki , the latter will be seen 

 mining dow^n the outside of the root, and often working their way 

 inside ; the old roots of yarrow, on edges of pathways, or owrhanging 

 banks, should be c.xaniincd lor hu"\ ;i' ul I). pciiVtyaiui and />l iti/tbdi^dUd . 

 and in the roots of StciLhys arvdiisis tiic lar\a ol O. an/ ipnaiKi is nt.)W 



