THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



239 



past season. Mr. John M. Campbell read a valuable and interesting paper 

 as a " Contribution towards a fauna of Ailsa Craig/' No one seems to have 

 published a complete list of the fauna of the famous island, and Mr. Campbell, 

 to supply the deficiency, has brought together a large number of records of 

 species, and these, supplemented from his own experience, present a pretty 

 fair list of the fauna of that island. He has not included the fishes and in- 

 vertebrate fauna in his list, but believes that these will prove as interesting 

 as the other groups which he has given. — John Mackay, Hon. Sec. 



WARRINGTON FIELD CLUB. 



A meeting of the above was held at the Museum, November 4th, 1887. 

 Linnseus Greening, Esq., in the chair. 



Exhibitions. — A large display was made, principally local captures of this 

 year. The following were the chief contributors : Mr. B. Kendrick, specimens 

 of coleoptera, neuroptera, and other orders from South Africa, North India, 

 and China; Mr. C. R. Billups and Mr. J. F. Dutton, coleoptera of the dis- 

 trict; Messrs. L. Greening, J. A. Jackson, J. Collins, T. Acton, and W. 

 Mounfield, lepidoptera of the district. 



Mr. Gregson, of Liverpool, brought two drawers from his cabinet with 

 varieties and aberrations of Abraxas grossulariata, they contained over 500 

 specimens, no two alike, and in reply to enquirers Mr. Gregson observed that 

 they were the results of 27 years continuous interbreeding, from over 4000 

 larva? fed each year, except that in one year he had only 2000. Some of the 

 best varieties bred were lost through the insects being allowed to pair, but 

 the results of his continuous breeding were before the meeting. He said the 

 most successful variety season was in 1886, when he set 76 good ones ; he 

 did not think 20 of the specimens bred in 1887 were worth setting, one 

 fumose, one yellow, and one double black banded, being the most interesting 

 forms. 



The paper of the evening was read by Mr. B. Kendrick, on " The Hessian 

 Ely [Cecidomyia destructor) and some of its congeners/'and illustrated by well 

 executed diagrams of the insects and their parasites ; he also exhibited straws 

 and heads of barley, grown at High Legh, near Warrington, by Mr. Rigby. 

 Mr. Kendrick went searching for the Hessian Ely in consequence of seeing 

 a report in the " Warrington Guardian" that it had appeared there, but found 

 only the old and well known Cklorops tanipus, which feeds on the upper 

 part of the grain stems and aborts the ears. It was observed by Mr. Gregson 

 that the Hessian Fly scare was pretty well over now, and that from his own 

 knowledge the insect was not a recent introduction to Britain, and so long as 

 it had its own parasites to support, he felt little fear of material injury from it. 



