Field Notes. 



377 



laid with very dusty soil. One corner of the shed was used for 

 storing- soot. The false Scorpions were even among-st the soot. 

 No fowls are kept near the shed. With the exception of a few 

 spiders and ' wood worms ' there did not appear to be any other 

 life whatever. — C. S. Carter, Louth, 30th September 1904. 



HVMENOPTERA. 



Sirex noctilio at Louth, Lincolnshire. — On Monday, 5th 

 September, Mr. J. Larder sent to me an example of Sirex noctilio 

 Y^.b.( = S. jiivenciis) which had been caught in the town. This 

 species is uncommon in this district ; only one specimen, I 

 believe, has been previously recorded. — C. S. Carter, Louth, 

 30th September 1904. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 



The Melanic Forms of Venusia cambricaria. — Referring- 

 to Venusia camhricaria on p. 206 of the ' Supplement to the 

 List of Yorkshire Lepidoptera,' we read, ' Mr. T. A. Lofthouse 

 takes near Middlesbrough a very pretty melanic form in some 

 numbers ; and Mr. L. S. Brady takes the same form commonly 

 near Sheffield.' At the time I wrote this I had not seen any of 

 the Sheffield specimens, but from the description of the form 

 given to me, was under the impression it was the same as that 

 occurring at Middlesbrough. During the past summer, how- 

 ever, Mr. Brady kindly captured and sent me specimens of his 

 form, when I at once realised that I had been quite mistaken in 

 regarding it as identical with the Middlesbrough variety. The 

 melanism in the Middlesbrough moth consists in a large increase 

 of the black on the ordinary pale ground of the anterior wings,, 

 the hind wings remaining almost normal. The Sheffield moth, 

 on the contrary, has the markings normal, but on a deep lead 

 gTound colour, which colour pertains to both fore and hind 

 wings. Both forms are distinctly melanic, but it is curious and 

 remarkable that the melanism should take altogether different 

 directions in the two districts. — Geo. T. Porritt, Huddersfield,. 

 nth November 1904. 







FLOWERING PLANTS AND PERNS. 

 Note on Nomenclature. — In the November 'Naturalist,' 

 p. 348, Miss S. C. Stow records Alopeciiriis fiilviis Smith from 

 S. Lincolnshire. Adding a syn. A. cequalis Sobol., this name^ 



1904 December i. 



