4. Food and Food HabitsJournal of Animal Ecology, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Nov., 1953), pp. 398-399Published by: British Ecological SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1834 .

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398 Abstracts

4. FOOD AND FOOD HABITS Barnett, S. A. (1951). Damage to wheat by enclosed populations of Rattus norvegicus.

J. Hyg., Camb. 49, 22-25. Ten rats were introduced into each of four rooms containing sacked wheat and left there for 12-

28 weeks. The value of the wheat eaten and the cost of cleaning the remainder were less than the cost of replacing the damaged sacks.

Behura, B. K. (1950). Note on the common European earwig, Forficula auricularia Linn. (Dermaptera) as food of the little owl, Athene noctua vidalii Brehm. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (12) 3, 775-776.

The life history of the earwig accounts for the proportions of males and females found in little owl pellets at different times of the year.

Bowers, A. B. & Williamson, D. I. (1951). Food of larval and early post-larval stages of autumn spawned herring in Manx waters. Rep. Mar. Biol. Sta. Pt Erin, 63 (1950), 17.

The food of larval and early post-larval herring taken to the east of the Isle of Man between September and December is described and compared with the available plankton. Larval herrings fed chiefly on mollusc veligers and also on small copepods: with the loss of the yolksac the importance of copepods increased, and above fifteen mm. Pseudocalanus sp. was the dominant food form. The percentage of feeding fish was higher in the post larvae than in the larvae. Most foods were taken according to the suitability of their size and their abundance in the plankton. The lack of diatoms in the larval diet contrasts with results from other areas.

Butler, C. G. (1951). The importance of perfume in the discovery of food by the worker Xwneybee (Apis mellifera L.). Proc. Roy. Soc. (B) 138, 403-413.

Untrained scouting bees te'nd to associate some flower perfumes with food, whilst some flower perfumes do not attract. A new crop of strongly perfumed flowers will sometimes attract bees before they can see the flowers, though often it is necessary for a bee to approach very closely to a flower before discerning any perfume; attractive perfumes stimulate further exploration, whether the bee has learned to associate the perfume with food or not. These studies with untrained bees support those of von Frisch (1919) with trained bees.

Coles, M. D. (1951). Food relationships in freshwater. Salm. Trout Mag. 133, 250-253.

An elementary and somewhat loosely written description of food chains in inland waters.

Crichton, M. (1951). Slugs feeding on mealybugs. Ent. Mon. Mag. 87, 20.

Agriolimax laevis reduced populations of Pseudococcus citri on two species of plants in a glasshouse, where many mealybug colonies persisted on other plants. It has also been recorded feeding on mealybugs on glasshouse orchids, though slugs are not usually listed as predators of mealybugs.

Frost, W. E. (1952). Predators on the eggs of char in Windermere. Salm. Trout Mag. 136, 192-196.

Char eggs, which appear to be unprotected by any form of redd, are preyed upon by many species of birds and fish, including the char themselves. Of the three types of char, winter lake-spawning, winter river-spawning and spring lake-spawning, the eggs of the first name are preyed upon by the common eel which was formerly considered quiescent during the period in question.

Gardner, A. E. (1953). Odonata and Hymenoptera with prey. Entomologist, 86, 52. Anax imperator and Cordulia aenea preyed on the Empid, Hilara pilosa, Pyrrhosoma nymphula on

Elater balteatus, Coenagrion puilchellum on Cloeon dipterus, and Erythromma najas on Sialis lutaria in Surrey, and Mellinus arvensis on the Muscid, Helina impuncta in Norfolk.

Green, J. (1951). The food of Cylindronotus laevioctostriatus (Goeze) (Col., Tenebrionidae) and its larva. Ent. Mon. Mag. 87, 19.

This beetle normally feeds on protococcoid algae on bark, but in the absence of trees on Skokholm fed on a lichen in which the associated alga is a protococcoid. The larvae appear to be, somewhat indis- criminate feeders, generally associated with rotten wood and depending for nutriment on soluble products in the soil or wood.

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Food and food habits 399 Kennedy, J. S. (1951). Benefits to aphids from feeding on galled and virus-infected leaves.

Nature, Lond. 168, 825-826.

It was beneficial for Aphis fabae to feed on red-currant leaves infected with Cryptomyzus ribis and sugar beet with mosaic disease.

Kennedy, J. S. (1951). Aphids and plant growth. New Biol. 11, 50-65.

Summarizes recent studies by the author of the distribution of host plants of Myzus persicae and Aphis fabae; discusses a theory of host plant alternation in terms of seasonal physiological changes in the plants.

Laurence, B. R. (1951). The prey of some tree trunk frequenting Empididae and Dolicho- podidae (Dipt.). Ent. Mon. Mag. 87, 166-169.

Insects preyed upon by Tachypeza nubila and five species of Medeterus on spruce during July-August 1950 are listed with dates and sex of prey and predator. Diptera, Psocoptera and Collembola formed the prey of T. nubila on seventy-nine, fourteen and eight occasions, respectively, and Thysanoptera, Diptera, Psocoptera, Collembola and arachnids that of Medeterus on thirty-eight, five, three, one and one, respectively. These data are briefly discussed, and observations on the feeding habits of the two genera are given.

Lockie, J. D. (1952). The food of great skuas on Hermaness, Unst, Shetland. Scot. Nat. 64, 158-162.

During July and August 1950 the chief food of Stercorarius skua on the northernmost of the Shetland islands was juvenile kittiwakes, Rissa tridactyla. Two pairs of red-throated divers Colymbus stellatus nesting in the middle of the skua colony reared their young successfully.

Mendham, N. V. (1952). Clausilia dubia Draparnaud in curlew pellets. J. Conchol. 23, 270.

A local species of land snail preyed upon by curlews.

Newstead, R. (1953). A spider and its prey. Northw. Nat. (N.S.), 1, 94.

Saltica sp. attacking the moth Lobophora carpinata, which it had paralysed.

Salvage, S. (1951). Vegetable galls of the Eastbourne and Hailsham area. Trans. Eastbourne Nat. Hist. Soc. 13 (2), 3-8.

A list of host plants with the name of the galling agent and the position of the gall on the plant.

Tribe, D. E. (1952). Dietary self-selection experiments. Sci. News, 25, 46-51.

Reviews work on rats and farm animals, shows that feeding behaviour is far from being an infallible guide to the nutritional requirements of these animals, and briefly discusses grassland management in the light of these results.

White, E. Barton (1953). Birds and butterflies. Ent. Rec. 65, 55.

The prey of spotted flycatchers (Muscicapa grisola) in a garden included Nymphalis io (at rest), Pararge aegeria, Maniola tithonus, Pieris rapae or napi, and a Geometrid. Pararge megera was attempted but missed, and Vanessa atalanta, Polygonus c-album and Polyommatus icarus were ignored.

Woodroffe, G. E. & Southgate, B. J. (1951). An apparent association between certain Pentatomid and Coreid bugs and the seeds of their food plants. Ent. Mon. Mag. 87, 308.

Notes are given on the occurrence of six Pentatomids and one Coreid that were confined almost exclusively to plants bearing ripening fruits, and the normal existence of a close correlation is suggested.

5. MIGRATION, DISPERSAL AND INTRODUCTIONS

Allen, A. A. & Lloyd, R. W. (1951). Pyrrhidium sanguineum L. (Col., Cerambycidae) as a British species. Ent. Mon. Mag. 87, 157-158.

This beetle, which is recorded breeding in a native tree (oak) apparently for the first time in this country, is considered to be a relic of the indigenous fauna of the remnant of primary forest in Hereford- shire in which it occurred. Notes on the bionomics are included.

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