The Reading Naturalist No, 18 Published by the Reading and District Natural History Society 1966 Price to Non-Members Two Shillings and Sixpence ee THE READING NATURALIST No. 18 for the Year 1964-65 The Journal of The Reading and District Natural History Society President: Mr. Arthur Price Hon. General Secretary: Editor: Mrs. B. M. Newnan, ip, D. Leatherdale, 25 Beech Lane, Lastfrield Lodge, Earley, Whitchurch, Reading. Oxon, Editorial Sub-Committee: De oO, Be Rs. Baker, Mies L. Bs Cobb, Ay. Prec, Mes. Ae Me Simmonds, Miss S. Y. Townend Honorary Recorders: Botany: Ves. B. M. Newman, Barley Cottage, 25 Beech Lane, Earley, Reading, Berks, Entomology: Bo Re Baker, Esqe,“/1A Berkeley Avenue, Reading, Geology: Professor H. L. Hawkins, F.R.S., 63 Tilehurst Road, Reading. Mammals: M. G. Hardy, Esq., Department of “Zoology, The University, London Road, Resding, Ornithology: Dr. E. V. Watson, Little Court, Uiceve, Goring-on-=- Thames, Oxon, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Naturalists’ Trust: Hon. County Secretary (Berks.): B. R. Baker Esq., The Museun, Reading. ewer yan ‘oats wot are nae | ae een a rs as ae po OG thay rota A terete solstent. bac amines ‘ent | = (wu BPOPOVE iti ce\ Pb | mt ttre bLeats | ads gs \ | Pe WORT RR SAA | RR ey ar otk ae : Ted Sy Rik : ee | Pilon, | TOT LOA “TRS | wLfabtentins? } ote sOBHOT HL; Oe se , ’ 7 ” ‘ ’ bd oa. . ~* A a 4 (Beet Rone FS Oa PIOL. \ jLvaItek- Wf oF pei. = ae : jazovint? off y Pee LG Fe » ave a. 1) SLES Qe ae . Fe 5 SE > ke Pastas 40, ,AatadT i>, P . +n. we Pal C4 “ear Bere rf f a PELL CORO Bete ental ened, , ‘tothe? ery _ « . if gine < ws WP ‘ w) GC. ON LE NT S (ee GSS CSD See Ses Se ee ame SS ee See eee Ca? ome Meetings and Excursions, 1964-65 Presidential Address: Some thoughts on habitats and communities On the incidence of patency of the ductus arteriosus (ductus Botalli) in sheep Some Empididae (Diptera) of the Reading area Additional Syrphidae of the Reading area Weather records in 1965 Honorary Recorders! Reports: Entomology Botany Mammals, Reptiles and Amphibia E. V. Watson C. Je Leake Js He COLE che, the ioe A. E. Moon Ba «tee Baxer B.M. Newman H.H. Carter Fungi at Kingwood Common (Supplementary List) Fungi identified at Southlake, Earley, on 18th September, 1965 General observations: Dolomedes fimbriatus Albino frog-spawn in Reading An unusual pheasant B.C. Hemken JE. Cooper A. Price H.H. Carter 14, 21 28 30 53 bd ‘7 18 Q ~ 19 hh Meetings, Exeursions and Attendances 14 -6 Illustrated lectures were given at eight of the evening meetings held during the winter of 1964-65, and the remaining meetings were devoted to films, exhibits and talks presented by members. Lt the Annual General Meeting, Dr. E. V. Watson devoted his Presidential Address to the subject of "Some thoughts on habitats and communities", a slightly abridged version of which will be found in these pages, The lectures given were: "The Molluscan Radula" by Professor A. Graham, (36); “Alien Plants in Britain" by Mr. J. E. Lousley, (51); "Dragonflies" by Mr. A. BE. Gardner, (48); "A Geologist in the Niger Delta" by Dr. J. R. L. Allen, (40); “Oaks and Insects" by Professor G. C. Varley, (39); "Bird Ooservations" by Mr. D. Iles, (40); "A Botanist in Australia" by Mrs. Daphne Prue, (21). Winter walks were held on the 7th November, Kennet side; 2nd January, Peppard area and 6th February, Tilehurst to Sulhan, The December and March walks had to be cancelled due to bad weather, The summer walks and meetings were as follows, the attendance being shown in brackets: 3rd April, Annual General Meeting of the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Naturalists’ Trust, held at Oxford; 140th April, Padworth Gulley, for spring flowers and birds (20); 21st April, the Loddon Valley, for Loddon lilies (2h); ist May, Ufton Woods, mainly for marsh violets (19); 15th May, Gravel pits, for birds (22); 29th May, Basildon (21); 12th June, Bix Bottom, for Chiltern orchids (25); 26th June, Heath Pond, Finchampstead, mainly for pond life (30); 3rd July, White Horse Hill, for orchids amongst other things 12) 44th July, Calcot Mill to Burghfield Bridge, for river plants (12); 28th July, Pamber Heath and Forest, mainly entomological (16); 7th August, Watlington Hill and Chinnor, for botany (22); ‘1hth August, Pangbourne, mainly woodland (14); 28th August, Shiplake to Henley by way of Marsh Lock, riverside and meadows (17); Uth September, Crazies Hill (21); 18th September, Southlake, birds and fungi (a list of the latter will be found in this issue); 2nd October, Peppard, fungus foray. 5 The Young Naturalists' Evening The Young Naturalists' Evening was held in the Town Hall on 2uth March. Members of the panel were Dr. Bruce Campbell, Profossor A, Graham, Professor T, M. Harris, Dr. Ms. H. Hey and Mr. W. S. Fraser, with Mr. W. A. Smallcombe as Questionmaster, Pupils from Reading schools had submitted about 600 questions, but the panel had time to answer only 30, Prizes for the eight best questions wer3 awarded by the Society. They were presented by the Right Worshipful The Mayor of Reading, Councillor Mrs. A. Sturrock, JeP., Who then joined the audience to see the Nature Conservancy film, "The Living Pattern", The prize-winners were: Elizabeth Andrews, The Abbey Junior Senool, 11 years; Richard Cc, ‘Wicks, E,P. "Collier Primary Scehoel, 443 years; Susan Dalton, English Martyrs Primary School, 10 years; Anne Boucher, St. Joseph's Convent Preparatory School, 8s years; Simon Lambden, Newtown Junior School, 10 years; David Tither, Reading Schaol, 11 years; Marilyn Hobbs, St. Michael's Primary School, 11 years; Elizabeth Budge, St. James’: Primary School, 41 years. SOME THOUGHTS ON HABITATS AND COMMUNITIES Presidential Address to the Reading Natural History Society Octover, 1964 By 4i.7 Vin Matson Bodew, Pl eh ape, piiedis he We are told that within a single gram of soil there may dwell 117,000 fungi and 150 million bacteria. So here, apart from all the larger and better known organisms, in a little heap that would sit comfortably on a penny, are nearly as many fungi as there are people in Reading and almost three times as many bacteria as there are people in Britain. In a cubic metre of soil the numbers of micro-organisms are quite astronomical, and with them are plenty of other kinds of plants, soil algae, spores and seeds of many sorts, anda soil fauna, ranging from protozoa to the larger and more obvious members Like centipedes and insect larvae, and not least the earthworms about which Charles Darwin wrote with such knowledge. Here then, in what we normally think of as a habitat where rooted plants may grow, is a vast and complex community. It is not just a habitat, but a community. Indeed, we cannot always separate the two. We fail because life is all-pervading. Even the so-called lifeless rocks, with their shades of grey and olive and ochre, are not what they seem; for these are the colours, not of the rock, but of its encrusting lichens. Thus, the community of soil organisms becomes the habitat of rooted plants; the communi- ty of encrusting lichens becomes the habitat of mosses and liver- worts; the community of mosses and liverworts becoming the habitat of colonising vascular plants. Then finally, the vascular plant communities in turn provide the habitats of larger animal forms; - insects with their favoured food-plants, mammals and birds. We may now explore a little the habitats of mosses and liver- worts and British plant communities considered as habitats for certain larger organisms in the animal kingdom, such as birds. After that we may consider the existence of parallel or vicarious communities - both plant and animal - in different parts of the world where comparable climatic regions prevail. A remarkable feature of many mosses and liverworts is their extreme sensitivity to quite small differences in soil conditions. | lw 7 A feature to which many mosses and liverworts are extremely sensit- ive is that of H-ion concentration, i.e. the acid or basic character of the solutions formed when rain-water falls on a particular soil. Often we have vicarious pairs of species, each of which acts as an gidteauor plant in this respect. Examples are Dicranella heteromalla (very common on acid banks) and Dicranella varia calcareous banks). The latter is distinguished at once by its red seta, but also by its opposite ecological requirement. Of other environmental features, humidity is one of the most important. A Swiss botanist, Amann, pointed out how certain species demanded a high proportion of foggy days in the year. Although Reading could supply these, many bryophytes that insist upon the high atmospheric humidity that fog implies will not tolerate its city counterpart, smog! sensitive methods have been used to test the relative humidity of such micro-habitats as a hollow and an adjoining prominence on a bank, and the difference has been startling, with drastic effects on the bryophyte flora. There is a moss, Tetraplodon mnioides, that one sees from time tO time in the hills. ~ Whenever one does find it, one may be fairly sure it is growing on the decomposing remains of some enamel, often on the bones of a sheep. Its close aliy, Splachnum ampullaceum, habitually grows on dung. These are specialised _habitats, but even more remarkable are those species that Persson has called the ‘copper mosses', because they are practically. confined to areas where copper is present in quite hign concen-. tration - sometimes as high as 675 parts per million. As Persson Says, here are bryophytes which surely have an interest for ore prospectors. Herr Hérmann of Echsenbach has informed me that the site of @ village, which had been totally destroyed in the Thirty Years' bWar, was located largely through the presence in that part of the forest Of the moss, Mnium undulatum - indicator of more fertile | conditions. Although some are more limited that others in habitat range, every moss or liverwort has a certain circle of habitats in which }alone it will grow. Coming to know the limits of this circle is a fascinating pursuit. It has two drawbacks, however. One is that the species are sometimes hard to distinguish; the second is the difficulty of separating the influences exerted by the many ;envircnmental factors, Thus, even when we know that Funaria hygrometrica likes the sites of old bonfires, and that Polytrichum mmorveficum 1S practically confined to late snow areas on the > highest Scotish mountains, we may still not know exactly what \factors bring about this rigid habitat selection. 8 Perhaps we may turn now to a larger scale of botanical unit, namely British plant communities, which Tansley explored, some 50. wears ‘acol in "Types ef British Vegetation’. He enlarged on this in his monumental work, 'The British Islands and their Vegetation'. These ‘types of vegetation’ are both communities themselves and the providers of habitats for other organisms. The principal plant formations in Britain are forests, grassland, heath and moor, bog, aquatic, high alpine tundra, sand dune and salt marsh, Even when we sub-divide some of these into ‘associations! we are still considering only those ‘types of vegetation! that would occur in this country without the inter- vention of man at all, The animal life which made these communities its habitat will have greeted the earliest human settlers, To-day the position is very different. Vast areas that once were forest are covered by a patchwork of fields and hedgerows, ploughland ana potato crops, cereals and sugar-beet, orchards and gardens and parkland, These and many more have added new or alien 'types of vegetation’ which nevertheless furnish habitats for other forms of wild life and so influence the whole ecology of our islands, Hven the forests, apart from being greatly diminished in extent, have altered their character beyond recognition. In Highland’ Britain, where once the boreal pine forests, covered enormous areas, great plantations of alien conifers now stand: Sitka spruce, western red cedar, lodgepole pine and Douglas fir from western North America; Norway spruce and Huropean larch from the Continent, the latter often replaced by, or hybridised with, the redder-barked ‘Jap larch' from the Far East. Only restricted areas of native Scots pine remain. Grasslands are formed no more as a result of 'natural causes' - grazing by native nerbivores, naturally occurring fires and so forth - but depend instead on the policies of the hill farmers, So, whilst we enjoy almost limitless variety of grassland - water meadows and short-term leys, long-term leys based on perennial rye grass in selectéd strains, Agrostis-fescue hill grazings and Nardus-Deschampsia pasture, park turf with a surpris- ingly high proportion of annual meadow grass in it and tussocky Molinia grassland on moors and in boggy places - whilst we have all these and many more - it is hard indeed to say which, if any, of them‘is truly natural. Again, only a handful of closely guarddd and carefully managed areas of true, unspoilt fen remain, places like Wicken Fen near Cambridge and Minsmere Reserve in Suffolk. With the shrinkage and alteration of so much that was primaeval and indigenous, and the continual increase of so much 7 that is alien or artificial, perhaps we should speak no more of “types of British vegetation" but rather’ of "types of vegetation peewee geen” in britain”. It 1S against this background that the ornithologist is concerned to appraise these various plant communities as the habitats or homes of birds. EC 1S .0OR “an easy task to classify them in a comprehensive way , and then to relate the avifauna to them; and we have not made a great deal of progress in this direction Since E.M. Nicholson attempted to do this rather more than 30 years ago’ in his book, 'The Art of Bird Watching’. The task is made more complex because of two inherent attributes of birds. Onewas tie rack thet ourey , inhabit cercain areas which are not vegetation at all, for no analysis of vegetat- ion types will ever embrace the home of house-sparrow or gannet, sanderling or fulmar petrel. The second consideration lies in the totally different demands that a particular species makes on the habivat “at “ditferent seasons of the year. Thus, CUctem sand req = shank return to the moors and inland marshes each summer but make their homes on the salt flats through the winter months. lany other species of bird make one kind of demand on the habitat as a breeding ground and yet quite another as a feeding ground, Heron, @fati mich’ and~goldfineh,” blackbirds, thrushes and rooks, all. these ana many more are ~in this category; for all make an absolute Bemend or trees as a nesting site, yet for feeding grounds are for much of the time dependent upon the open fields. Despite this complexity, however, there are close links between a given plant community and the Quality Of the oird late that it supports. Nuthatch and tree creeper_frequent varied tracts of deciduous woodland; stone&thats and Dartford warblers gorse-clad commens; and so on. We can explore only one or two Seecnese communities, and I have selected the relatively high altitude vegetation types and their attendant bird life - conifercus forest and alpine grassland and tundra. These régimes or 'ecosystems' have a fascination of their own, and they are well Suited to our purpose. The coniférous forest belt commands universal recognition, by botanists and geographers alike. It has a circumboreal distrib- ution lying to the north of the deciduous forest belt. Essentially the same kind of community appears in most of the great mountain ranges of the Northern Hemisphere. In Britain we have a relatively Simpie picture, with very little indigenous coniferous forest, Whilst in Continental Hurope, stretching east into Asia, there is a much more complete and complicated Meopresemta tio. In North America the position is more complex still, because of the greater wealth of coniferous species involved. 10 In the recent past - in not very distant post-glacial times - Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine) grew much more widely in Britain than it does today; so that what we have in places iike the Rothie- murchus and Glenmore forests of Inverness-shire in a 'relict' boreal forest; and apart from a certain amount of juniper, it is a vegetation with a single coniferous dominant, the Scots pine itself. Some people may regard this as a gloomy and monotonous landscape, but it is one of great antiquity, with many components of deep natural history interest. The ground flora includes the moss Ptilium cristacastrensis and the orchid Goodyera repens, both exclusive to this particular community. The general plant cover at ground level consists mainly of heather, bilberry and associated grasses, mosses and lichens. These, together with the dominant pine, form the community of plants and make the habitat of the animals, A rich and distinctive insect life prevails, whilst characteristic birds are the crested tit and crossbill. The important thing is to see the community as a whole; better still, to see something of how it works. These pine forests, situated conveniently near highland lochs, have been in the limelight lately through the return of the osprey to breed near Loch Garten. It is interesting t. note that by recovering the osprey as a British breeding species, we have done no more than recover a characteristic member of the community that has been lost for half a century, a member that ranges round the world in the boreal forest zone, from Alaska to Labrador and from Scandinavia to eastern Siberia. Two subspecies are involved, whilst a third occurs in Malaysia and Australia. Since both the Old World and the New World ospreys winter in the tropics, these birds in fact make their presence felt, from time to time, among the fish population of lakes over a large proportion of the EHarth's surtace. This would be a convenient point at which to draw attention to the importance of studying whole communites, plant and animal, in the soil and-.in the air above. This is particularly so in Great Britain, where many interesting communities occur now on a diminished scale. Nothing could have been more timely than the setting up of the Nature Conservancy some 15 years ago, and it is interesting to note that many of their long-term projects are centred indeed on the study of entire communities from every angle. This is true at the research station at Merlewood, near Grange in Lancashire, and again at Monkswood in Huntingdonshire. The problems are of course of quite daunting complexity. Equally timely has been the relatively recent founding of the Council for Nature, and the erection of local Naturalists' Trusts in one region after another. cl We now come to the question of the Continental buropean and American counterparts of our boreal Scots pine forest. If one visits northern Scandinavia one will see the boreal coniferous forest on an infinitely more eXtensive scale than we can see it at home; even more so if one is privileged to undertake a trans- Canadian journey. My own limited experience, however, lies not here, but farther south in Continental Europe (in southern Germany and Austria); faryher south too than Canada, in fact in the U.S.A. In central Austria, in the Salzkammergut, the coniferous forest belt is characteristic of altitudes approximately between 3,000 and 6,000 feet. The low-level vegetation type of high northern latitudes becomes the characteristic belt at moderate altitude when we move as far south as Austria. Much the same may be said.of the Black Forest area in south Germany. Almost always Picea abies (spruce) or Abies pectinata (silver fir) remain the dominant trees , but locally they are much mixed with beech and each . Coal tits and crested tits, goldcrests and crossbills may be met with, much as ir the Scottish pine forest. But.just ‘as the Pemeaceous t.Lora 1s richer in species, so are the birds. In this BweolLpine ,20ne of the Black Forest, years,.ago, ..met the rock bunting and citril finch. In the Salzkammergut, more recently, I was-fortunate enough to see the rather rare yellow-headed woodpecker, In the U.S.A., aside from the southern edge of the boreal forest belt, there are characteristic zones of evergreen forest_on both the Rocky Mountains and the coastal ranges in the west. In Peet on ~othe redwood forest.is a-feature of the. coastal »phain-in northern California, whilst over an enormous area in the aouth- GEastern states there extends a pine forest dominated by a handful of long-leaved pine species. In the western mountain ranges quite different groups of conifers provide the dominants at different altitudes. Ihe highest conifer belt of all is commonly that of meaene fix and Fngelmann spruce, trees of ideal spire—like form, very different from the untidy outline of the lodgepole pine which covers so much ground at lower aititudes in the Rockies. Far out On the southern and south-eastern extensions of the Rockies one still meets with coniferous forest domination but here the trees - like Abies concolor and some kinds of 'cedar' (Juniperus) - are species of shorter stature. With increasing aridity the individuals become more widely spaced and the formation ultimately ceases to be forest in the full sense. Enis gus a,.far ery ofrom)the>coni fer forest of the rain slopes of the Cascade Mountains, in the state of Washington, where great stands of Douglas fir and western red Cedar, Sitka spruce and various kinds of silver fir regularly Beeain 150 to.200 feet in height. 12 In every instance, amid much diversity, we are still ina habitat which is made essentially by evergreen trees. This fact of a permanent canopy must of itself exert a profound effect on the community as a whole. Its influence will be felt everywhere, in the soil, in the ‘herb layer', and of course upon the animal inhabitents of the trees themselves. > at Despite diversity, a certain uniformity prevails. Thus, one may be 6,000 isiles away from home, and yet in the evergreen forests of the Pacific States the bird life is essentially familiar; we still find crossbills in these conifers; in place of the crested tit we see the chickadee (relative of British marsh and coal tits). Replacing our jays are metallic blue-crested jays. Replacing our warblers are the western representatives of the 'New World warblers' more colourful in plumage than our own though weaker in song. In place of the EHuropean nutcracker of Continental coniferous forests is found Clarke's nutcracker, a bold species whose habits have earned it the name of 'camp robber’, Aad so one could go on, with the red-breasted nuthatch and the tyrant flycatchers and various kinds of woodpecker which in turn replace exactlv the British nuthatch, the Kuropean flycatchers and the greater spotted woodpecker Here and there an altogether alien form obtrudes, like the western tanager, resplendent in red and yellow plumage, but for the most part the pattern is familiar and only the species are new to us. ey a ale ie Above the coniferous belt, in Old and New World alike, stretcheg alpine grassland that gives place at extreme altitude to a kind of tundra that is very like the vegetation of the Arctic. This happens in Britain well below 3,000 feet,in Austria at about 6,000 - 7,000 feet, and in parts of the Rocky Mountain system at higher altitudes still. "Grassland' is a poor term of descriptions however, when amid the grass or on the natural morainic ground can be found a marvellous wealth of flowering alpines. Among these alpines many genera and even some species will be familiar. I shall always remember the thrill that it gave me to see, high in the Rockies of Wyoming, flowering Dryas octopetala and Saxifraga oppositifolia, two of our own favourite alpines well-~known for there“rondness tor calearecous rock. in*Austria “in “Apriiy-ae slightly lower altitudes, few sights are more characteristic than that of the pure, intense blue flowers of Gentiana verna. The outstanding feature of the alpine flora of the Rocky Mountains (as I recall it), in early July, was the presence of perhaps 40 to 50 species all in full bloom at the same period - | many of them forming great sheets of colour — and this in a space | of a few acres dn some specially fayeurcd spo: They belonged to such genera as Gentiana, Potentilla, Silene, Veronica, Astragalus, Phacelia, Campanula, Pedicularis and Allium, with strong represent= | ation of the characteristically north American genera Phlox, . Pentstemon andiriogonum, not to mention a wide assortment of | 1. Compositae and Umbellifers. Summarising these remarks, one may say that every niche we eare to think of in wild nature is both a community and a habitat. The soil - a community of diverse organisms and a habitat for terrestrial plants - this was our beginning. Bryophyte communities are the habitat of numerous forms of life. In them higher plants might root;. but they are also the home of various beetles and other small invertebrates. Furthermore, even within the water-filled cells of Sphagnum leaves certain algae make their home. On a bigger scale, we noted how all the diversity of British vegetation can be grouped into a few major types - the great 'Plant Formations'. To the, ornithologist these. are just habitats for birds, sources. of food and of suitable nesting sites. Lastly, we looked more closely at two high latitude - and often high altitude - 'formations', coniferous forest and alpine veget- ation and saw how these can recur in many different parts of the northern hemisphere, Not only do the plant associations have many genera (and often species) in common; but into the habitats that they form parallel kinds of bird life have grown. A meadow pipit rises with a plaintive 'peet-peet' from the heather or coarse grass mot our hilis, A buzzard soars moth-like overhead, ocix thousand miles west, in the Rocky Mountains, a little-known bird rises from Meeetcet amid the ‘natural moraine gardens'; it is the American pina — close relative of. our own bird. The principal large American predators belong to the genus Buteo, the same as our |Huropean buzzard. In, the Pacific conifer belt the high thin, notes we hear are those of siskins, the louder metallic ones those of the Crossbill;, two birds we had learnt to recognise long since in. the Palis of Banff and Inverness-shire. Rieology is the study of plants and animals 'in their homes’. fas such it has infinite scope, and we have touched but one small Mespect of,it. Today some ecologists, probably rightly, concentrate on closely circumscribed problems, such as the mathematical expression of pattern in vegetation. Ihea® Work. may leat, 1ruat, but we must never lose sight of the broader picture which shows us jall organisms as components in a single, living whole. it.is this view of the whole which is the peculiar advantage and special aim |} Of Natural History Societies such as ours. All of us must i\Specialise of course; but now and again it is fitting to stand back and view the scene, In doing so, we sense the integration and |inter-dependence of all living things. ON THE INCIDENCE OF PATENCY OF THE DUCTUS ARTERIOSUS (DUCTUS BOTALLI) IN SHEEP (OVIS) By C. J. Leeke, B.Sc., A.M.I.(Biol.) introduc scion The ductus arteriosus is a relic in the circulatory system of mammals of primitive times when two lateral aortae were nresent collecting blood from the six pairs of aortic arches that served the gills of our fish ancestors and Cpe it back to a common dorsal aorta, Modern fishes generally have less than six pairs of aortic arches. and as gills became superseded by lungs much more of this system disappeared. In the several groups of vertebrates, various parts survived to serve special needs. in’ the mammals ,\ the “left side of’ aortic arch ITT and“ part or the left lateral aorta became the systemic arch, while parts of aortic arch VI became the pulmonary arch, The remainder of the left side of aortic arch VI survives as the ductus arteriosus, linking the systemic and pulmonary arches. If the ductus arteriesus remained patent (i.e. open) through- out the life of the mammal, blood could flow between the pulmonary arch (carrying deoxygenated blood to the lungs) and the systemic arch (carrying oxygenated blood to the body). This would be comparable with a 'hole in the heart' condition. Normally, at birth, the ductus arteriosus constricts and the very small bore left becomes filled with some fatty material, which effectively blocks che Before birth, however, the ductus arteriosus is of equal bore to the pulmonary erch and allows blood from the right ventricle of: the heart to pass into the systemic arch, thus by-passing the non-functioning lungs. It will be seen that this very important vessel ensures that all the effort in the embryonic circulation shall go into circulting all the blood to the body and in particular te the placenta. It will also be appreciated that its presence as a : patens vessel is an embarrassment to functioning lungs. It was therefore with some surprise that a class, dissecting sheeps' hearts, discovered that four out of eighteen had a patent ductus arteriosus, Immediate inquiries of colleagues and other interested people elicited no information about this condition, A visit to the Goology Department of Birkbeck College and to the library of the Zoological Society of London resulted in the finding of one paper recording an instance of this in 1939. Later, the 15 AORTIC ARCHES VE Vv IV IIL TK 2. ia Pee a) \ EN may i | | ee 1 ied flan 6 nh oa | a all Pi ee = oie Hed ) pe PRIMITIVE CONDITION i o> a at 1 i { | VENTRAL | AORTA | DORSAL AORTA : LATERA | lene Bae taka t AORN Wt { MAMMALTAN CONDITION DUCTUS ARTERIOSUS PULMONARY ARCH DIAGRAMMATIC AFTER DE BEER see ee 16 DIAGRAM OF MAMMALTAN HEART TO SHOW DUCTUS ARTERTIOSUS A ! A TO RIGHT ARM SAG. SALES / aiert A dita sa TO RIGHT LUNG : Lo ay ey Sy yaa Vo e peel f- Wh) fy ig W AURICLE nese { | \ ~ i am { © ’ ke ped (pes ‘ Y ~. bes) eZ ES ay) “\ DeAo Peer fe ve ecg jay # (Ductus Arteri LRLCUSPID. LL, Sot al Vs bf VALVE - BICUSPID VALVE CHO RDAE TENDINAE RT. VENT —— 5 ENTRICLE \=2 —— agin Le library of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons produced references to papers mostly relating to the physiology of the ductus. No one seemed to know how frequently the condition oceurred. The problem What is the incidence of patency of the ductus arteriosus in saieecp,.cnd how can one find out this information? Jf jptts, 205 common (and after all, four out of eighteen is a high percentage) , why has it not been recorded more often? The method It was decided to look at a large number of sheeps' hearts, and the abattuvirs seemed a reasonable place at which to start. After discussions with Mr Loosemore at the Veterinary Department at Celey Park, when it was suggested that 1000 hearts would be a statistically sound number tn examine, permission was obtained from Mr Alf Meade to carry out the work at the Reading Abattoirs. As soon as the sheep are killed they are skinned, eviscerated and the ‘pluck: is removed and hung en racks. It was impossible to tell from the external appearance of the ductus whether or not at was patent, as it was hidden beneath fat, pericardium and the thymus gland, and it was not possible to probe from the opened Eyscemic arch as the still, warm, tissue was, so soft that a seeker penetrated the wall of the vessel. The technique finally adopted mwas tO Open the systemic arch lomgitudinally to oe a view of the inner communication to the ductus arteriosus. this was not Obviously closed, the pericardium was opened ventrally from the ventricle, working anteriorly along the ductus arteriosus to the Systemic arch and cutting through the glandular and fatty tissue. The ductus could then be pulled into view and cut across, when a meow of blood could be seen on the cut end if it was patent. To | safe-guard against the possivility of there being a long pocket of blood, open only at one end, the vessel was removed completely for @tssection later. Once this system of examination had been Beyolyed, it took one minute to examine each heart, remove the muctUS if it appeared patent, and record the findings. iL .thought it advisable-to consider hearts from sheep of approximately the same age, This problem was simplified, if not solved, by working only between cretain narrow limits of time, Bec. from the beginning of January to the beginning of February. Mild sheep, recognised by the degenerate condition of the thymus gland, were excluded. Later in February, noticeably younger lamos were appearing and were also excluded. It was probable that the hearts considered were from lambs at least eight months old. However, it should not be overlooked that Devon farmers mate their ewes as early as November. 18 Results The results are presented in the following Table. Those vessels found to be patent fell into two groups, those with a bore of about 0.5 mm. and those with a bore of about 2.0 mm. None of the vessels taken for linear dissection was found to be blocked at either end, so that all the records were of genuinely patent vessels. Date Se § Page BY am, No. examined % patent a8 ége B 4-i-57 4 0 63 6.395 6 6-i-57 8 2 181 5 De 6 13-1-57 10 ae 185 Dae 6 20-1-57 4 0 75 5 33 D 27-11-57 2 i §3 he, G2 p) 5-11-57 3 0 LOL 2% 97 3 3-1-58 1 0 “i Lysegt 14 19-i-58 4 O Le Zio. 3 26-i-58 slat. e) IAI 7.98 7 2-ii-58 1. fo) 38 gba 3 Totals LO es 1024 Averages Si, 5 Results in sheep less than 8 months old:- 8-viii-58 8 0 114 7.01 7 Q-viii-58 4 O 56 71h 7 Qriginal specimens: - Ly Sefieeat egibe 1B eames 18 22,22+ 22 + Figures unreliable because of small number examined. Conclusion From the hearts seen, it may be. concluded that some 5% of lambs retain a patent ductus arteriosus for several months after birth, The original hearts appear to be exceptienal, since none was found comparable to them. It may be seen that the percentage | of patent vessels is very near to the average from all numerically reasonable samples, and this strongly supports the average percent- | age as a genuine value. ag It would seem that the timing of the closure is ‘not precise, nor is the deposition of fatty material to complete the closure of the ductus arteriosus. Discussion The references, listed below, deal largely with the importance of the ductus arteriosus before birth, the physiological causes of elosure, and some effects of patency. Notable among these effects is a cardiac murmur which can easily be heard with a stethoscope and can be identified by its lecation. No attempt has been made to ascertain the incidence of the condition. Veterinary surgeons called to a sheep found dead in the pasture are primarily concerned with the possibility of contagious disease, Having cleared up this question, there is no urgency to ascertain the exact cause of deach, which might well be a costly proeccdure, These, and any other animals which die from non- contagious causes, are labelled as unfit for human consumption and may be used for animal foods or for dissection purposes, The hearts which led to the carrying out of this investigation were | purchased from a well-known biological suppliers who obtain them mirom @ number of sources. While some undoubtedly are taken from | slaughtered animals, others are from carcases designated as unfit for consumption. It is my opinion that some of these undiagnosed deaths may be | due to the effect of a patent ductus arteriosus, associated with some physical or nervous stress. That this may be so is based on nae. Ol owing slender,.evidence. While Ll was engaged with a rack Hof plucks, one or the meat inspectors asked me to look at the pluck taken from a calf which had died in the pen. The ductus arter- meosta, of the calf had a bore equal to that: of the pulmonary arch, | There had been no constriction at all. No other cause of death (Was apparent, so the carcase acquired a bright splash of green /dye, which marked it off from butcher's meat. this? particular animal had not been subjected to any undue physical exertion, but submit that it. must have experienced some nervous stress in being removed from its home surroundings to the abattoi, where even to my anadequate nostrils the smell of death is’ strong. It may be that an insufficient number of hearts was seen to make an accurate estimate of the frequency of this condition in Wene nation's sheep population, Thisaars suggested by the fact that |inone was found comparable to the original specimens. Perhaps: ail \Sheep with that degree of patency die before reaching the slaughter house, 20 The cardiac murmur suggests some further interesting work. It is known that the murmur is caused by turbulence, in the same way that plumbing noises are caused. These are capable of math- ematical evaluation, the equation being ey cxingl oak where Re = Revnold's number (thought to be 700-10001, v = velocity (mean linear), d = diameter of the tube, p = density of the fluid, and n = viscosity of the fluid; v and d are roughly inversely proportional and p and n are constant values for blood, Because the left venricle is more powerful than the right, the pressure in the systemic arch is greater than that in the pulmonary arch. Therefore blood flows aiong the patent ductus arteriosus from the former to the latter. The turbulence occurs at the junction of the ductus arteriosus and the pulmonary arch. where an awkward turn must be negotiated by the blood. Now whet is needed is experi- mental evidence to associate the sound of the cardiac murmur with the value of d. It would then be a simple matter to cull those lambs ir which the bore of the ductus arteriosus was so large as to be unlikely to close and likely to cause trouble. Summary The evolution and importance to mammals of the ductus arterio- sus is discussed, Patency of the ductus in four sheeps’ hearts is reported and the problem of incidence is considered. The method of investigation is described and results listed. It was found that about 5% of sheep may have a patent ductus arteriosus with a very small bore compared with that_of ere aren. In view of the figures quoted for younger lambs, it wou'd geem that closure may not be a precisely timed and final blocking by fatty material could be delayed for several months, It is suggested that some deaths may be due to the patent ductus plus some stress. As no vessel was found in this investigation comparable with the original specimens, it may not be reasonable to use the figures obtained on a national scale; alternatively, the failure may provide support for the theory about undiagnosed deaths, It is suggested that the cardiac murmur might be used to estimate the diameter of the patent ductus arteriosus in living sheep. Reterenees . ) Barclay (A.E.), Franklin (K.J.) & Pritchard (M.M.L.) 1944 The Foetal Circulation, Oxfords Barcroft (J.) 1946 Researches on Pre-natal Life. Oxford. Dawes (G.S.), Mott (J.C.), Widdecombe (J.G.) & Wyatt (D.G.) 1953 Changes in the lungs of the new-born lamb. J.Physiol. 121: 141-62. Eldridge (F.L.), Hultgren (H.N.) & Wigmore (M.E.) 1954 The physie- logic closure of the ductus arteriosus in newborn infants. weience 119: 731-2. Everett (N.B.) & Johnson (R.J.) 1951 A physiological and anatom- co ay for toseie of the ductus arteriosus in the dog, SOME EMPIDIDAE (DIPTERA) OF THE READING AREA Byidonathan H20Celeyh Bucs, «MT Biol: Interest in this large family of characteristic but mainly small and unobtrusive flies was given a boost by the appearance of wees cOllin's monograph in. 1961, Since 1963, when I obtained a Gopy, | have collected Empids in the Reading area, mainly from a few well known hunting grounds, and by June 1965 had recorded 96 Species; Collin describes! 354. My recent move from the district curtailed any further work, but in the comparatively short time of eyo 2nd 2 half years. several little known or _raré species turned up, some regularly, and included one new to Britain (Cole, 1964). Tmis leads me to the unorigiral cbservation that it is Empid specialists who are rare rather than the tlies, and that the known G@reeributvion of a large number of the apparently scarce species is probably that of their’ collectors. I have unfortunately not had time to check other published records, and therefore offer this incomplete list uncritically. The nomenclature follows that of Collin and the localities unless otherwise cistinguished are as follows:- Goring - garden and greenhouse of tAvebury', Milldown Avenue ivdmarsh - along the river Pang Thatcham - reed beds and along the canal Woodcote - EKlmorepark Wood. Dates are given when a species has been recorded on one or two occasions only. TACHYDROMINAS Mrapetis assimilis Fall. Several on Heracleum umbels, Tidmarsh 23uNi +63 simulans Collin 1 9 among D. assimilis, above 23.vi.63 1 6 compost heap, Goring Elaphropeza ephippiata Fall. Goring - three localities | Crossopalpus nigritella Zett. On mud round pool draining from silage, Goring” April 63, 6h se humilis Frey Several on compost heap, Gorigsiy 63 4 minima Mg. Few on compost heap, Goring Aowuy & 22.763 Stilpon nubila Collin Little known sp., breeding in greenhouse and recorded once from adjacent compost heap, Goring 64, 65 R22 Tachypeza nubila Mg, Common everywhere i fuscipennis Fall,, 44d Hartsiock Wood, Goring. Rares first record outside suffolk 13-v=64 Sicodus_ arrogans L, Common everywhere it annulimanus Meg. 266 Goring 24-vi-64h; 1-vi-65 Tachydromia pectoralis Fall. Goring -~- Hartslock Wood, Streatley Hill, Padworth Gulley eidinra ss tall, Goring, Hartslock Wood, Streatley Hils ft pallipes Fall. 16 Goring - Hartslock Wood 10-viii-64 3 deucothrix Strbl.Goring, Streatley Hill, Wood- cote, Has rarely been recorded. . nigra Meg. Tidmarsh (several) 23-vi-63 : minuta Mg, Common everywhere m albifacies Collin» Goring, Streatley Hill, Woodcote " exilis Mg. 19 Streatley Hill 1-vii-64 it annulata Fall, 12 Goring 6-vi-57 i coarctata Collin Burghfield gravel pits, Tidmarsh , cUptmmacerncd,) Goring, Streatley Hill; Woodcote n cursitans F. Tidmarsh (several) 1-vi-63 ‘ eandicans Fall. 292 Streatley Hill 3-vi-63, 29-v-64 HH leucocephala v.Ros, 19 Goring - Coneyberry W. 3-vi~-63 1é Streatley Hill 1=vii-—6h 2 pallidicornis Mg. Thatcham (several) 28-vi-65 2 ee y pallidiventris Mg. Goring, Tidmarsh : fasciata Mg. | Streatley Hill, Thatcham | a calceata Mg. 19 Streatley Hill 2-viii-63 " major Zett. 19 Woodcote 17-v-65 ‘ annulipes Mg. Fairly common everywhere | it agilis llg. Fairly common everywhere incerta Collin 1d Woodcote 16-vii-63 | "t longicornis Mg. . tantula Collin Symballophthalmus scopularis Collin HYBOTINAEB Atelestus pulicarius Walk Hybos culiciformis F. " femorstus Muller Bicellaria nigra Mg. v nigrita Collin intermedia Lundb,. pilosa iundb. _ vana Collin | Ocydromia glabricula Fall. Leptopeza flavipes Mg. Trichinomyia flavipes Mg. Oedalea_holmgreni Zett. | stigmatella Zett. Microphorus anomalus Mg. , crassipes Macqu. 'Euthynewia SDeo | EMPIDINAE phomyia Ss. i sulcata Mg. Str. w subcinerascens ) ) Coilin 'Rhamphomyia_ (Pararhamphomyia) atra Me. v ( " tibiella Zett. 23 Fairly common everywhere 42 Streatley Hill 4-vii-65 12 Woodeote 47-v-65 Goring -.3 localities Commcen everywhere Common everywhere Goring - Coneyberry Wd. & Sonning Common Lee 29? streatley Hill é 4-vii-6h & Gering hevi-~-65 Goring & Sticatier Bit. Several Goring & 3=-vi-63 Coneyberry Wd. Common everywhere Common everywhere 42 Tidmarsh 4—vi-63 10 Goring - Hartlock Wd. 3-vi-64 Goring - 3 localities Oct. Gl Common everywhere 1% Goring 3-vi-60 Thatcham & Tidmarsh 13 Streatley, water 21 -v-63 meadow A new British sp., as yet unidentified satisfactorily. several bred from rotten log. Goring- Hartslock Wood. April-May 63 & 64 Common everywhere in Spring. 48 Goring Hartslock Wd, 2h-iv-65 Goring — 3 localities 43' Thatcham 28-vi-65 2h, Rhamphomyia (Aclonempis) albohirta Collin Several - Woodcote " ilongipes Mg. " (Holoclera) hnipgripennis F. we w Fall, (Amychoneura ) hirsutipes Collin Empis_ s. str, nigripes F. ‘nuntia Mg. flava aestiva Loew praevia Collin chioptera Mg. candatula Loew Fairly common everywhere Fairly common everywhere Thatcham & Pamber Forest Goring, Coneyberry Vid. & Tidmarsh 16 Goring Common everywhere Common everywhere Common everywhere 4 Goring Several Pamber Forest Common everywhere " (ianthenpis) punctata Mg.1¥ Streatley Hill Wied. Curtis Enmpis (Kritempis Empis (Polyblepharis) opaca nae Empis (Leptem Empis (Coptophlebia albinervis Mg. Empis (Pachymeria " i femorata F. Hijarve mewpa i. quadrivittata Mg. interstincta Fall monedula Collin 90 WT lutea Mg. scutellata livida L. stercorea L.Fairly common everywhere trigramma. Fairly common everywhere Fairly common everywhere 16 Burghfield Gravel Pits Common everywhere 46 Padworth Cully grisea Fall. of? Tidmarsh & Streatley Hida 4¢ Thatcham tessellata Very common everywhere Swarm of 6d Goring - Coneyberry Wd. Common everywhere over water Goring & Pamber Forest Common everywhere Common cverywhere 44-v-65 3-x-644 29-v-64 5-vi-65 3-vi-63 21-v-58 9-v-6, 49-vi-65 4-vii-65 28-vi-65 29-v-64 25 Hilara lurida Fall. 16 Goring - Hartslock Wd. 413-v-64 he nigrina Fall. Tidmarsh, swarm over River Pang 15-viii-63 e ehoriea Fall, Tidmarsh 23-vi-63 & 19-vi-65 . rejecta Collin 10° Goring 22-vii-64 mn golactoptera Strobl Fairly common everywhere 3 litorea Fall. . 43 Woodcote 16-vii-63 Ls Boe flavipes Mg.- _., Pamber Forest swarm 45-viii-64 ee subpollinosa Collin © Several Thatcham 28-vi-65 | HEMERODRONIINAR __ cau | 7 Chelipoda_vocatoria Fall. Streatley Hill on bracken Phyllochomia_melanocephala F. Goring & Pamber Forest Dolichocephala iy seva pale, Goring -& Streatiey Waser meadow K Dryodromia testacca kond. Rare = several Woodcol@. |. 14-17-v-65 References Bioollin, J. F 406" British Flies, Vo.1. Vl, Empididae - Cambridge Universitiy «© ress cole, J..H. 1964 To 3 ebb bead id, Sh iaaserp hy AZ “PRECIPITATION | AMOUNT [2.41 | 1.78) 1.69 /°1.90) 1.86) 1 nel, 3.85 DOO TS. TBP SOT Td S86. i i : i i 3 i : i i i Tunneesdbveberteves ster suse me eerste oe esereess ads agit al seats iTeT PIS OLS Listy Ae i ak) 5 15 i 15 ; 17 é 0 10564 | 63s g :52.7 | 70.0:120.9: 156.0 195.3: :210.0: M92. 2: 182. 9 136,0 05.4: 65 not 46.5: 1532.9 ; DAILY MEAN | 4.7 | 25! 3.91 5.2) 6.3) 7.01 6.2) 5.9) 4.6. 3.4 261) 1051 4.2 eb mcarenreres ner sreresprreves sik eal) LODE TETTTE DEFY EEE TOORYETYBOETOS FOOETY PETETY OOTTORTTOOUTTTOSET FECT ree A Se : + a MERE i ee She : I 4 DAY (0.58 | 0.05! 0.19 | 0.27! 0.44! 0.65} 0685 | 0.99 | 0.25 | 0.63 DATE je tee ofa ee eee a ae a eh aa: i cum oT LONGEST RUN OF CONSECUTIVE ae: Die | i lie eenreds cred revenendemeerveerey, jo eevee 92) SUNSHINE OFT PO aeneTeE TT TOCETEOeRS 84 HOTT TTEDOCTIPEEET HOG Or OTTO RCEEE YC r08 29 Monthly Weather Notes JANUARY This was the sunniest January since 1959. FEBRUARY The driest February since 19343; the total sunshine was the lowest for this month since 197. MARCH ; This month was one of sharp contrasts; in the first week the coldest March day since 6th March 1942 occurred and also the coldest March night since 7th March 1947, together with the winter's heaviest snowfall - 8 inches lying at 09 hours— on 3rd. In the last week a complete reversal of the_cold opening was experienced, with temperature reaching 60°F. (27th) for the first time this year and the highest maximum (73°F. on 29th) recorded in March at the University Station since reliable records commenced in 1921. MAY This was the wettest May since 1958. JULY It was the coldest July since 1954 and the wettest since 1957. The total sunshine was the lowest for this month since sunshine records were started in Reading in 1939; the amount represented little more than the average expected amount for October. The sereen minimum of 41°F. on the night of 3rd/l4th was the lowest in July since 1st July 192. SEPTEMBER ' It was the coldest September since 1952 and the wettest since 1927. The total sunshine recorded was the lowest September figure since 1957. The 10th was the coldest September day since 30th September 1960. OCTOBER “ ; The maximum temperature of 73 F. on 4th was the highest in October since 3rd October 1959, the maximum then being 80°F, It was the driest October since 1950. The first autumn ground frost occurred on 16th (last year the date was 9th October). _ NOVEMBER | This was the coldest November since 1952, but the sunshine total was the highest since records started in Reading in 1939. The 16th was the coldest November day since 22nd November 1956 and the night of 14th/15th the coldest in November since 12th November 1959. The first autumn air frost was recorded on 143th and the first snow of the present season occurred on 16th. Unusually low barometric pressure was recorded on 29th. DECEMBER It was the warmest and wettest December since 1959, 30 THE RECORDER'S KEPORT FOR ENTOMOLOGY 1964 - 1965 By B. R. Baker Order Orthoptera (Grasshoppers, Bush Crickets, etc.) Tettigonia viridissima (L.) Great Green Bush Cricket The cclony of this impressive insect continues to exist on: the Chiltern slopes near Ipsden, but fewer nymphs were observed in the early part of this season as compared with last year, Meconema thalassinum (Deg.) Oak Busk Cricket A coleny has been under observation during the past few seasons in a beech-wood area at Goring Heath. Very young nymphs have been found in some numbters by searching the under surfaces of the leaves of regenerating hazel during late May. The nymphs mature steadily throughout the summer, and adults may be found on oak and beech trunks from early to late autumn; many were found at Goring Heath in late October, Stenobcthrus lineatus (Panz.) Stripe-winged Grasshopper Numerous examples were noted on Swyncombe Downs on lst Sept., along with Chorthippus brunneus (Thun.), Common Field Grasshopper, and C. paralleius vo Meadow Grasshopper. Gomphocerippus rufus (L.) Rufous Grasshopper A colony exhibiting goed colour variation, including an unusual striped form, exists on a chalk exposure near the King Charles' Head, Goring Heath, Tetrix subulata (L.) Slender Ground-hopper Adults were discovered on 22nd May in litter by the side of the small stream in the marsh at Pamber Forest, Hants. Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths) 1965 has been an uneventful year for records of immigrant species, and the notes that follow therefore relate only to the resident Lepidoptera. A Trichiura crataegi L. Pale Oak Eggar Moth Larvae beaten from hawthorns and sloes during May and a fine run of adults to peat during September; Maidenhead Thicket, Berks. (T. J. Homer). Eilema deplana (Esp.) Buff Footman A single example to light in Morgaston Wood, Hants., 30th July. This wood is similar in character to the lower lying parts of Pamber Forest,-from which locality the species was reported in 1964. It is probable that much of the scattered: oak woodland in this sectien of north Hampshire holds this uncommon species. Amathes castanea (Esp.) Neglected Rustic This species may be found from late August to mid-September on most of our local heaths, i.e. Crowthorne, Burghfield and Pamber. searching the heather at Pamber Heath after dark in late May and early June revealed several well-grown larvae - these were bred through to adult moths in late August. Apamea ophiogramma Esp. The Double Lobed Several larvae of this marshland species were found at Wool- hampton on 26th May. They deed anternally in the stems of Phalaris, the infected stems being easily detected by the presence of the ‘yellowed’ leaves. Cucullia absinthii L. Wormwood Shark A single example to light at Pinkney's Green, Maidenhead, on Boer uvly (T.J.H.). Previously regarded as a maritime species, this moth has of recent years extended its range into the south- eastern and midland counties. Mir. Homer's record would appear te De the first for Berkshire. Lithacodia fasciana L. Marbled White Spot A remarkable melanic specimen of this not uncotimon species was found sitting on an oak trunk in Pamber Forest, Hants., on 5th June, The specimen has been photographed for the Proceedines of the South London Entomological Society, Bustrotia uncula Clerck Silver Hook a es eee A single example was noted in a damp hollow on Snelsmore Common, 10th June. 32 Parascotia fuliginaria L. Waved Black Most of the records of this very interesting species, so far as our district is concerned, come from Crowthrone, Sandhurst and the Camberley area, though an atypical population appears to exist in the Kennet Valley where larvae have been found on lichens as opposed to the usual bracket fungi. A few records are known from the Mortimer and Pamber areas, Dr. M.I. Crichton has been operating a light-trap at Mortimer in tonjunction with research proposec by Rothamsted Experimental Station, and his 1965 records show that P. fuliginaria exists in the Mortimer area in some strength. Between 19th July and 18th August, 23 examples were trapped, the highest number of specimens taken on any one night being four on 30th July. Trisateles emortualis (Schiff,) The Olive Crescent It was reported in the last number of the Reading Naturalist that this rare species had been taken at Medmenham and at least two other localities in the Chilterns in 1964. It subsequently transpired that the ‘two! localities (other than at Medmenham) are in fact the same piece of woodland. From this elite locality, about four specimens were obtained in 1965 by collectors living well away from the Reading area, Emortualis remains something of an enigma, for its life-history still requires elucidation. Lobophora halterata Hufn. The Seraphim Many examples were noticed sitting on aspen trunks in mid- afternnon on 16th May, in a wood cn rising ground behind Fir Tree Farm, Hampstead Norris. Dyscia fagarie (Thunb.) Grey Scalloped Bar A male was found resting after dark on Calluna at Pamber Heahh on 29th May. Aegeria myopaeformis (Borkh.) Red-belted Clearwing Mr. Gambles brought the Recorder a specimen of this clearwing which he had found at his home at Woodley. This is the: first record of this seldom noticed species of which the Recorder has a note over a period of 13 years (see Reading Naturalist no. 17, p.25), 2 Order Coleoptera’ (Beetles) Anaglyptus mysticus (L.) A single specimen was found at Goring Heath on 8th July. The larvae of this attractive 'long-horn' feed upon the wood of a number of trees, such as nak, beech and sycamore, preferring very dry wood, of voles and branches. The Recorder would like to express his thanks to Dr. E, Burtt Por records. of) Orthoptend land ;Goleoptera: Ur. Met. Crichton and Mr, T.J. Homer for detailed information on Lepidoptera; and to the Director of Reading Museum, Mr. T.L. Gwatkin, for allowing the inclusion of those records kept at the Museum. THE RECORDER'S REPORT FOR BOTANY 1964 - 1965 By B, M. Newman Buyers year, 2 little more of the Berkshire countryside @isappears under concrete, as new housing estates and roads are built. One result of this is that comparatively common plants become rarer. At the same time, alien plants may be introduced in various ways, and some of these become established. The only Way to gain a picture of the changing nature of the local flora is by the collection of individual records, and members are urged Bo send in as many as possible, When sending im records;,o/a more detailed description of the lecality would be useful, preferably Meth the grid reference, which will not be published. interesting finds during the past year include Vulpia ambigua, which is new to Berkshire, and Arnoseris minima, which has net been recorded in the county since 1891. D4 The nomenclature and order are according to 'A List of British Vascular Plants' by J.E. Dandy (1958), with the exception of three recently introduced aliens. An alien taxon, i.e. one known or believed to have been introduced by the agency of man, is indicated by +. Records sent in by the following members are gratefully acknowledged: Dr. H.J.M. Bowen (HJMB), Miss K. Butler (KB), Miss L,E. Cobb (LEC), Dr. M. Fishenden (MF), Mrs. W. Fulford (WPS , ‘Mr. ©.P. Harding (CPH), Mr. J.A. Newman (JAN), Mrs, V.A. Phillips (VAP), Mr. A. Price (AP), Mrs, A.M. Simmonds (AMS) and Miss J.M. Watson (JMW), Their records are initialled. Members’ Records Equisetum sylvaticum L, Wood Horsetail Locally abundant in ferruginous swamp under alder, Goldfinch. Bottom nr. Crookham (HJMB). BE, telmateia Ehrh, Great Horsetail Ashley Hill, Berks. (AMS). Asplenium trichomanes L. Common Spleenwort North Stoke, Oxon. (AMS). Ceterach officinarum DC. Rusty Back Fern Wall in Ferry Lane, Goring (WF). Dryopteris lanceolatocristata (Hoffm.) Alston Narrow Buckler Fern Grazely; Arborfield; Swallowfield (AMS) Ophioglossum vulgatum L, Adderstongue Fern Near Crazies Hill (AMS). Helleborus foetidus L. Stinking Hellebore 5.8. corner of Sulham Woods, nr. Nunhide Lane (JMW). Ranunculus sceleratus L. Celery-leaved Crowfoot Remenham (LEC). 53 Hanuncvlucs hecderaceous Li, Ivy-leaved Crowfoot wculy Smal? colony on mud near Hampstead Marshall. Probably diminishing (HJMB). Bewtenormancii W.W. Schultz Mosrlana Crowfoot A few plants in acid pools, The Leas, Finchampstead (HugMB). + Adonis annua L. Pheasant's Eye Twe plants at edge of cornfield, Aston Tirrold (MF). Myosurus minimus L. Mouse-tail Garden weed, Morlands Avenue (WF); Great Lea Common (AMS) . Aquilegia vulgaris Dive Columbine : Bix Bottom, Oxon (VAP). Thalictrum flavum Lb: Common Meadow Rue Remenham (LEC). | Nymphaea alba L. White Water Lily Aldermaston, old gravel pits (AMS). + Papaver somniferum L. Opium Poppy | Hardwick, Oxon. (AMS). Miberis amara i. Candytuft Sonning Eye (VAP). + Hesperis matronalis L. Dame's Violet Alongside Streatley Warren (MF). | + Erysimum cheiranthoides L. Treacle Mustard Arborfield .(UEC). | Polygala serpyllifolia Hose Heath Milkwort Fence wood, Hermitage (AMS). 36 Silene gallica L. Small-flowered Catchfly Fleetway Farm, nr. Eversley (AMS), Otellaria neglecta Weihe Greater Chickweed Shinfield. 100 plants in hedge bank near river Loddon (HJMB). oO. palustris Retz Marsh Stitchwort Remenham (LEC). 2 Montia fontane L. Water Blinks Great Lea Common; Fleetway Farm nr. Eversley (AMS). + M. perfoliata (Willd.) Howell Spring Beauty Two plants in Northcourt Avenue, Reading (LEC); Elmhurst Road and Alexandra Road, Reading (VAP). Chenopodium murale L. Nettle-leaved Goosegrass Small Mead tip (AMS). + Geranium pheeum L. Dusky Cranesbill Near Nettlebed (VAP). Ge coLumbinum 1, Dove's-foot Cranesbill Nunhide Lane, Sulham (JMW). Gs dueddum dis Shining Cranesbill Chalk-pits on the Henley Road, nr. the 'Flowing Spring! (JMW). + Oxalis europaea Jord. Upright Yellow Sorrel Bracknell, Waste ground in several localities (CPH). + Impatiens glandulifera Royle Himalayan Balsam Berks.-Hants. border, nr. Swallowfield (VAP). + Vitis vinifera L. Grape Vine One large plant by the railway in Reading (HJMB). sed GCenvete tinctoria L, Dyer's Greenweed Benieba Cine vorid p53 Holding its own at Arborfield (LEC); Binfield and Hawthorn Hiii (7-8 localities) (CPH); Fleetway Farm nr. Eversley (iiMS). Medicago falcata L. Sickle Medick Small Mead tip (AMS). + Melilotus alba Desr. White Melilot Frequent in disused.brickfields, Binfield (CPH). Puepurndica (L.) All. Small-flowered Melilot Small Mead tip (AMS). Trifolium medium L, Zig-zag Clover Disused brickworks, Bracknell (CPH). Lotus tenuis Waldst. & Kit. ex Willd. Slender BirdefSec—treLeid Frequent in old. brickyard nr. Embrook (HJMB). Astragalus glycyphyllos L. Milk-vetch Sulham Woods (JMw). Ornithopus perpusillus L. Least Bir'ds-foot Grassy patch by railway line, Crowthorne (MF). Lathyrus nissolia L. Grass Vetchling Between Ashampstead and Quicks Green (MF) sCisused DricKworks, Brecknell (CPH). | Potentilla argentea L. Hoary Cinquefoil One plant near Padworth Mill (AMS). Agrimonia odorata (Gouan) Mill. Scented Agrimony Grassy track, west of Hawthorn Hill (CPH). iy | + Amelanchier confusa Hyland onowy Mespilus or June Berry | Ufton Nervet woods (AMS). 38 Hippuris vulgaris L. Mare's Tail Canal, North Warnborough, Hants. (AMS) Viscum album L. Mistletoe Parasitic on Lime (Tilia), Aldermaston Court (HJMB). Thesium humifusum DC. Bastard Toadflax On bare chalk, N.E. of railway line, Churn Halt (CPH) Torilus arvensis (Huds.) Link Spreading Hedge-parsley Single plant on edge of cornfield near Chilton (MF). + Smyrniam olusatrum L, Alexanders Bath Road, Southcote (VAP). Petroselinum segetum (L.) Koch Corn Parsley Berkshire Downs nr, Aston Tirrold (AMS). Qenanthe aquatica (L.) Poir., Fine-leaved Water Dropwort Near Pingewood (AMS). Foeniculum vulgare Mill. Fennel Queen's Road car park, Reading (AMS). + Heracleum mantegazzianum Somm,. & Levier Giant Hogweed Old Basing, Hants, (AMS). + Fagopyrum esculentum Moench | Buckwheat Garden weed, Addington Road, Reading (AMS). oalix pentandra L, Bay Willow Old Mill, Aldermaston (AMS). Monotropa hypophegea Wallr,. Yellow Bird's Nest Mapledurham (VAP). a9 Hottenia palustris L. Water Violet Near Cleewe (KB); Pingewood (VAP). Gentianella_germanica (Willd.) Borner Scarce Autumn Felwort Over 100 plants in chalk grassland at Woodland St. Mary, where the owner is protecting it )HJMB). + Symphytum grandiflorum DC, Pepper Lane, Res” ing (HJMB). Cuscuta europaea L. Greater Dodder Near Hennerton (JAN). C. epithymum (L.) L. lLésser Dodder why Bh Calluna vulgaris, Longhill, Bracknell (CPH). Hyoscyamus niger L, Henbane 27 plants at Rectory Road, Streatley (MF). + Datura _stramonium L. Thorn-apple Woodley tip (VAP). ) Misopates orontium (L.) Raf. Weazel'ts Snout Several plants in field at Brooklands Farm nr. Binfield (CPH); Fleetway Farm, nr. Eversley (AMS). | Brckxi1a spuria (l.) Dumort. Round-leaved Fluellen A few plants at Brooklands Farm nr. Binfield (CPH); near Nunhide Lane (VAP). meeetatine (1.) Dumort. Sharp-leaved Fluellen Brooklands Farm, nr. Binfield (CPH); near Nunhide Lane (VAP). | + Veronica filiformis Sm. Round-leaved Speedwell Hurst (LEC). - Pedicularis palustris L. Red Rattle North Warnborough (AMS). 1,0 + Odontites lutea (L.) Reichb. At least 1,000 plants on gravel near Aldermaston. This South European species flowers in September and is well established over a limited area. It is new to Britain (HJMB). Lathraea squamaria L. Toothwort Near Toker's Green (SMN). Orobanchs eiatior Sutton Tali Broomrape Twenty flower-spikes on roadside near rifle range, Churn (CPH) Utricularia vulgaris L. Common Bladderwert Flowering on 20th July at Littlejohn's Farm, Reading (AP). Mentha longifolia (L.) Huds. Horse Mint Growing wild in a garden at Bracknell (CPH). + Salvia verticillata L. Several plants apparently established on waste ground near Reading station (HJMB). + Salvia reflexa Hornem. Birdseed alien; Weston, nr. Shefford (HJMB). Stachys arvensis (L.) L. Field Woundwort Fleetway Farm near Eversley AAMS). Galeopsis. angustifolia Ehrh. ex Hoffm. Red Hemp Nettle Mapledurham (VAP). Nepeta cataria L. Cat-mint Rectory Road, Streatley (extends for some distance) (MF) ; one plant in hedge nr. Compton; Watlington Hill (CPH). ocutellaria minor Huds. Lesser Skullcap North Warnborough (AMS). : | | | | 1A Littorella uniflora (L.) Aschers. Shore-weed South Leys, Earley (AMS). Campanula trecuclium L. Nettle-leaved Bell-flower Near Hennerton (AMS).. Legousia hybrida (L.) Delarb. Venus's Looking-glass Sonning Eye (VAP). Bidens cernua L. Nodding Bur-marigold Bramshill, Hants. (VAP). | B, tripartita L. Bur-marigold Bramshill, Hants. (VAP). + Galinsoga parviflora Cav. Gallant Soldier Suttons; Halls Lane; Tipping Lane; and as a garden weed near Sin, JOHN'S church, all Reading GP). Fi + G. ciliata (Raf.) Blake Shaggy Soldier Remenham (LEC); Whiteknights Road, Reading (VAP). + Inula helenium L. Klecampane Frequent in a new plantation, Bowsey Hill (CPH). Pulicaria vulgaris Gaertn, Lesser Fleabane Farmyard at Bramshill (VAP); still flourishing in Mrs. Simmends' garden in Reading, where it was accidentally introduced twe years ago (AMS). emeieeron acre L. Blue Fleabane Disused brickworks, Bracknell (CPH). 7 B. eanuus (L.) Pers. (? E. strigosus. Muht, ex Willd.) Roadside, Crookham Common :(HJMB). ; Carduus tenuiflorus Curt. Slender Thistle Mapledurham (VAP). 12 Arnoseris minima (L.) Schweigg, & Koerte Swine's Succory About 100 plants in an arable field near Wokingham were found by Dr. G.F.C. Hawkins. The species has not been recorded in Berkshire since 1891 (HJMB). Lactuca serriola L. Prickly Lettuce One plant at sewage works, nr. Moss End (CPH). Hydrocheris morsus-ranae L, Frogbit Littlejohn's Farm, Reading. Flowered in July, prebably for the first time in six years (AP). otratiodes aloides L. Water Soldier Pond at Nettlebed (VAP). Ornithogallum umbellatum L. Star of Bethlehem Near Crazies Hill (AMS). + Juncus tenuis Willd. Slender Rush Heath Pond, nr. Finchampstead (AMS). Je compressus Jacq. Round-fruited Rush Burghfield gravel pits (AMS). Allium ursinum L, Ramsons Wet woodland, and small island in the river Loddon nr. Shinfield (HJMB). | Epipactis helleborine (L.) Crantz. Broad Helleborine Plentiful at Long Hill and Harman's Water, Bracknell (CPH). Ophrys_apifera Huds. Bee Orchid 50 plants on Chobham Common near Longcross statien; one spike at Watlingten Hill (CGPH). Orchis simia L. Monkey Orchid Has done better this year; seven plants were seen (AMS). 45 Orchis mascula (L.) L. Early Purple Orchid A few plents in a wood, Grazeley (LEC). + Acorus caiamus L. Sweet Flag Many plants in flower, Caversham (VAP). Lemna polyrhiza L. Great Duckweed Bulmershe Lake; abundant in June (AP). Carex vesiczaria leg Bladder Sedge ————San eee Old gravel pit north of Burghfield (HJMB). C. strigosa Huds. Loose-spiked Wood Sedge By streams in deep shade in Pingewood:and in 2 wood south of Crookham (HJMB). C. curta Gooden. Pale Sedge .. . Frequent: around the lake at Long. Moor. (HJMB). Vulpia ambigua (Le Gall) More Bearded Fescue At least 1,000 plants by old army camp at Kingsride nr. Ascot; new to Berkshire (HJMB). Poa subcaerulea Sm. Damp pasture near The Leas, Finchampstead (HJMB). Calamagrostis SRR 46. (Loy Reth ° “Weed *Snalil—treed Ashley Hill, Berks, (AMS). be THE RECORDER'S REPORT FOR MAMMALS, REPTILES AND AMPHIBIA 1964 = 1965 By (H. HH. Carter Most of the following notes are based on my own observations; the exceptions marked CJL, ECH, AKM, BGH and AP are by C.J. Leeke, B.C. Hemken, A.K. Mowll, B.G. Hamblin and Arthur Price, respective- Lag Information from members will be welcomed; even sight recerds of common species will help to build up a picture of their status in the district. INSECTIVORA . Brinaceus europaeus L, Hedgehog. Many seen dead on roads in June, CARNIVORA : Meles meles (L.) Badger. Abundant in the district. I know of more than 20 setts and groups of setts near Reading, most of which are in use although not always regularly so. Informat- ien about new sites is of course desirable, but so is news of the continued Silene eag of old sites. I have received many reports ox persecution in the area west of Reading from CJL and AKM, ECH reports much activity at South Lake, Earley, where there are now five separate setts. Mustela nivalis (L.) Weasel, I have one record for the year, of a weasel seen crossing the Peppard Read just outside the borough boundary on 26th December. Vulpes vulpes (L.) Fox, One at Sonning Eye on 9th September near a disused badger sett ignored my presence entirely. It was wandering dog-like through long grass and soon disappeared InGo, cover. I have several notes of tracks and droppings from Sonning Bye in other years. AP records that an earth with cubs was discovered on Littlejohn's Farm at the beginning of June, and one cub was killed. On 7th June, the earth was dug out; in it were found the remains of two small piglets, ; a mole, and a quantity of chicken feathers. The vixen had removed the surviving cubs. ARTIODACTYLA Muntiacus sp. (probably M. reevesi (Ogilby) or M, reevesi x muntjak) Muntjac. BGH heard barking early in the morning from the area east of Wykeham Road, Harley, at the end of December 196k. 45 LAGOMORPHA Lepus europaeus Pall. Brown Hare. Four were seen on Bisheps- land Farm on 16th-17th March and three on 29th April. Oryetolagus cuniculus (L.) Rabbit... Seen in small numbers (not more than three) on various occasions near Sonning Eye and Caversham gravel pits. RODENTIA ociurus carolinensis Gm. Grey Squirrel. several records from South Oxfordshire in January and February, including tracks in the snow on 20th February. One was seen on 23rd and 30th June ear the water tower at Emmer Green, feeding on fallen acorns of the 1964 crop, many of which had already taken root and sprouted. (Probably the same individual was seen dead on the road at this spot in Wuly.) Two were seen in Bur Wood and Hagpits Wood (both near Sonning Common) on 6th and fen August, respectively, feeding on unripe beech mast. Further records on 4th November and 26th December indicate that this species remains active throughout the year and cannot be considered a true hibernator. Arvicola amphibius L. Water Vole. Occurs on the banks of the Thames within the borough of Reading. I have a record from View Island, below Caversham weir, and records in earlier years from Christchurch Meadow opposite De Montfort Island. It also occurs at South Lake, Earley, and indeed wherever there are large ponds and rivers. REPTILIA Lacerta vivipara Jacquin Cemmon (Viviparous) Lizard. A pregnant female was brought to Reading Museum in the first week of August from an unspecified locality, and put on display. She was seen digging in a patch of damp soil on 13th August and laid eggs the following day. The young lizards, eight in number, emerged the same or the following day and fed readily on small insects and spiders; frog-hoppers were refused. At first they were nearly biack, but by the end of a week they were perceptibly paler. During the following months they disappeared one by one, presumably eaten by their mother or (much less probably) by a female slow-worm (Anguis fragilis L.) which shared the same cage. Natrix natrix (L.) Grass Snake. A large specimen 90 cm.’ (354 in.) long was killed in his garden by Mr. M.A. Taylor of Parkside Road, Reading, on 14th May. I. have many records for the previous: year, Me maura (1,.) Viperine Snake. An accidental import with cork from Morocco, brought to me by the manager of the cork factory at Caversham Mill, whose son is keeping it as a pet. When handled to prevent its escape, the snake ejected the contents of its anal glands in the manner of the closely related N. natrix; the glands were however colourless, not yellow or 16 milky, and had a smell reminiscent of rotten eggs, Vipera berus (L.) Adder. An unusual male 53 cm, (21 in.) long was taken alive at Padworth in mid-April by J. Stroud and brought to me for sexing. It was entirely black except for some white on the lower lip and flecks of white on some of the body scales, In oblique illumination the dorsal pattern could be made out as an area of denser, less reflective black, This type of melanism, in which the ae dark markings persist unchanged, is rare in males. his individual was at first mistaken for a melanistic N, natrix, and as such it was handled by the finder and his friends, and indeed by myself until the squat body and short tail led me to box it hurriedly and confirm my suspicions by a discreet examinatian of the head scales, The animal was later released alive near Padworth, A full account of the incident appeared in the ‘Reading Mercury for 24th April, AMPHIBIA — Rana temporaria L. Common Frog. A female taken on migration at Sonning, and a frog whose sex was not determined, seen on the read north of Bishopsland Farm, both on the rainy night of 22nd March. Large numbers ajso migrated to the former site of Priory Pond, Tilehurst, 4a leng-established breeding ground built over in 1963-64. I took 20 in the small baek garden of 7 Keswick Close, several of them in amplexus, and all heading towards 5 Keswick Close where there was a still larger concentration in temporary rain-water puddles, first reported on 15th March, Of my 20 specimens, taken on 23rd March, one male and two females were markedly erythristic. AP resorts the reappearance of unpigmented frog-spawn which duly Savecned into albinistic tadpoles with skewed notochords a note on which appears later in this issue]. “anGt AT KINGWOOD COWMMOi: | 7!'/°-PLEMENTARY LIST) At the »ociety's Foray at Kingwoot Common on 2nd October 1965, the follow.n:, species of fungi were found by members and kindly identified by Dr. F.B. Hora. None of them has appeared in the previous lists for the area, published in the Reading Naturalist nos, 12-17. | | | eee ae eas 17 Clitocybe houghtonii - a note-worthy find. Coprinus rinus (Psathyrella): hiascens Cystoderna (Lepiota Lota) amianthinum noc a : us as > ae Lepiota castanea: - - Mycena _speirea _ seo ectria cinnabarina - Pholiota (Flammula) gummosa Psathyrella conopilea as hiv ats 9 Russula mairei - formerly recorded as R. emetica, which it replaces in beechwoods. Stropharia coronilla Tremella mesenterica FUNGT ID#NTIFIED AT SOUTHLAKE, EARLEY, ON 18th SEPTEMBER 1965 By £.C. Hemken The excursion through the Southlake area, Harley, on 18th September was attended by 18 members including Dr. Fabs Hora. te whom speciai thanks were tendered, ~The weather was kind and the fungi plentiful. Although Amanita muscaria, usually plentiful, was not seen, nine species of’ fungi not. previously recorded in the _.area were idénti fied: these are indicated in the follewing list by _ an asterich ; Amanita citrina | | Mycena galericulata Mower) Geivar. aiba | galopus fulva Nolanea cetrata (?) rubvescens Paneolus papilionaceus + Boletus badizs' Paxillus involutus chrysenteron Phallus impudicus edulis Pluteus cervinus erythropus cornucopioides piperatus + ostreatus var. euosmus subtomentosus + salicinus + testaceoscaber umbrosus (?) + scaber Polystictus versicolor Calocera viscosa Phaeolus schweinitzii (f. Polyporus) Qlitocybe auriantacus . Psathyrella squamosa . flaccida ae Psilocyba semilanceolata + Collybia fuscipes Peziza aurantia ..- ~~ maculata Scleroderma aurantium peronata oparassis crispa iad Coprinus micaceus Stropharia aeruginosa Cortinarius cinnamomeus Russula grisea purpurascens cyanoxantha ~ Daedalié guercina fellea Gymnopilus penetrans ochroleuca Hypholoma fasciculare ~mairei Laccaria laccata wa _ atropurpurea cise . Aamethystina — emetica (? emeticella) Lactarivs camphoratus + vesca quietus + xerampelina tabidus virescens turpis vietus Myxomycetes (4 unident. spp.) rufus subdulcis + GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ee ee | The spider Dolomedes fimbriatus, while note rare, is local in | distribution, and it is refreshing to find that it is still present in our area (1965). Specimens have beer captured at two Crewtherne localities -— Broadmoor Bottom and Heath Pool - in each case in the Sphagnum bogs of these areas... It is to be hoped that this species will persist at Heath Pool (now. National Trust property) without — | disturbance. | . Site | John E. Cooper L9 ee ee ee White spawn of the common frog, Rana bomporarie was found in an artificial pond in the garden of Mr. rs. Masterman at 11 Buxton Avenue, Caversham, Reading, on 24th March 1965. A’ light-coloured frog was seen in a neighbour's garden a few days earlier. The spawn was distributed to schools in Reading, where its development was studied. The writer obtained newly-hatched white tadpoles with grey eyes from Kendrick School. Fourteen frogs were reared from these tadpoles, but eight died during an attempt to establish the optimum conditions for hibernation. 5ix frogs, now normaliy pigmented, appear to be over-wintering successfully. It is hoped to continue the study of these frogs in the ensuing years @ This strain of frogs seems to be connected with a strain with a recessive gene for albinisin that was bred from white spawn by Mr. W.A. Smallcombe in 1938-41 (see Smallcombe, Albinism in Rana temporaria, J. Genet. 49: 286-290, 1940). Arthur Price An unusual pheasant A cock pheasant, Phasianus colchicus L., of unusual appearanee shot at Stonor Park on 10th January preved to be one of the 'Old English! breed (P. c. colchicus) which has no white neck-ring and a more uniformly copper-coloured body than the ring-necked 'Chinese! preed. The odd appearance of this individual was due to the virtual absence of the pigment melanin, which produces black or dark brown markings. As often happens when melanin is missing, the surface structure of the affected parts of the feathers is also Srpected, producing a dull, lustreless effect instead of the usual brilliant metaliic gloss. The cause of this condition is not a disease, but an inherited defect in the bird's body chemistry that prevents it from forming melanin while the feathers are developing. When 1 made an internal examination of the carcase, there was no sign of sexual degeneration, which sometimes produces oddities in pheasant plumage. Indeed the bird was in excellent condition, well-fleshed and fat, and my family and I had a delicious dinner. Howie Garcer (Serta wos y Abe OTS oO (egond Br te ME. e i e SL OTF eee ‘ , , eat a = | as 3 ‘ F ‘ i : > : . ‘ ~ a ~ ~ . “a e . - . ia Z | , . bet Bess F as estan - ” _ 3 . : fe ¥ ’ Ms / * ’ “ « * 4 ‘i . ‘ 4 a? o ci ; =. . Sead Hy ¥ ( + “ a os fe ' . .