230
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
Bee Orchis at Moreton.—This summer (1939) I have noted the
occurrence of this plant at two distinct stations within the Potter Street-
Moreton-North Weald triangle: its presence so far south in the county
seems noteworthy.
W. D. Graddon.
A rose-pink variety of the isopod, Philoscia muscorum.—Whilst
searching for woodlice in Wanstead Park on January 29th, 1939, I came
upon a bright, rose-pink coloured male specimen of this species. The
common brown and yellow Philoscias are abundant here, but I have
not previously, or since, found one with this attractive coloration. In
all other features the specimen appeared to be similar to the normal form,
and it was of adult size.
A reference to a variety rosea of Philoscia muscorum appears in a
list of the "Woodlice of Northumberland and Durham," by R. E. Bagnall
(1913). He distinguishes three colour varieties of this species, viz.,
var. obscura, very dark, with almost uniform coloration;
var. flava, bright yellow, or light brown-yellow, with darker markings;
var. rosea, deep rose-pink.
The variety obscura I have not seen, unless, as I suspect, this is the
male of the so-called var. flava. Bagnall adds that northern examples
arc darker than specimens from the South of England.—William Keeley.