the inside with salt and peach-leaves, the smell of which was considered attractive to bees. None of us were stung, except one of the negroes, and he before they began to cut into the hollow. Kentish Town, June 8, 1844. P. H. GOSSE. Notes on Osmia tunensis and O. bicolor, bred from Snail-shells. The bee which you forwarded to me for inspection, together with the snail-shell figured in your pages (Zool. 336), proves to be the Osmia tunensis. I have just received some shells con taining cocoons, and also some specimens of the same bee from a gentleman of Clifton, Bristol, from whose interesting information I am enabled to give the following account of the bee. This gentleman has bred the insect from the shells of two species of Helix-H. nemoralis and H. aspersa. In the shell of the former I found five cocoons, the shell of the latter, being the largest species, sometimes contains as many as six. Between the cocoons is a division about the thickness of a common address-card. The cocoons resemble those of Osmia cornuta, being of a toughish texture, dark brown and highly polished within. The entrance to the shell is closed by the parent bee with agglutinated sand, but the divisions between the cocoons are of some vegetable preparation, as scrapings from the stems or leaves of plants &c. The shells were collected about the middle of March; those containing O. bicolor produced the bee at the end of the same month, O. tunensis a fortnight later. Who does not admiringly wonder at the surprising instinct which teaches these bees that the shells are exactly adapted to their purposes of economy! for I have watched the same bee (O. tunensis) industriously excavating her burrow in an old post; but she also avails herself of a spiral tube ready prepared for her purpose, totally differing from the burrow she would excavate herself. Osmia bicolor I have observed entering her burrow formed in the perpendicular side of a sand-pit at Gravesend.—Fred. Smith; April 22, 1844. Note on Bees and Laurel-trees. Last week, during a visit to Herefordshire, my attention was drawn to a fact which has not, I think, been recorded, and I shall be glad to have the opinion of your readers upon it. At the back of nearly every leaf of the common laurel, I observed two or three small holes penetrating through the cuticle, and when newly made allowing the sap to exude. At the same time, numerous hive bees were seen about the tree, and upon further notice it was seen that the bees went to the above mentioned wounds in the leaf and applied their proboscis to them, apparently sucking up the sap of the laurel. I wish to learn if this has been before observed, and if the use to which the bees apply the laurel-sap is known. I have not now time to look through books on the subject. The wounds were always (I believe) situated on the under side of the leaf, close to the midrib and near to the petiole. — Charles C. Babington; St. John's College, Cambridge, May, 1844. Notice of a singular gregarious Caterpillar of a Tenthredo. At a meeting of the Linnean Society held on the 6th of February, 1844, a paper was read, entitled “Descriptions of the Nests of two Hymenopterous Insects inhabiting Brazil, and of the species by which they were constructed." By John Curtis, Esq., F.L.S. Mr. Curtis obtained the materials for this paper from a collection in the possession of Lord Goderich, to whom it had been presented by the Right Hon. Henry Ellis, on his return from his late special mission to Brazil. The insect first described belongs to the family of Tenthredinidæ, and to the genus Hylotoma of Klug. But this extensive group, as Mr. Curtis has already remarked, affording sufficient grounds for further generic subdivision, he has distinguished the present species by the name of Deilocerus. This genus is most nearly related to Schizocerus, Latr. The species on which it is founded is named by Mr. Curtis D. Ellisii, and is described at length, and the distinctions are pointed out between it and Hylotoma formosa, Klug, to which Mr. Curtis was at first inclined to refer it. Its economy is totally different from that of any other known species of Tenthredinidæ; the caterpillars of the solitary saw-flies, especially the larger species, forming single oval cocoons of a very tough and leathery material attached to twigs; and those even of the gregarious species placing their cocoons (which are oval cases of silk and gum) in an irregular manner, with no unity of design. The caterpillars of Deilocerus Ellisii, on the contrary, which are evidently gregarious, unite to form on the branch of a tree, an oval or elliptical case, four or five inches long, narrowed superiorly, very uneven on its surface, and of a dirty whitish ochre in colour. The cells, thirty-eight in number in the nest examined, are placed at right angles to the branch, piled horizontally one above the other, unequal in size and irregular in form, those next the tree being pentagonal, the central ones hexagonal, and some of the outer ones nearly round or oval. In one of these cells Mr. Curtis found a dead female, and most of them had the exuviæ of the caterpillars remaining, but no shroud of the pupæ; he thinks the smaller cells may have been occupied by the males. At the end of each cell is a circular lid, formed of the same leathery material as the rest of the comb, which being cut round by means of the sharp mandibles, leaves an opening through which the saw-flies make their way. In two of the cells were found the dead caterpillars, which closely resemble those of the genus Hylotoma. The author observes upon the dissimilarity of the mode of formation of this nest to that of any previously observed, the compound nidus (as far as hitherto known) being always the work of the parent insects for the protection of their young through the first three stages of their existence. In this case, however, it is formed by the larvæ themselves for the purpose of their own metamorphosis. The nearest approach to this economy seems to be the nidus formed by the maggots of some of the Ichneumones adsciti, whose silken cells are placed regularly in rows. The other nest brought home by Mr. Ellis is that of a wasp of the Fabrician genus Polistes, but differing apparently from any of the species hitherto recorded as forming similar habitations. The nest is attached to a twig, not much more than an eighth of an inch in diameter. It is eight inches long and fifteen in circumference, pear-shaped, and having on its outer margin a hemispherical tubercle pierced with a circular hole a little more than half an inch in diameter. The materials of which the nest is composed are very substantial; and the external undulations allow of the tracing of four layers of comb. Many of the neuters fell out on shaking, but neither males nor females were detected. The specimen being unique, Mr. Curtis has not cut it open, but he entertains no doubt that its,structure is very similar to that of the nest of Polistes nidulans, figured by Reaumur. The insect is named Myraptera brunnea by Mr. Curtis.-From the 'Proceedings of the Linnean Society,' i. 186. Notes on the Habits of Hylesinus Fraxini, (Fab.) The family of bark beetles (Scolytidae) appears to have occupied a good deal of the attention of entomologists, partly from the interesting nature of their habits, and partly from their powerful and injurious agency in the destruction of park and forest timber. The histories of many spe cies have therefore been well ascertained, and the Germans especially, whom the policy of their governments has commissioned to enquire into such things, have so completed the biography of many species as to leave nothing else for future observers to do, but to add the lives of the remainder. Those kinds whose habits have been thus investigated, are Tomicus Laricis, typographus, orthographus, pinastri, abietiperda and chalcographus, Hylurgus piniperda, Trypodendron dispar and Scolytus hæmorrous and destructor. The kinds whose economy is still obscure, are chiefly those belonging to the genus Hylesinus, and it would require but a moderate degree of industry to complete the whole history of this interesting group of insects. Hylesinus Fraxini is an obscure beetle, about one sixth of an inch in length, and, as its name implies, affects particularly the ash tree. It is rather prettily variegated with marks of light and dark brown, the female being distinguished from the male by being a trifle bulkier, and deeper in colour. The period of their greatest activity is the sunny days of early spring, about the months of April and May, when the perfect insects are developed from the pupa state; they are then found flying about in numbers in the neighbourhood of ash trees, either the young tree, the branches, or the main stem of older growth, and also ashen poles used in palings. After pairing, the little creatures commence the work which is the main object of their existence. The female selects a place in the bark, perhaps preferring a smooth pole, where there is a little roughness, and begins to bore, applying its short-snouted mouth to the surface, and twirling round, sometimes even rapidly, and forming in a marvellously short space of time a cylindrical hole, sufficiently large to receive half its body. At this stage of its proceeding, I have invariably observed that the male comes to her assistance, places his head and fore feet on the tip of her body, and employs all the energy his little frame is capable of, in thrusting his mate into the interior. In this singular work the male evinces extraordinary anxiety, vibrating his antennæ and moving rapidly round the disappearing body of his fellow-labourer. When both the insects are within the inner bark of the tree, they close the entrance, whether accidentally or designedly I do not know, with the dust of the outer woody part of the bark. From this cause it is impossible, on a superficial glance, to judge of the enormous amount of destruction which these little creatures are capable of effecting in a short time. The pole whereon I observed their habits was newly cut from the tree but a few days, before fresh galleries were drilled under the bark in every part of it. In the boring of these galleries they work transversely across the stump, the male and female diverging when they have effected an entrance. Sometimes I have seen the two in one gallery, but my impression was that the one had run to the other through the alarm occasioned by cutting open the place. It is also a peculiarity, that when two different galleries approach each other, one of them always diverges, their mutual approach being doubtless made known by the gnawing in the wood, thus the course of one family never interferes with that of another. The male soon dies, but the female continues to deposit her eggs, which evolve in a few days a whitish grub, as voracious as its progenitors. There are other species of this and other genera in the family, whose habits are perhaps equally interesting with those of the preceding species. We have Hylesinus crenatus in the rough bark of those ash trees which Sinodendron cylindricum has disfigured, and H. sericeus in palings made of poles of fir timber. There are also a species of Tomicus in larch poles, and a Hylastes of equivocal designation in the bark of those oak stumps which have been cut down in our woods.-H. W. Bates: Leicester. Note on the capture of Apate capucinus. I took a remarkably large and fine specimen of this rare insect in Kensington Gardens, in July, 1839.-F. Holme; Oxford. Note on the variableness of Aphodius rufescens. Aphodius rufescens varies occasionally to an uniform dull piceous black, having only the anterior angles of the thorax rufous. Stephens does not notice this variety, and I had been at a loss to what species to refer an individual which had been for some years in my cabinet, when in September, 1838, I found several others in company with the common one, and a complete series of intermediate stages of suffusion. Perhaps it is an autumnal change. —Id. Note on the habits of a Water-beetle. I derived great amusement, a few days since from watching the movements of a large Dyticus in a ditch, which the extraordinary clearness of the air and water gave me unusual facilities for doing. The minnows and other small fry gave way in all directions on its approach, apparently in great alarm; but I did not perceive that any symptoms of hostility were manifested by the insect, whose speed appeared to be inferior to theirs, although I have found that specimens confined in a bottle, speedily dispatched and devoured any small fish enclosed with them, (Zool. 200). I was an eye-witness however to the fate of a luckless leech, upon which the Dyticus darted while wriggling its way out of a tuft of aquatic herbage, and seizing it, as appeared to me, with the jaws and fore feet at once, carried it off under the bank. Esper, who kept one of these insects alive for a long period, states that it will attack and kill the giant Hydrous piceus, by seizing it in the only vulnerable part, between the head and thorax. But with all deference to the high authority of the German naturalist, I much doubt the practicability of this; since, setting aside the powerful means of defence possessed by the prey, it appears impossible for a Dyticus to seize any object except from above, its attitude in the water being always with the head much lower than the other extremity, from the preponderance in swimming power of the hinder limbs, which prevents its raising the head even to a horizontal posture; the mandibles also are covered above by the labrum, so as to be unable to act on any object above them: and it is only on the under side of the neck that the Hydrous can be attacked with success, as the juncture of the head is protected above by the overlapping of the prothorax.-Id. Anecdote of long abstinence in a Beetle. Walking near Porrock-wood in Kent, on the 24th of September last. I found a specimen of Melasoma Populi, which I put into a card-board pill-box and forgot it. On the 28th of February I accidentally opened the box and found the beetle as lively as when I put it there, its long abstinence from food appeared to have had no effect on it, but in four days after it died. I do not remember any account of this insect living so long without food.-Geo. J. Dalman; 61, Willow Walk, Finsbury, April 30, 1844. Note on the occurrence of the Glow-worm in Scotland. So far as I am aware, the glow-worm is very seldom seen north of the Tweed. Two localities where it is found have come to my knowledge. The one is the Girvan hills in Ayrshire, which lie on the shore of the Atlantic, nearly opposite to the picturesque rock of Ailsa. The other is the Muchart hills, which form a part of the Ochil range, immediately to the north of the river Forth. An individual, on whose veracity the utmost dependance can be placed, assures me that in the latter of these places it is not an uncommon occurrence for the herd-boys to bring home half a dozen of these creatures with them when they return from their evening labours.-Robert Dick Duncan. Note on captures of Coleoptera near Cambridge. The following insects have occurred, with one or two exceptions, in tolerable abundance during the last few months at Cambridge; and it may be well to remark that the season, although upon the whole prolific in Coleoptera, has proved particularly unfavourable to several of our most local species. Panagæus crux-major and Odacantha melanura have as usual appeared in the greatest profusion, especially the latter, which has occurred by tens of thousands amongst the sedge. Triplax ænea. Twenty-two specimens from an old ash tree at Trumping- Elater bipustulatus. Abundant at Ma Apion carbonarium and subsulcatum. Very abundant in dead leaves and moss. It is remarkable that out of at least one hundred specimens of the former insect which I have examined, not a single male has occurred, nor can I discover a single example in any of our local cabinets. I should be glad to know if any contributor to 'The Zoologist' has observed in other localities this unequal distribution of the sexes. Crepidodera Salicariæ. In the utmost profusion amongst sedge, in company with Crypta bipunctata. Ischnomera cærulea. Three specimens from an old ash tree, in company with Triplax ænea, at Trumpington. Acalles variegatus. Granchester, one spn. Were I to add less recent captures, I might enumerate, amongst other rarities, Athoüs pubescens, Ptinus 6-punctatus, Ips 4-punctata, Linnobius fulvipes, Dorytomus salacinus (Gyll.) and Thyamis dorsalis. I may also here mention that I had the good luck in June last to capture a specimen of Omias Baumanii (Germ.), which I brushed into my net from a meadow in the neighbourhood of Stamford, in Lincolnshire.-T. V. Wollaston; Jesus College, Cambridge, Note on a proposed Substitute for Spirits of Wine in preserving Specimens of Natural History. Perhaps the following cheap substitute for spirits of wine, in preserving anatomical and other specimens, may be new and useful to some of your readers, viz., kreasote, 10 drops, water, 1 pint. The antiseptic properties of this solution, which are said to be superior to those of spirits of wine, were discovered by M. Pigne, and first published by him in the 'Gazette Médicale de Paris,' March 9, 1844.-R. C. R. Jordan; Lympstone. Anecdote of extraordinary duration of torpidity in a Bat. A very curious instance of the great length of time that a bat can remain in a state of torpidity, came under my notice about three weeks since; and as I believe instances of the kind are but rarely observed, perhaps an account of the facts of the case may not prove uninteresting. Upon opening a vault in Bishopsbourne church, the bricklayer observed a large bat clinging to the wall. Thinking it a curious thing to find a bat in a vault which he knew had not been opened for twenty-one years, in the evening he sent it to me by his |