the broom: also took three specimens of Strangalia elongata and four larvæ, which produced Chilocorus renipustulatus, from the sallow.

My fifth and last visit was made on the 28th of July, in the hope of seeing Apatura Iris, which has several times been taken there, but was disappointed; and with the exception of one specimen of Oiceoptoma thoracica from under a dead mole, I only met with the commonest species.

In this visit I was accompanied by a friend, who, contrary to my advice, persisted in taking a favourite little spaniel with him, and just as we had tired ourselves, and were thinking of leaving the thickets, I saw two very large adders curled up near a furze-bush, one of which I killed, and was putting a string round its neck to take it home for preservation, when I heard the dog (which had rambled to the other side of the bush) give a shriek, which was followed by a tremendous hissing. I instantly snatched up my net and ran to the spot, where lay three more adders curled up, and the one which had bitten the dog hissing at the edge of the bush, with its head raised about three inches from the ground, apparently watching for another bite, and not making the least attempt to escape: with four well-directed strokes, the work of a moment, they were all killed, together with another that lay about two yards off; they all proved to be females, with from twelve to sixteen young ones in each, some of which were found to measure six inches long. The dog was obliged to be carried home, where it was dressed by a veterinary surgeon, but died in a few hours. Thus ended my excursions to this locality, the best for entomological productions I have yet visited, as besides my captures, I am informed Nemeobius Lucina, Argynnis Lathonia, Thecla Betulæ and Lasiocampa Rubi have been taken there: and although we parted on unfriendly terms on account of the adders, I intend, life and health permitting, to visit it again next season. W. GAZE.

Ballingdon, November 18, 1843.

Note on the appearance of Tipulidæ in winter. "During the severe winter of 1829 -30, in the month of January, when the mean temperature of the twenty-four hours was varying from 28° to 3340, and in two instances descended as low as 25° and 16o respectively, a brood of tipulidous insects (Trichocera hiemalis, Meig.) suddenly made their appearance at Swaffham Bulbeck, and were noticed in considerable numbers, settling upon the walls of different outbuildings, as if they had just emerged from the pupa state."—Note to the Rev. L. Jenyns' edition of White's Selborne, p. 372.

Notes on the Habits of Osmia atricapilla. By GEORGE R.

WATERHOUSE, Esq.

I MET with Osmia atricapilla for the first time at Darenth wood, about two or three years back, and then only with one specimen, which was a female. In the beginning of June, 1835, however, 1 found it in tolerable abundance, flying about a high bank by the riverside, near Liverpool: at this time none but females were to be seen, though I hunted diligently for the other sex. Having secured specimens for my cabinet, I then endeavoured to trace others to their nests in order both to ascertain their habits, and to discover the male, that sex being unknown to me.

It was not long before I observed a female dart into a tuft of dry grass near me; and upon separating this tuft very carefully, to my great delight, I discovered her in the act of constructing a cell. On being thus exposed she discontinued her work, but soon resumed it again upon my keeping myself perfectly quiet.

The situation in which this cell was placed, as well as several other cells which I afterwards found, was in a projecting part of the nearly perpendicular bank, where the soil was of a light nature. Most of the cells were deposited at the roots of dry grass, the lower part of each cell being generally inserted in the soil, and the upper part exposed. In a perfect nest the cells were never detached, but always two or three, and sometimes five or six, were joined side by side. In some instances I have found the cells about an inch under ground, in a little chamber, which had apparently been excavated for their reception; the entrance to this chamber was only sufficiently large to allow free access to the bee.

The cells are constructed of mud; the outer surface is irregular, the inner perfectly smooth, reminding one of a swallow's nest. Each cell is about five lines in length, and nearly egg-shaped; there is, however, a slight approach to the cylindrical form towards the upper end, which is truncated, and is closed by a lid, the upper surface of which is concave.

I frequently observed the female Osmia laden with little pellets of mud used in the construction of the cells; but as these pellets were always dropped upon my capturing the insect, I could not ascertain how they were carried; they appeared however to be held under the thorax by means of the two anterior pairs of legs.

In the newly-formed cells, which could be distinguished by the up

per part being damp, there was always a small round hole in the lid, about the size of a pin's head. This I imagined was left by the insect, that it might insert additional food previous to the final closing of the lid; they already had some food in them.

The food deposited in the cells for the larvæ, consists, as in most of the Apidæ, of honey, with but a small admixture of pollen. The honey must have been chiefly collected from Lotus corniculatus, that being almost the only plant on which I observed the bee to settle.

I have reared from the nests of this species of Osmia, several specimens of females, and two males. The insect has usually undergone its transformation by the latter end of September, and always before the winter commences. This I have found to be the case with very many species of bees, and believe it will prove a general rule. Probably the perfect insect is better able to bear the effects of the winter frosts than the pupa. A great portion of the Coleopterous insects, especially the ground species, have undergone their transformations before the winter. At what time Osmia atricapilla first makes its appearance, I am not able to say. I have found a male in the middle of March; it must be observed however that it was an unusually warm day, and I suspect he had mistaken the month. He was crawling slowly on the grass, could not fly, and apparently did not know what to do with himself. I have said the females were abundant in the beginning of June, at which time there were no males to be found; and taking matters as they stand, it seems immensely probable that, as usual, the males come out first, and that about the end of April or beginning of May.

The male Osmia atricapilla is considerably less than the female length 5 lines; it has the fore part of the head covered with white hair, and the vertex with reddish brown, like other parts of the body, if we except the under surface of the thorax and its sides, where the hairs are greyish white.

In the female (which is usually about 6 lines in length), the head is entirely covered with black hairs, the thorax, and two basal segments of the abdomen with hair of a bright brownish-red colour, and on the apical portion of the abdomen, and the whole of the under side of the body, the hair is black.

I will hereafter send some observations on the mode in which the cell is constructed. 1 do not do so now, because I wish to say, in connexion with that subject, a word or two about the cells of some other insects, and these I cannot at this moment lay my hand upon. GEO. R. WATERHOUSE.

Notes on various Hymenopterous Insects, and Descriptions of two new British Bees. By FREDERICK SMITH, Esq.

CORRECTION of a previous error. I perceive that an unfortunate error has been printed in my communication of captures in Hampshire (Zool. 262 and 265), Osmia atricapilla should have been Osmia leucomelana. I am particularly sorry this should have occurred at p. 265, as some details of economy are given. Please to add a note in your next number, pointing out the error: I am sorry I did not observe it before, and cannot think how I could have made it.

Osmia bicolor and O. tunensis. I have received a communication from Mr. Walcott of Clifton, Bristol, who remarks,-" Osmia bicolor and O. tunensis breed numerously in the empty snail-shells on the slopes of our downs; as many as four specimens of O. tunensis have come from one shell of Helix nemoralis, two were males and two females." As you figured a bee in your last number (Zool. 336), this, I thought, might be worth recording. Mr. Curtis tells me that he has captured Osmia bicolor in snail-shells. Should you not get sight of the bee figured in the last number, pray write for a more detailed description, particularly whether the bee is furnished with the pollenbrush on the underside of its abdomen, and what is the colour of the hairs. The figure looks like a male in the form of its abdomen, and the six segments defined admit of an additional segment being hid by the usual convexity of the abdomen of the genus Osmia.

Economic habits of Ants. I am much pleased to find in your November number (Zool. 335), some notes on Hymenopterous insects, and beg to make a few observations on them, which may perhaps tend to throw some light upon the enquiries of your correspondents. Mr. Wakefield's account of the ants collecting the seeds of the violet, might incline some to think modern naturalists incorrect in stating that they lay up no store for the winter. Gould, a century ago, observed, "In warmer regions the weather is more favourable, and seasons less severe; therefore ants may not undergo that chill which they do in England, nor consequently pass the winter in a state of numb ness." "And it will appear from a repeated series of observations and experiments, that our ants do not lay up corn or other food against winter, and have no magazines peculiar to this purpose; but that, in reality, their unwearied diligence in collecting provisions is chiefly carried on for the noble design of maintaining posterity." Huber

held the same opinion, founded on observation. I have repeatedly examined the nests of Formica fusca, flava and rufa, in winter, and have always found the ants in a torpid state; and I believe that if ants require nourishment in early spring, previously to their leaving their subterranean abodes, they derive it from those species of insects found in their nests, as various species of Aphis, Claviger, Atemeles, &c. In the autumn of 1840 I was observing the various employments of a colony of Formica rufa, and was struck on observing numbers of neuters arriving, each carrying a similar substance in its mandibles. I caught several individuals, and found it was the seed of some species of plant. About four yards off was a sloping sand-bank, and I observed a continuous line of ants between this and their nest, and somewhere in the direction of the bank they found the seeds. I watched them carefully, and soon detected an ant scampering down the bank after a falling seed. They were the seeds of the common broom, and just at this season the pods were discharging them. I was curious to know for what purpose the ants collected these seeds, and found that they invariably deposited them outside their nest. All the ants did not bring seeds; some brought small pebbles, or other substances; and I was satisfied that the seeds were merely for the purpose of constructing their nest; probably the seeds, stones, &c., were intended to give greater solidity to the roof. I presume the species of ant observed collecting the violet-seeds was the common garden ant (Formica fusca); and I should be inclined to believe that the seeds were intended to be used in the construction of their nest, for I have repeatedly observed that species in a garden at Brompton, where they had chosen the interstices of a brick wall, carrying all manner of small substances, doubtless for the purpose of filling up all chinks and crevices, and making all comfortable within.

While on the interesting subject of ants, I will record the result of some experiments which I have made; and I will premise, that as what I am about to relate is in direct opposition to the opinions of Gould, of Huber, and I believe all modern investigators of the habits of ants, if the same care and observation are exercised by any one anxious to prove my statement, I doubt not he will become a convert to my opinion. Huber says, that previous to ants changing to the pupa state, they "are enclosed in a tissue spun by themselves before their metamorphosis; but they cannot, like other insects, liberate themselves from this covering, by effecting an opening in it with their teeth." This opinion was of course formed in consequence of Huber's having observed the neuters assisting the ants to escape from the