ii8 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



the succulent diet. But this weed, after a couple of seasons 

 luxuriance, shrinks to the bottom, where it forms a close green carpet 

 for five or six seasons. Then it springs again into prodigious growth, 

 and completely fills large breadths of water. At present it is in its 

 carpet state, and not a single widgeon, scaup, or shoveller is to be 

 seen, only the normal habitants mallard, golden-eye, tufted duck, 

 pochard, and teal. The coots, which appear in thousands to feed on 

 the American weed, are now to be numbered only by scores. 

 HERBERT MAXWELL. 



Obisium museorum, Leach, on Edinburgh Castle Rock. On 



23rd January this year, when looking for shells on the Castle Rock, 

 I found two false-scorpions of this species moving actively about in 

 damp earth covering the rocks. Although the species is common 

 in our neighbourhood, I think the locality is worth recording. 

 ROBERT GODFREY, Edinburgh. 



Sphinx eonvolvuli at Berwiek-on-Tweed. A specimen of this 

 fine moth was found in a house in the Greenses on loth October 1900, 

 having, it was supposed, been brought in upon some clothes which 

 had been hung out to dry. It was chronicled in the local news- 

 papers as a " Death's Head," and had received much rough handling 

 before it was brought to me three days after its capture, though it then 

 still retained enough vitality to " buzz " across the room and fly with 

 much force against the window-pane, when liberated from the tiny 

 box into which it had been cramped. On 22nd October 1898 a 

 very much worn example was brought to me which had been picked 

 up on the previous day near the side of the dock at Tweedmouth. 

 GEORGE BOLAM, Berwick-on-Tweed. 



Scottish Chrysids. The Chrysididce those brilliant hymenop- 

 terous insects known as Ruby-tails and Gilded-wasps seem to be 

 poorly represented in Scotland. So far, I have only detected the 

 following three species, but no doubt some of the readers of the 

 " Annals " can add to the number. The Rev. F. D. Morice, who 

 has recently published a "Revised Synoptic Table of British 

 Chrysids" ("Ent. Mo. Mag." 1900, pp. 129-131), has kindly examined 

 some of my specimens of each form, and says they are correctly named. 



Chrysis hirsnta, Gerst. ( = bicolor, Sm.). Two examples of this 

 rare Chrysid were obtained from the cells of Osmia inermis, Zett. 

 ( =parietina, Sm., etc., nee Curt., vide Saunders's note in "Ent. Mo. 

 Mag.," 1 900, p. 51), found by me near Blair Atholl in September 1898. 

 Under the name of C. bicolor, it was first described as British by 

 F. Smith in his monograph of the family (" Ent. Ann.," 1862). His 

 specimens were from a nest of the same bee brought from the 

 neighbourhood of Loch Rannoch. As a British species it is as yet 

 only known from Scotland. 



Chrysis ruddii, Shuck. I have this form from Aviemore, 

 Inverness-shire (June 1893), Kinghorn, Fife (June 1897 and June 



