Nov. 1, 1867.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



255 



eaves, or anywhere ; her nest is formed in layers. 

 Every bee-keeper has a word for or against her. 

 She is the owner of the very pretty bell-nests, which 

 have gained for her the name of Vespa campanaria. 



2. V. Britannica, Noncegica, or borecdis, builds 

 also in layers, which are less regular than those 

 of the preceding species, and generally prefers low 

 bushes. 



3. V. arborea is the blank I wish to fill up. 

 This wasp is found in Gloucestershire and in Savoy. 

 It was first discovered by Mr. E. Smith, of the 

 British Museum, among some firs, on a ridge about 

 four miles north of "Wakefield, in Yorkshire. The 

 promise of a reward for a nest of this species, cir- 

 culated in that neighbourhood, has as yet failed to 

 procure me a specimen to engrave for a work on 

 wasps which I hope shortly to have the pleasure of 

 publishing. If this note shall prove the means of 

 enabling me to complete my series of drawings, I 

 shall feel thankful. 



Brighton. Edward L. Ormerod, M.D. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Colias Edusa ix Ireland. — Having taken a 

 specimen of the Clouded Yellow Butterfly {Colias 

 Edusa) on the 31st of August last at Ivilkee, on 

 the coast of the county Clare, I wish to know if it 

 is an uncommon insect in Ireland. Neither my 

 friends nor any of the books I have consulted can 

 inform me if it has ever occurred in Ireland before. 

 — W. B., Ireland. 



[It is recorded in " Stainton's Manual" as having 

 occurred in Ireland. — Ed.] 



Wood-boring Beetles. — One of the principal 

 oak rafters of the roof over the north-east corner of 

 the Triforium of Norwich Cathedral being in a 

 dangerous state, it was examined in order to dis- 

 cover where the rain came through. Some holes 

 were found pierced through the lead, immediately 

 above the decayed rafter, and, on turning up the 

 sheet of metal, the holes were found to correspond 

 exactly with the worm-eaten holes in the oak clad- 

 ding. Several dead insects were found in the lead, 

 some of which appear to have wings ; those enclosed 

 were found in the cladding, and are, I suppose, a 

 species of weavil. — E. A., Norwich. 



The insect is Anobmm pulsator, Schall (the A. 

 tessellatuni of most authors), one \ of our largest 

 species of the so-called Death-watch Beetles. The 

 late Mr. Spence ("Ent. Trans.," vol. ii., p. 11) has 

 given an account of the great injury produced by its 

 larvae in the timbers of houses at Brussels ; and we 

 nave known it to occur in profusion in houses in 

 Northamptonshire, the oak beams being riddled by 

 it. It has been also reared from whitethorn, and 

 appears to remain more than three years before 

 arriving at the perfect state. The larvae seem to 



have the instinct of continuing their burrows until 

 nearly reaching the surface, so that there is 'only left 

 a slight barrier, through which the perfect insects 

 escape. Westwood (" Mag. Nat. Hist.," Sept. 

 1831) is inclined to believe that the ticking noise 

 made by the perfect insect is also produced by 

 the larva, whilst gnawing the wood on which it 

 feeds. The larva is figured by Ratzeburg (" Die 

 Eorst Insecten," pi. 2, fig. 19, B) and Westwood 

 (Introd., vol. i., p. 269, 11). It is also described by 

 the latter author and by Bouche ("Naturg. der 

 Ins.," p. 1S7). The larva much resembles that of a 

 small Lamellicorn Beetle, and constructs a cocoon 

 of silky matter, mixed with debris of its food. The 

 wings mentioned in Mr. Athow's letter would ap- 

 pear to be those of a species of Tachina, a dipterous 

 insect much resembling the common house-fly, and 

 which is evidently parasitic on the beetle ; at least 

 I judge so from a cocoon found in the wood sent, 

 and from my own experience in rearing other larvae. 

 The larva of Callidium Bajulus, one of the Longi- 

 corn Beetles, has long been recorded as boring 

 through the lead covering of houses, making circular 

 holes. See Westwood {loc. cit. p. 366), and Audouhi 

 (" Annates de la Soc. Ent. de France," ii., 76) . The 

 larvae of some Hymenopterous insects have been re- 

 corded by a French entomologist as penetrating 

 leaden bullets \—E. C.B. 



The Otter {Lutra vulgaris). — The breeding 

 season in Scandinavia certainly takes place in 

 February or early in March, and the female brings 

 forth in May from three to four blind young ones. 

 As I have been told from very reliable authority 

 that the otter in England breeds in the winter, I 

 have made very'particular inquiries here of men who 

 well know the habits of the otter, and all corrobo- 

 rate the above statement. — Ten Years in Sweden. 



Weasel (Mustela vulgaris, Erx). It has been 

 doubted whether the weasel, like the stoat, becomes 

 white in the winter. I can prove that this is the 

 case from pure white specimeus killedln Wermland 

 in the winter. I can also prove by specimens kept 

 in confinement that the change of colour from the 

 red summer dress to the white of winter takes 

 place by an actual change or shedding of the old 

 coat, and not by the old hair changing colour. — Ten 

 Years in Sweden. 



A Neighbourly Spider ! — A friend writes me : 

 " I was witness this morning of a curious incident. 

 A large ' bluebottle ' having got entangled in the 

 web of a spider, was immediately secured and killed 

 in the usual manner. In this condition— dead and 

 wound round with thread — the fly was deliberately 

 lowered into the web of a smaller spider, who at 

 once seized and carried it off." I never knew, and 

 did not imagine that spiders were sufficiently sociable 

 to feed each other. — Gilbert Green. 



