626 Habits of the Glowworm, Wasps. 



p. 3 IS., mentions the same property in the egg. — Id. [Mr. 

 White has too, above, in p. 624.] 



The Female Glowworm " has the Power of dimming her 

 Lamps, if disturbed by an unwelcome Visitor" (VII. 251.) — 

 This is a very common notion, but does not appear to be 

 always correct ; for I have seen glowworms shining while held 

 between the fingers, and even when shaken in a box ; and 

 Mr. Rennie, by way of disproving Mr. Knapp's theory re- 

 specting their dimming their light to escape from birds, posi- 

 tively states {Insect Miscellanies, p. 228.) that they never 

 extinguish it when alarmed or seized. — Id. 



Glowworm's "hide themselves by Day." (VII. 251.) — I 

 have once seen a male, in the day-time, on a paling at Pad- 

 dington. — Id. 



The Earliest Dates in the Year at which the Glowworm has 

 been seen in a Luminous State. (VII. 252.) — June 14. is the 

 earliest given in VII. 252., and the instance was seen by the 

 Rev. W. T. Bree. I saw three glowworms in a luminous 

 state, in fact, quite as brilliant as at midsummer, on May 5. 

 1834, in the course of a professional ride late in the evening. 

 They were lying at intervals along the road, on the upper 

 beds of the Wealden, about four miles below the chalk-hills. — 

 P. M. Beigate, May 19. 1834. 



A date more than six weeks earlier than that of June 14., 

 cited from Mr. Bree, is recorded by White in his Calendar; 

 namely, May 1., Mr, Knapp says that the light is not so 

 clear and steady after the middle of July. — James Fennell. 

 Temple, May, 1834. 



Vespa britdnnica. {VI. 535 — 538.) — I found last month, 

 on my premises, a fine specimen of the nest of Fespa britan- 

 nica, as big as a large cricket-ball : it was in the hole of an 

 old tree. I take it to be the same [in kind] as Mr. Whit- 

 field's published in VI. 536. We have 



An Abundance of Common Wasps this Year [1834], in July 

 and August, though there were very few to be seen in April : 

 just the reverse of last year, when there were very few in 

 the summer, and an unusual number in spring. How strange ! 

 and how is it to be accounted for ? — W. T. Bree, in a letter 

 dated Allesley Rectory, August 7. 1834. 



[" Abundance of wasps is said to denote a good fruit year. 

 We have remarked, also, the converse of this ; for in the pre- 

 sent season (1824), perhaps the worst for apples and stone 

 fruit that we remember, there is scarcely a wasp to be seen. 

 In general, towards the close of summer, they are very nu- 

 merous, particularly in the month of September. In 1821, 

 they were prodigiously plentiful ; and in 1822, there were a 



