490 Remarks on the Spring o/" 1833. 



April 2. Willow wren (Sylvia Trochilus?) sang. — 3. Black- 

 cap sang. — 6. Caltha palustris flowered ; and lesser petty- 

 chaps (Sylvia hippolais ? [now the S. loquax of Herbert, it 

 would seem : see p. 521.]) sang. — 7. Plum tree flowered. — 

 16. Young rooks heard in their nests. — 17. Cherry tree 

 flowered. — 19. Pear tree flowered. — 21. Redstart sang * ; 

 and many wasps appeared.-]- — 22. Vanessa Vo, Pontic napi, 

 iVfelitta fulva, and swallows (/jTirundo rustica) appeared ; 

 fieldfares last seen. J — 23. Wild cowslip flowered ; martins 

 (H. urbica) appeared. — 24. Wryneck and nightingale sang; 

 common snake appeared ; blackthorn flowered. — 28. Cuckoo 

 sang. § — 29. A$cilla nutans flowered. — 30. Cardamine pra- 

 tensis flowered. 



May 4. Hipparchia JEgeria, Pontia rapae and brassicae, 

 and least dragon fly appeared ; Stellaria i-/olostea flowered. 



— 5. Polyommatus Argiolus, Pontic cardamines, and Panorpa 

 communis appeared. — 6. Veronica ChamaeMrys flowered. — 

 7. Apple tree flowered. — 9. Swifts appeared. || — 11. Horse- 

 chestnut flowered. — 12. Libellula quadrimaculata appeared. 



— 13. Libellula depressa and puella appeared; Convallaria 

 majalis (wild) flowered. — 15. Cockchafers appeared. — 

 16. Hawthorn flowered; Hipparchia MegaeVa appeared. — 

 18. Vanessa Atalanta and .Ephemera (grey May-fly) ap- 

 peared. — 21. Melitae s # Euphrosyne appeared. \- — 22. Sca- 

 rabae v us auratus appeared. — 23. Libellula ae N nea appeared. 



* The redstart had been seen and heard by another observer, in this 

 neighbourhood, on the 7th of April. 



-p It is generally supposed that each wasp that is seen in the spring 

 becomes the founder of a nest, the progeny of which comes forth in the 

 summer and autumn. How is this notion to be reconciled with the fact, 

 that, although these insects appeared this spring in far greater abundance 

 than usual for that early period, we have yet had next to none during the 

 summer ? I have not, I think, observed a single wasp this year among 

 the ripe gooseberries, which, in general, are so much infested by them. Up 

 to the present day (August 15.), I have only seen one wasp's nest in the 

 parish or neighbourhood. An abundant flight of spring wasps, therefore, 

 is no sure earnest of a corresponding summer flight. We have yet much 

 to learn concerning the natural history of these insects. 



P.S. Oct. 19. It is proper to state, that, later in the season, viz. in 

 September, wasps became more plentiful ; though it was by no means an 

 abundant year for them. 



J The fieldfares this season failed to resort to my ivy trees, which they 

 commonly make their favourite haunts in the spring. [See Vol. V. p. 593.] 



§ The cuckoo was heard by others some days previously. 



|| Notwithstanding the weather of the first week in May was so genial 

 and propitious, the swifts, it seems, did not take advantage of it, but were 

 late in their arrival. We had an unusually scanty supply of them about 

 this village and immediate neighbourhood, and they seem to have taken 

 their departure early. I could only see two here on the 1st of August, 

 and have not observed one since that day : a pair were observed by others, 

 near the village, some days later. 



4 This species had evidently been out on the wing some time before. 



