CHAPTER OF CRITICISM. 



313 



powder ;* the smoke stupified the insects, and the nest was easily obtained. On 

 examining the captured insects, they were found to correspond to the Linnsean 

 character of Vespa sexcinctus, and also with the plate of the same insect given by 

 Donovan. It likewise agrees with the description of Vespa Britannica of Leach, 

 which in Stewart's Elements of Natural History, is said to be common in Scot- 

 land, but rare in England. V. sexcinctus is not given as a British insect in this 

 work. Perhaps some of the readers of The Naturalist may be able to inform 

 me what species of Wasp this really is. 



I am, my dear Sir, 



Yours very sincerely, 

 Campsall, Aug. 11, 1837. Edwin Lankester. 



CHAPTER OF CRITICISM. 



Mistake in a Review of Hewitson's <: British Oology." 

 To the Editor of the Naturalist. 



My Dear Sir, — I was much gratified with the perusal of the May number of 

 The Naturalist, and I fully intended ere this to have offered a few remarks upon 

 it, but unavoidable engagements have prevented me from availing myself of an 

 earlier opportunity. I have not yet received the number for the present month, 

 as it was " not out "t when the monthly periodicals came down on the first ; but 

 I find, by the advertisement of it in the Magazine of Natural History, that it 

 promises to be as interesting as the last numbers. I quite agree with H. E. H. 

 (p. 88), that a chapter of criticism will be a valuable addition to the pages of 

 The Naturalist, and consider such a chapter one of the essentials of a periodical, 

 provided all personalities are excluded in the criticisms. 



In the review of Hewitson's British Oology (p. 112), No. xxx. and xxxi., the 

 three figures of plate 118 are described as belonging to Sylvia loquax, whereas 

 the two last figures represent those of S. sibilatrix, as will be seen on reference 

 to the letter-press annexed. The eggs of S. loquax do not, according to my 

 experience, vary very materially; that figured by Mr. Hewiison is a beautiful 

 representation, and very characteristic. My specimens are very similar. I 

 should like to have seen an additional figure of the egg of S. sibilatrix. Several 



We beg to caution our readers against this most dangerous method of taking the nest, a method 

 which has lately caused two very serious accidents in our neighbourhood. In one instance the in- 

 dividual — a near relative of the Editor's — received so violent art injury that the hand_was obliged 

 to be amputated next day ; in the other the whole arm was sacrificed. In both cases the vessel 

 containing the gun-powder burst in the hands of the operators Ed. 



f Our numbers are invariably in town several days before the first of each month.— Ed. 



