260 The Irish Naturalist. [December, 



beetles, but I know that no respectable Cryptophagus, such, for 

 instance, as pilosus or ruficornis, would get drowned in a cream 

 crock, so I pay no attention to these gluttonous specimens. 

 Perhaps it may be of interest to note that I captured nearly all 

 my specimens of Ptimis fitr after dark. They were on the 

 walls and ceiling of a pantry and passage which I pass 

 through to reach the room where I had my incubator at work. 



Hymenoptkra. 



Wasps have not been at all numerous here this year, owing 

 probably to the wet spring. I saw very few nests, but noted 

 those of Vcspa vztlgaris, V. norvegica and V. rufa. I had 

 intended keeping the nest of V. rufa under observation, but 

 the very day after I found it some mischievous person 

 destro3 r ed it. Most people destroy all wasps and their nests 

 that they can, so acting through ignorance, for though wasps 

 and their nests in the immediate vicinity of a dwellinghouse 

 are to be discouraged, yet elsewhere they should be un- 

 molested and allowed to carry on their work in the economy 

 of nature, one very important part in which is the killing of 

 flies. Of course I shall be reminded that wasps sting, but 

 they won't sting if they are unmolested. I have stood by a 

 pine tree when it was swarming with wasps, and caught any 

 that I wanted, and no wasp tried to sting me, and I have 

 lately stood by a nest of V. vulgaris every day to watch them 

 at work and, though one would now and then examine me, I 

 was not stung. I dare not have stood as near to a hive of bees 

 as I did to these wasps, yet most people would say that wasps 

 are far more vicious than bees. 



Bombus smithianus is still here, and as cross as ever. The}' 

 attacked and stung my man when mowing, and would have 

 paid me the same attention, but I was too wary for them. I 

 met with a few Megachile ccntuncularis in my garden busy 

 cutting out the rose leaves. 



The nest of wasps referred to above is still active at the 

 time of writing (November 7), and I am very curious to see 

 how long they, will continue to work. 



Acton Glebe, Poyutzpass. 



