I897-] CuTHBERT."-^ Mysterious Irish Wasp. 287 



also, as stated, builds in the ground, by preference at or 

 between the roots of trees. 



From the scarcity of wasps' nests I have been unable to 

 carry on these researches in the season of 1897, but hope to 

 do so in the future with the co-operation, as I trust, of some 

 of the entomological readers and correspondents of the 

 Irish Naturalist. 



References. 



Zoologist, Vols. I. and VII., First Series. 



"Catalogue of the Hymenopterous Insects in the British Museum 



Collection." By F. Smith. 

 Entom. Monthly Mag., July, 1894. 

 " Hymenoptera-aculeata of the British Islands." By E. Saunders. 



EXPI.ANAT10N OF Pirate 3. 

 Fig. I — Vespa austriaca, Panz. {arborea. Smith) — female. Mag. 3 diam. 

 ,, II. — Face of V. austriaca showing, {a) clypeus, {b) black marking on 



same. (Mag. 4 diam. ) 

 „ III. — Face of V. rufa, reference as in Fig. II. 

 ,, IV. — Variations of the clypeal marks of V. austriaca. 



THE PORTRUSH RAISED BEACH. 



BY SAMUEL ALEXANDER STEWART, F.B.S. EDINB. 



Mr. W. H. Patterson, of Belfast, has favoured me with a 

 quantity of gravelly material collected by him from a raised 

 beach close to Portrush. It may almost be said to be in 

 Portrush, being a very short distance from the principal street 

 and just above the harbour for small boats. On examination 

 this material proves to have considerable interest in connec- 

 tion with our Post-tertiary fauna. Mr. Patterson informs me 

 that the beach in question is situated a very short distance 

 north of the site of the celebrated raised beach at Portrush, 

 discovered long since by James Smith of Jordan Hill, the 

 pioneer of British glacial geology. A street has been run 

 across, and houses now cover the spot where Smith and 

 others obtained so many fossil specimens. The principal in- 

 terest attaching to Mr. Patterson's discovery lies in the fact 



A 2 



