NOTES 289 



Ento/zio/ogist (pp. 125-130): Rhogas circiiinscriplHs^ Nees, Birnani 

 (Perth) and Banchory (Kincardine); R. nigricornis, Wesm., 

 Invershin (Sutherland); and Ademon decrescens, Nees, Hebrides. 



The Gad-wall in Midlothian. — A pair of Gadwalls (Anas 

 strepera) took up their abode this year at one of the reservoirs 

 in the south-western section of Midlothian, where they were 

 observed by me on several occasions in April to June. From 

 their behaviour I am certain they were breeding in the locality, 

 though I failed to find the nest. They were also, as I have since 

 learned from Mr J. Raeburn, seen and independently identified by 

 him. There does not appear to be any previous record of this 

 duck for Midlothian. — William Evans, Edinburgh. 



Records of Scottish Mollusca. — In \kv& Journal of Conchology 

 (July 1 91 6, pp. 87-89) J. T. INIarshall gives the following Scottish 

 records : Rissoa costulata. Aid., off Loch Ryan, also Lamlash ; 

 R. striata, A. Ad., var. aculeus, Gould, from a raised beach in 

 Skye; R. proximo, Aid., Clyde, Davar Island, Sanda Island, Mull 

 of Cantire, off Loch Ryan, and south of Arran ; R. vitrea, Mont, 

 Clyde mouth and off Loch Ryan; R.fulgida, Ad., Skipness, mouth 

 of Loch Tyne, and off Loch Ryan ; R. semistriata, Mont., Mull of 

 Cantire, yds. pura Jeff., Benbecula : R. cingillus, Mont., Benbecula; 

 and Hydrobia ventrosa, Mont., Sanda Island (a doubtful record). 



A Humble-bee's attempt at Nest-building in a Shawl. — 



Possibly the readers of the Scottish Naturalist will be interested in 

 a poor bee who fell a victim to house-building in a Shetland shawl. 

 Bees had been repeatedly noticed trotting on the floor of my 

 mother's bedroom, and one was removed from this shawl, the other 

 day, to the window, apparently in a very bad temper. The shawl had 

 been with some other garments accumulating for the laundry, and 

 when I unfolded it to-day (6th August), I discovered a dead bee inside, 

 the wool all teased out as by a mouse, and a little lump of wax. 

 The whole surface of the shawl, inside, is very sticky. — Mary M. 

 Wilson, Strathtay, Perthshire. 



[1 have carefully examined the bee sent with Miss Wilson's note, 

 and find it is a queen of Bombus Jonellus, Kirby. Very little seems 

 to have been recorded regarding the situation of the nest in the case 

 of this species. Sladen, in his recent book on the British humble- 

 bees, states that he only once found a colony of B. jonellus ; " this 

 was in a squirrel's nest in the top of a Scotch fir." In the choice of 

 a nesting place, it— like its near ally, B. pratorum—is probably more 

 in agreement with the surface-builders or carder-bees than with tKe 



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