28 THE EEPOET OF THE ' No. 36 



been forwarded to us injured in a manner quite similar. I spoke to Mr. Knight 

 of Cornell University regarding the damage and he intimates that such injuries 

 may attend the work of red bugs. In the specimens of fruit that have been sent to 

 us from New York it is certain that the apples were first punctured by either red 

 bug or an insect with similar habits. However, the remarkable thing about the 

 injury is the development of a large irregular callous that stands out in marked 

 contrast to the normal epidermis of the fruit."' 



I have brought some of the scarred apples along M-ith me for your examina- 

 tion and I hope that some one present will be able to enlighten me as to the cause 

 of the injury. 



THE NATURALIST IN THE CITY. 



Rev. Thomas W. Eyles^ D.C.L., Ottawa. 



The lover of nature, whose avocations or infirmities limit his field of observa- 

 tion, may yet have opportunities for gratifying his tendencies, and adding to his 

 knowledge of living things. 



With your permission I will tell briefly of a few creatures that have engaged 

 my attention during the periods of my life in cities. 



In a paper I read before the Society last year, I told of an assembly of Thalessa 

 lunator Fab. upon a scar on a limb of a^ Red Maple growing beside the house I now 

 occupy. Early in the present year (1916), a strong gust of wind took the limb 

 I speak of and snapt it ofP at the injured part. On examining it I found that 

 decayed wood extended for at least two feet from the point of fracture. This 

 touch-wood presented an interesting appearance. In it were the tunnels formed 

 by Tremex coliimha Linn., closely packed with frass for much of their length. 

 In them the larvae of Thalessa lunator had found and devoured their prey. There 

 were other tunnels (some of which opened out into those of the Tremex) and these 

 were stored with dead flies of various kinds. Among the flies were the capsule- 

 like cases, or cocoons of a species of wasp. They somewhat resembled the cocoons 

 of the mud-wasp, Pelopceus cementariiis Drury; but whereas the Pelopseus cocoons 

 were brown and semi-transparent, showing the insect within, the^e were of a clay- 

 yellow and opaque. They were also somewhat smaller. 



At intervals in the beginning of June there came from these cocoons speci- 

 mens of Crabro singularis Smith. 



I also found in the decayed wood the mangled remains of Tihicen rimosa Say. 



The fate of the fine limb of the shade tree I have spoken of should be a 

 warning against injudicious prunijig. 



In my studies of the Mud-daubing Wasps I have been able to follow the life- 

 history of Pelopceus coeruleus Linn. This is a more compact insect than cemen- 

 tarius, and in hue it is of a brilliant royal purple. Its cells resemble those of 

 cemeniarius, and are found in association with them. The perfect insects, about 

 the first week of July, bite neat round ways of exit from their winter prisons, and 

 commence active operations very soon after. They are industrious collectors of 

 spiders. I have counted as many as nine spiders in one of their cells. One egg 

 only is laid by the mother wasp in each cell, and the grub that comes from it feeds 

 upon the spiders. It is full-fed I'y the end of August and commences to spin its 

 cocoon. The grub is of the usual sphex shape — somewhat attenuated towards the 

 head, which is small and has dark nippers. The cocoon resembles that of 



