90 [April, 



during tho last half century, it may be of interest to note that it is still to be 

 met with, here and there, over the whole of the Conway Vale in North Wales, 

 i.e., from Bettws-y-coed, some twenty miles up the river, to near the sea at 

 Deganwy. It would seem to be a])solutely native here, as there are no hop 

 <j-ardens in the district. I have only found the caterpillar feeding upon nettle 

 ( Urtica dioica) in this neighbourhood. Another locality where I have known it 

 for many consecutive years is the Onny A^alley in the south of Shropshire. 

 Here it is fairly abundant, frequenting thistle heads, and the food plant is 

 again, as far as iiiy observation goes, nettle. — Willoughbt Gardner, I^eganwy, 

 North Wales : March, 1913. 



Notes on British Aculeate HymenojAera. — The following notes on some 

 of the rare British Aculeates that have occurred here during the past two 

 years may be of interest: — 



1. Heriades truncorum. — Probably classed as extinct in Britain until 

 "re-discovered" by Mr. E. B. Nevinson some three or four years ago. 

 Last year I found it breeding at Byfleet in some numbers. Cobham is 

 certainly only some five miles from here, but as Mr. Nevinson took 

 steps for the preservation of this species it will be of interest to 

 record the new locality, as it may be that the insect is widening its 

 circle of existence in consequence of Mr. Nevinson's effoi'ts on its 

 behalf.* 



2. — Macropis lahiata. — I have been fortunate enough to watch this rare 

 insect in hundreds, collecting pollen from Lysimachia vulgaris within 

 a few miles from its old haunts on the Woking Canal, whex-e the late 

 Ed. Saunders first showed it to me. 



3.- — Prosopis (jcnalis — another great rarity. I recorded it from this district 

 in 1911, and last year saw two or three specimens in my own garden. 

 In addition to these, half -a dozen rare aculeates have occurred to me 

 here during 1911-12 worthy of mention : Sapyga ri-punctata (commonly); 

 Pompilus approxiniatus, 19 ; Nomadaroherjeotiana; and Crahro tibialis, 

 gonager ( ? ? only) and pa.nzeri. — C. H. Mortimer, Eoyton House, 

 Byfleet, Surrey : February, 1913. 



Hedychridium coriaceuin parasitic on Crabro albilabris. — In 1911 the Rev. 

 F. D. Morice suggested the possibility of this to me, and as it coincided with 

 one or two observations of my own, I, last year, kept careful watch on the 

 burrows of C. albilabris. The resvdt was entirely to confirm Mr. Moi-ice's 

 suggestion. I took a good series of this, the most recently discovered of our 

 British Chrysids, in various localities, in every instance as the insect emerged 

 from a burrow of the Crabro. I suspect that in the neighbourhood of its host it 

 is anything but a rarity ; but notwithstanding the brilliance of its coloiu-, its 

 minute size and rapid flight make it exceedingly hard to detect. — C. H. Mortimer. 



The host of Ornithopsylla Imtitise, Rothsch. — In a previous nvimber of the 



Entomologists' Monthly Magazine (IT, Vol. XIX. pp. 231-233, 1908) I described 



a flea under the name of Ormthopsylla Imtitix. 



* The Rev. F. D. Morice captured a specimen of II. Innicorv.ia at Weybridge on July lOtli, 

 1900 [cf. Eiit. Mo. Mag., xxxvi, pp. 203, 204].— Eds. 



