NOTES ON VARIOUS INSECTS. 479 



for the support of a parasite progeny, by which means the 

 young wasp was prevented from coming to maturity. [See 

 Note D.] One curious fact relating to the above must not be 

 omitted. It is well known to Aurelians that some species of 

 moths remain two seasons, or even more, in the pupa state ; 

 but I have never seen it mentioned that any of the Hymenoptera 

 did so remain quiescent until the return of an additional season. 

 When I examined the cells in the beginning of this summer, as 

 mentioned before, several that I opened had no appearance of 

 changing into pupse, but remained in the same state exactly 

 as when I brought them home in 1837; some of them, owing 

 to the cells being broken, were tumbled about on the bottom of 

 the box, and having been bruised by it, died in consequence of 

 the injuries they received ; but those that remained in the cells 

 are now alive at this day (Aug. 21), and exhibit no change in 

 their appearance whatever. [See Note E.] I had at the same 

 time and place as the above, an oval cocoon, four lines in length 

 by two and a half lines in diameter, covered on the outside 

 with brown flossy silk, which I opened, and found it to contain 

 a living Hymenopterous larva, similar in shape to the others, 

 but rather smaller; the transverse ridge on the back of each 

 segment is considerably higher, and divided longitudinally by 

 two deep incisions into three lobes, along the whole length of 

 the back. [See Note F.] 



Glaiiville Fritillary^ {Melitwa Cinxia,) is stated in several 

 works upon Entomology to be very scarce in Britain, but in this 

 county (Monmouthshire) it is as common as the peacock (F. lo.) 

 In 1832, it was in the early part of the summer the most 

 abundant of any of the coloured butterflies, excepting in some 

 situations the nettle tortoiseshell, (F. Urticw); it has not been 

 so abundant since, but there are plenty to be seen every season. 



Hornet's Nest. — The hornet is generally stated to build its 

 nest in the hollows of old trees ; the following fact proves that 

 it chooses other situations at times. In August, 1837, I dis- 

 covered a nest in the perpendicular bank of a river, about 

 eight or nine inches below the surface of the meadow ; in the 

 middle of September I visited it again, when I found it wholly 

 deserted. I brought it home. It consisted of only one comb, 

 about three inches long by two and a half inches wide, con- 

 taining rather more than eighty cells in its perfect state ; the 



