1903. 299 



It is in this sort of way that I believe the differences can be con- 

 ceived as developing in this very curious case. 



Some of the French entomologists are of opinion that the parasitic 

 bees are very polyphyletic, and have actually arisen from the bees 

 they parasitise. And there is I think little doubt that this view will 

 prove approximately correct. 



Whether there is any value or not in the suggestions I here 

 venture to put forward, it is quite clear that Mr. Carpenter and Mr. 

 Pack-Beresford have discovered and appreciated a most interesting 

 subject, and we all hope they will be able to go on with it. 



Cambridge : November 3rd, 1903. 



Vespa austrlaca, Panzer, in North Durham.— Hhis year two fine queens of 

 this interesting wasp were taken by a young entomological friend of mine at Ebchester, 

 on June 10th and 20th respectively ; whilst a third specimen was taken by myself 

 at Shotley Bridge on June 30th. Both places lie in the valley of the Derwent in 

 the north of Durham, and are localities little more than a mile apart. — Chaeles 

 RoBSON, Birtley, Co. Durham : November Vlth, 1903. 



Vespa austriaca and V. rufa in Scotland.- — Spring queens of these two wasps 

 — whose relationship forms the subject of the admirable paper by Messrs. Carpenter 

 and Pack-Beresford, published in this Magazine for September and October of the 

 present year — are, according to my experience, common in this (the Edinburgh) 

 district of Scotland ; but they do not appear simultaneously, nor as a rule in the 

 same localities, austriaca being, curiously enough, the more lowland of the two. 

 Nearly all the austriaca queens I have seen have occurred in June, flying about 

 banks and roots of hedges , while the rufa spring-queens have mostly been taken in 

 May, when the blaeberry or bilberry ( Vacciniiini myrtillus) — its favourite flower — 

 is in bloom.. Compared with other wasps — vulgaris {mwch. the commonest), ^er- 

 manica, sylvestris, and norveqica, which all put in an appearance in April — rufa is 

 a late species no doubt, but not so late as austriaca. My I'ecords show this clearly — 

 they are as follows : 



Vespa austriaca queens. Vespa rufa queens. 



1900. 1899. 



June 4 — Drumshorelaud, one (Ent. Mo. Mag., May — Dunbar, one. 



1900, p. 243). June 1 — Swanstou Hill, at juniper bushes, 



1901. several. 

 May 28 — one crawling on the floor of my bed- 1900. 



room, Morningside, Edinburgh. ^ay 17-Newpark, at blaeberry flowers, several 

 ' " ' ^ 1901. 



June 8— Blan--Adaui, three. May 11— Heriot, one. 



„ 22 — Kinross, one. „ 13 — Newpark,atblaeberryflowers,commou 



„ 25 — Polton, three. „ 15 — Ijavelaw fir wood, „ „ 



July 4— Drumshorehuid, one. ,, 21— Forest Mill „ „ „ 



1902. „ 22— Inveresk, one. 

 JuuelO— Aberdour, one. June 8— Blair-Adam, one. 



„ 28— St. David's, one. ^^ 27— Bavelaw Moss, one. 



„ 30— Polton, five. 1902. 



, „ ,, .^, May 10— Muckart, one. 



July 2— Dalkeith, one. ^yyg 



1903. Feb. 14 — Kirknewtowu, one hibernating under 

 June 10-Dalmeuy Park, one. ^^^^ of dead fir. 



