1920.] 177 



have euiiie under my partienlar notice and are fixed as pictures in my 

 memory. 



Vcspa orienfalifi Linn, is a very bright, joyous, and good-natured 

 Wasp, not like the gloomy /'. cfiicfo Fab., or the snaky, spiteful 

 Polist.es hehraeus Fab. In 1874 there was a heavy cyclone which 

 struck the Burdwan distri(;t, and in a less degree Barrackpore, but 

 Calcutta, only sixteen miles distant, escaped altogether. I went to 

 Burdwan on the following day to look at the damage done. Trees lay 

 in rows uprooted, the native huts in the Bazaar were all level with the 

 ground, and many "pucka" (brick) buildings were also destroyed; but 

 to me the strangest feature of all was the aspect of the grass and vegeta- 

 tion, which had the appearance of being burnt by fire. It would seem 

 that the very life of the plants had been blown out of them ; everywhere 

 was desolation, no bird or insect life remaining ; but there was one little 

 bit of the Bazaar sheltered by a basin -like dip in the ground with a few 

 huts left standing, and here insect-life was represented by immense 

 numbers of Vespa orient aJ is. They swarmed about the native shops, 

 particularly of the Mehtai-wallahs (sweet-sellers), and gave quite a 

 bright and lively appeai'ance to the otherwise deserted Bazaar. 



There were a great numbar of males present, and I ca^jtured many 

 of these, which I handled (without, of course, being stung), to the great 

 interest of the natives, who thought me a wonderful Sahib. 



This brightly-coloured Wasp, gay and happy amidst its cyclone- 

 smitten surroundings, formed another of the interesting pictures to 

 which I always look back with pleasure. 



Xf/locojia. — The sight of these great Bees, Avith their beautiful 

 iridescent wings, ci-owding about the cotton-trees with their huge 

 crimson or yellow flowers, forms another striking memory picture. 

 There wei'e some cotton -trees in Barrackpore Park, and also Ishapore 

 Park, inhabited by these Bees, which always repaid a visit. 



Sphex lohatus Fab. — The big handsome females in shining green, 

 and settling on the sun-baked ground, in which they formed their nests, 

 with a clatter as of armour, is another of my pictm-e memories. In 

 Chandanagoi-e, the little French settlement some twenty-two miles from 

 Calcutta, I remember seeing a hedge of the Castor-oil plant so crowded 

 with the males of this brilliant species that they formed quite a feature 

 in their immediate surroundings. 



Nomio cnriupes Fab. — This beautiful little rich brown Bee with 

 golden stripes, frequenting the hedges lined with the brilliant green 



