[November, 



The Ghost Swift Moth and the ^' JFill-o'-the. my,:'— The following 

 remarJvs on this subject are extracted from ]\lr. K. G. JMair's presidential 

 address read at the Annual Meeting of the "South London Entomological 

 and Natural History Society " on January i>2nd last, and recently published in 

 " Proceedings " of that Society for 1921-22, pp. 1 2-20. After quoling numerous 

 conflicting published statements regarding the phenomenon known variously 

 as "Will-o'-the-Wisp," " Jack-o-Lantern," "Ignis Fatuus," etc., the author 

 concludes his account of it thus : " We have now considered the four principal 

 phenomena that have been claimed as giving rise to the popular legend of the 

 Will-o'-the-Wisp, but, ' as we have seen,' each of them is distinct in itself, and 

 it is their confusion under one name that has caused the considerable di-ree 

 of mystery that has become attached to it. The luminous owl is quite a simple 

 phenomenon in itself, and, apart from its moving luminescence, has none of the 

 features characteristic of the Ignis Fatuus. The dancing swarms of midges 

 that have become luminous owing to pathological causes is a nearer approach 

 to our ideal, though its motions are very different from those of the popular 

 conception. We also see that the populir explanation of the mystery, viz. : — 

 the spontaneous ignition of marsh-gas evolved from decaying or-anic' matter, 

 though supported by definite scientific observations, relates not to the Will-o'- 

 the-Wisp, but to a very different phenomenon that should be designated by a 

 different name, such as 'Marsh Lights' or 'Marsh Fires.' , . .° That tlie 

 Ghost^Swift Moth {d)ia the true source of the popular legend of the Wil!-o'- 

 the-Wisp is, in my opinion, practically certain, since it is the onlt/ simple and 

 natural solution of the luminous insect theory." On p. 17, Mr. Blair re- 

 marks :-"Many lepidopterists when out dusking or later, on a June evening, 

 have no doubt seen the appearance of a shining luminous object hovering in 

 one spot for a time, then off to repeat the motions a few yards away, tlien' 

 off again, and then disappearing altogether, only to appear again" L few 

 moments later. You know it at once to be a male Ghost Swift Moth display- 

 ing his attractions in the hope of finding a mate. But would the average 

 countryman know it as such ? " Some naturalists have thought that the 

 luminous insect must be the glovv-worm Zampyris twctihica (f^)', others that 

 it is the mole-cricket {Gnjllotalpa vul,jans), but Mr. Blair considers that the 

 evidence against this is overwhelming.— Lbs. 



Osmia leucomdana Kivby in Skroj^shire.— In May last, my boy, E. H. W 

 Gardner, captured a $ of this bee on the west side ofRagleth Hill n'ear Church 

 Stretton. ^^ This is the first time, according to Saunders' '"Hi/menop/era 

 Aculeafa," that this uncommon species has been recorded so far north.— 

 Wii.LouGKBY GardxXer, Began wy, N. Wales: September 24th, 1922. 



Note 071 Nomada hillana Kirbt/.—ln " Konowia," 1922, pp.1 13-124, 161-1 72, 

 Herr E. Stiickhert has published very full descriptions of Nomada ochrostoma K.' 

 and the allied German species, and has kindly sent me a copy of his paper. 

 To the group as represented in Germany four species are assigned, guttulata 

 Sell., bvaunsiana Schmled., hillana K. and ochrostoma K. The two first-named 

 of these are distinguished by pronounced structural characters, yxdlulata beincr, 

 in my opinion, a dubious member of the group, while bravmiana is easily diJ- 

 tiuguished by the structure of its antennae. This species I have not seen,'but it 



