324 THE entomologist's record. 



times the whole field cleared, but looking at their frail and evanescent 

 appearance, one after all wonders how, in the accidents that befall 

 pupa? (alive or dead), at the hands of the collector even, any pro- 

 portion at all of the hairs happens to remain. 



Social Hymenoptera in Nortli Durham. 



By J. W. H. HARRISON, B.Sc, F.E.S. 



T have had very little time this year to devote to the hymenoptera. 

 However, as a friend desired ] espae and Bombi for comparison with 

 foreign specimens, I managed to pay a little attention to these, and, 

 incidentally, to one or two other hymenoptera. Anyone visiting this 

 locality (Team Valley) would, if a hymenopterist, be struck by two 

 facts ; firstly, the total absence of ]\'sj)ae, and secondly, the abundance 

 of Bombi. That the absence of Vcspac is not due to the lack of suitable 

 positions for nesting, one can prove readily, for, in 1893, one could have 

 secured hundreds of nests of Vespa rufa, V. (/ermanica, and T'. ndyanf;. 

 In the autumn of that year queens were very abundant, and likewise 

 in the spring of 1894, but no nests were observed, and no workers 

 taken, in 1894. 



Every year, in spring, I regularly observe hybernated queens of T'. 

 rufa and V. rulfiarh, but not a single worker is seen throughout the 

 summer. For example, in May this year, I got eight queen 1'. vuh/aris 

 and one T'. rufa in my own garden, yet, in spite of the splendid 

 summer, not one nest has been found, nor a single worker captured. 

 Similarly, in autumn, two years ago, I found two queen T'. si/lvestris 

 on Heracli'ioii flowers, but no nests were seen that year, nor workers 

 taken. I have never, except in 1893, taken worker Vespac here, and 

 only once male wasps, and then I took about twenty male T'. 

 tiernianica. Over the hills and towards northwest Durham, Vispae 

 are very abundant, and, only five or six miles from Birtley, both Mr. 

 Robson and I have taken the rare 1'. austriaca, Panz. T'. norvi't/ica 

 and V. rufa are equally abundant in that locality. In fact, the only 

 Vesjm not to be seen there is T'. crabro. I once heard of a nest of 

 "hornets" near Chester-le- Street, about four miles south of this 

 place, and in the Wear Valley, but investigation proved that it was a 

 nest of r. sijlvestrifi. To further illustrate the absence of wasps here, 

 I may mention the following. I was once visiting a large school (of 

 500 boys) in the country, and I asked the children how many had seen 

 a M'asp and how many knew what a wasp was. Only one boy had any 

 knowledge whatever of Avasps, and he knew from bitter experience, as 

 he had been stung while on a holiday. 



With the first sallows the Bombi ^vere, for the first time since 1902, 

 observed in their usual numbers. I had considered that Bombus 

 lapidariiis had been totally killed oft' by the wet season of 1903, but 

 almost the first Jiombus I took this season was a hibernated queen of 

 that species at the flowers of dead-nettle {Lamiuvi album), and workers 

 have been abundant throughout the season. In August, the males 

 also were about in some numbers. An easy first, at all times, in point 

 of numbers was the variable B. af/roruiu, which occurred in all forms 

 from very pale orange to practically black. With the advent of the 

 flowers of bugle {Ajuf/a rcptanx) appeared Bombus latreilldlus. The 

 type form of this species never occurs here. The only form observed 

 is the var. dhtiufpiendus, Mor. This continued all the summer in its 



