144 THE entomologist's eecokd. 



saw. On a path, I almost stepped on what I thought was a swanu of 

 bees, but, on closer examination, I found it to bo a seething mass of the 

 enclosed beetles, struggling over some horse droppings. A couple of 

 yards further on were two other patches, while the air for some 

 distance around was filled with countless thousands on the wing. In 

 four strokes of the net I caught a mass of them, weighing fully half-a- 

 pound. The whizzing of the wings in the air produced a peculiar 

 sryefrJiinii, rather than humming sound. In a case like this it is 

 difficult to avoid exaggeration, but I am confident that I am within the 

 mark if I say I could have brought home a peck measure full of them ; 

 in fact, it Avas as I have said, like three large swarms of bees. 

 The moon was shining at the time, and the reflection of the rays 

 glistening on the thousands of elytra was very beautiful. — W. 

 Bond Smith, Potton, Beds. Am/mt, 1890. [In connection with the 

 above, the following note on a " Swarm of Gcotnipes stereo rarius, L., 

 at Poyntzpass," by the Rev. W. F. Johnson, is interesting : " On 

 March 22nd, at about 7.30 p.m., two boys came to me, in a state of 

 great excitement, to tell me that there was a swarm of beetles at the 

 railway station. One had a large cardboard box, and the other his 

 coat-pocket, full of the beetles. On examination they proved to be 

 Geotrupes stercorarius. I was at the railway station the next morning, 

 and, on the pathway and road, were numbers of the beetles, dead, 

 where they had been trodden on by the people on the previous 

 evening " {E.M.M., xxxii., p. 158). Mr. Johnson suggests that the 

 abundance of the beetles was due to the presence of a large quantity 

 of cowdung at the station, from the cattle that are removed by rail, 

 after a large monthly cattle-fair which had been held at Poyntz- 

 pass. — Ed.]. 



We sent the beetles forwarded to us by Mr. Bond Smith to the 

 Rev. W. W. Fowler, who kindly determined the species, and writes as 

 follows : — 



" The beetle is Aphodins sordidm, Fab.— of all shades of colour. I 

 thought there were two or three species, but on closer examination have 

 found only one. It is by no means a common species, as a rule, but 

 nearly all the Aphodil simply swarm in hot weather, when they occur at 

 all. Perhaps the atmospheric conditions have produced a larger swarm 

 than usual."— (Rev.) W. W. Fowlek, M.A., F.L.S., F.E.S., The 

 School House, Lincoln. Jidy, 1896. 



Panchlora MADEIRA IN Bermondsey. — This large and probably im- 

 ported Orthopteron was figured by Mr. C. A. Briggs, in the June 

 nnmhev oiTJw Kntoiiiolu(/Lst, and that gentleman suggested that the two 

 specimens were introduced in cases of bananas, both being captured 

 in Covent Garden. On June 16th, a specimen was brought to me by 

 a boy named Frank Evans, which he had captured, with the usual 

 schoolboy apparatus of " hand and cap," in the gutter of Newcomen 

 Street, S.E. An inspection of the vicinity revealed a fruiterer's shop, 

 with the regulation barrow outside. The Borough Market is not far 

 removed. I gave the specimen to Mr. J. W. Tutt, who exhibited it 

 at the meeting of the City of London Entomological Society, on Tues- 

 day, June 16th. It is now in the possession of Mr. J. A. Clark, in 

 whose collection it may be seen. — A. S. Hepden, Webb Street Board 

 School, Bermondsey, S.E. Juli/, 1896. 



