1917.1 87 



Occurrence of Megalornus hirtus L. in Kincardineshire — When at Muchalls 

 last July, I was fortunate enough to take a short series of Megalornus hirtus 

 L., by sweeping the herbage along the cliffs ; the insect was not at all common, 

 in fact the average was about one a day with close sweeping, but it must be 

 mentioned that the vrinds were very cold and the prevalence of sea fogs made 

 sweeping a very difficult matter. This insect is recorded by McLachlan as 

 "one specimen taken by J. C. Dale at Diiddingston, in 1825, and the speci- 

 men in the British Museum, and probably one or two other British specimens." 

 I have, since my capture, learned that Prof. James Trail, of Aberdeen, took an 

 example at Muchalls some years ago, which was submitted to and identified 

 by McLachlan. I do not think that this specimen has been recorded before. 



When sitting in the net, this Hemerobiid is very inconspicuous, reminding 

 one of a "humped up" example of one of the common species of Cixius. As 

 far as I noticed, the insect made no attempt to fly away or even to v/alk about 

 when placed in the glass tube. I tried to find out what plant it might be 

 attached to, but without success. — James J. F. X. King, 1, Atliol Gardens 

 Terrace, Kelvinside, Glasgow : February 12th, 1917. 



Hymenoptera in Mus. Brit. — It would appear from Dr. Perkins' remark at 

 p. 50 of this volume that he is unaware tliat Haworth's collection, at least as far 

 as its Hymenoptera are concerned, was acqixired by Stephens (along with those of 

 Marsham, Francillon, Donovan and other noted men of the time) before his death, 

 in 1852. His entire collection passed to the Trustees of the British Museum 

 in, I believe, 1857. Consequently Haworth's type of Melitta lanifrons Kirby 

 should still be in the " Old British " collection in the Museum, though doiibtless 

 not indicated as such. It is very likely to be Andrena nigriceps, a species com- 

 mon in Suffolk, though occurring only from July to September, for Kirby can 

 have had no more than indefinite knowledge thereof, or he would hardly have 

 recorded it ' Aprili ineunte.' The recent deplorable decease of Mr. W. F. Kirby, 

 Mr. Edward Waterhouse, Mr. Meade-Waldo, and Mr. Chas. Waterhovxse has 

 deprived the older collections of many important, though unfortunately purely 

 traditional, details. Kirby's guide to the collection of the "eighties" is of the 

 usual official stamp and little known, though useful in its way. Stephens had 

 labelled all Marsham's Hymenoptera with a circular white ticket, differing from 

 the oblong one affixed by the Museum to his own specimens only in shape. I 

 do not think Haworth's specimens bore any similarly distinctive mark. Another 

 detail, known I lielieve only to the elder Waterhouse, is that the ancient tomes 

 topping the interfenestrate shelves in the Hymenoptera Koom relate to MS. 

 numbers attached to some of the oldest specimens of exotic Hymenoptera still 

 preserved in Britain. They contain the names of localities and captors to be 

 found nowhere else ; interspersed with these are MS. descriptions by such men 

 as Adam White, entered between 1850 and 1860, and William Elford Leech, 

 sometime Keeper of the British Museum, who died in 1836. The risk of irrepar- 

 able loss, entailed by the abolition to duplicate cabinets of the oldest, raggedest, 

 and most disreputable specimens ))earing no data, is here well illustrated in 

 Melitta la^iifrons Kirby. And yet, as Meade-Waldo used to say, " You can't 

 keep everything ! "—Claude Morley, Monks Soham House, Suffolk : March 

 7th, 1917. 



