278 ti^i'-'y. 



Ahiindance of Nematus riheaii in 1880. — With the beginning of the second 

 third of this month Nemattis ribesii appeared in immense numbers. On the 13th, 

 I killed fifty ? in half an hour (all the time I could spare), yet there seemed no 

 diminution of their numbers. — Id. 



Effect of sudden change of temperature lipon hive-lees. — On taking a walk yes- 

 terday afternoon, up towards the Merrow Downs, I found the roadway strewed with 

 what seemed to me dead bees ; thinking the circumstance of interest, I put a few into 

 a pill-box to examine at leisure, but no sooner was I within doors, than the increase 

 of temperature caused the bees to come to life again. 



I have often observed this temporary torpor in St/menoptera before on this ele- 

 vated tract of Chalk Hill, but at the pi*esent moment it appears to furnish an 

 instructive illustration of tlie sudden change of temperature, and fall in the ther- 

 mometer, ushered in by April, after the warm March suns. Thinking the subject of 

 interest, I enclose the editors of the Ent. Mo. Mag. a few of the sufferers in an alive 

 and dead state. — A. H. Swinton, B infield House, Waterdeu Road, Gruildford : 

 Ajyril I2th, 1880. 



Gastrodes ahletis in Worcestershire. — Mr. Norman's notes on this insect having 

 attracted my attention, I venture to give an account of the little I know of it here. 

 In the early spring of the year 1857 it was common on Abies excelsa, at Peg-house 

 Wood ; but, as that place has long been closed against collectors, I have not obtained 

 it there since. In March last, I beat two specimens from spruces at Old Hills, and 

 obtained three others from cones of the same tree at Stanbrook. 



I have eight specimens of the first lot, which I shall be glad to give to any one 

 requiring the species. — 3. E. Fletchee, Happy Land, Worcester : April \Uh. 18S0. 



Notes of Observations on Injurious Insects. Report, 1879. By E. A. 

 Ormerod ; pp. 44. London, W. Swan Sonnenschein and Allen, 1880, 8vo. 



Miss Ormerod and her assistants have continued their useful task of recoi'ding 

 the amount of damage occasioned by various injurious insects, and the present 

 Report is considerably more bulky than those preceding it. A large amount of 

 useful information has been collected, especially interesting in connection with the 

 weather of 1879. It was a season remai-kable for the paucity of most insects, and 

 yet it must have been noticed by even the least-observant that a few sijecially noxious 

 species were pre-eminently destructive. We consider this to a large extent due to 

 the fact that the vital energy of the plants was lowered by the meteorological con- 

 ditions, and that the same numerical abundance of their insect enemies would not 

 have caused an equal amount of damage in an ordinary season, and would not then 

 have been so noticeable. We throw out this suggestion as exemplifying the 

 principle we have always held, viz., that the damage occasioned by insects is usually 

 in proportion to the condition of the plant, vigorous health in the latter often 

 successfully combatting the action of the former. 1879 was a season in which we 

 think market-gardeners might have advantageously tested the value of the much- 

 vaunted " Paris-gi'een," especially with regard to the pre-eminently abundant 



