19060 215 



away the loose earth with the front legs only, but the soil hid run clown from the 

 mcuth of the burrow in lair quantity. After a while it appeared to me that some- 

 thing else was at work further in the burrow, as the earth seemed to be pushed up 

 from the inside. On securing the Sphecodes it proved to be iS*. subquadratus. 

 Waiting till the earth was again pushed up, I dug well down with my knife and 

 found a ? Halk-tus leucozonius. This will, I think, explain why Sphecodes, 

 although parasitic, has occasionally been seen burrowing.— G. K. Frisby, 9, Fen- 

 gates Road, Red Hill : Juli/ 2Srd, 1906. 



Oxycarenus lavaterse, F., an Hemipteron infesting lime trees on Lago Maggiore. 

 — A correspondent who has property on an island in Lago Maggiore sent me some 

 specimens of Oxycarenus laoaterx, F., asking what they were as they were infesting 

 some lime trees (Tilia) in the garden in extraordinary numbers, covering the stems 

 and boughs in places to the depth of an inch. They do not appear to infest other 

 trees growing near and even between the limes. I am told by my brother, Mr. E. 

 Saunders, who kindly named this insect for me, that it is a common South European 

 species, but that he never heard of it occurring in such profusion before. I asked 

 ray correspondent various questions about the habits of this insect, to which 

 I received the following replies, which I give verbatim :—" They remain on the 

 trees all the year round, not heeding cold, heat, or rain. They keep in masses, 

 turned towards the sunny side, and these masses are from 12 to 18 inches in length, 

 and 4 to 5 inches wide, and I inch thick. These masses, divided in colonies, begin 

 from the base of the tree and stop on the main branches, and have up to the present 

 reached the height of about 20 feet. When shaken off they, not having wings, 

 climb up again to their respective places. 



" They live only on the lime ; the height of the trees is 60 or 70 feet. They 

 attack neither the shoots or the leaves, and the bark under them is as green as the 

 parts which are free from them. 



"Neither could any eggs or smaller sized insects be discovered under the bark^ 

 their size being absolutely uniform." 



I thought an account of this insect occurring in such numbers and in such a 

 remarkable manner should be recorded and might be of interest to some readers of 

 the Ento'i^ologist's \ronthly Magazine. — Or. S. Saunders, 20, Dent's Road, 

 Wandsworth Common : Jugust, 1906. 



Phora papillata, Wingate : a correction. — In the May Ent. Mo. Mag. I 

 described a supposed new species of Phora, under the name of P. papillata. 

 Since then the insect has been examined by Dr. Wood and Mr. Collin, who 

 both agree that it is the female of P. lugubris, Mg., which is in the British 

 list. P. lugubris is in the three-thin-veins group, while my insect has four very 

 distinct veins, but no doubt Dr. Wood will clear up the matter in Monograph, which 

 I am glad to hear is to appear shortly. Not having any special knowledge of the 

 genus, I only ventured to introduce the insect as new on the authority of the most 

 recent monographer of the family. — W. J. Wingate, St. Peter's Vicarage, Bishop 

 Auckland, Co. Durham : Julg \8tk, 1906. 



