68 [August, 



that the others had taken, when I stopped her from going any further, and secured 

 her and her burden. Now, here comes a question, why did this one bee go up th( 

 hill side, when all the others had taken a contrary direction ? Can it be put down tc 

 instinct ? Did she know the burden she was carrying would weigh her down, anc 

 that, consequently, she must start from a higher elevation in order to clear the topi 

 of the trees below ? It looks uncommonly like it, and we know that the intelligence 

 of this genus ranks very high. The nest time I went was to all appearance ar 

 equally favourable day, but although I waited a considerable time I only saw one 

 bee with a straw, and this was a very worn and faded insect. Since then I have nol 

 seen any specimens of this bee, and conclude that they have entirely disappeared foi 

 the season, and, therefore, I shall not be able to prosecute my enquiries further in thif 

 direction. I notice that Shnckard, in his "British Bees," in speaking of O. hicolo 

 and O. aurulenta, says that when they nidificate in snail-shells, after the cells are de 

 posited, " they close up the aperture with earth and pebbles, or sticks agglutinatec 

 together;" the one I found is covered-in with plain earth, and nothing else. Osmii 

 aurulenta also occurs in this neighbourhood, but I have found this to be a burrowin; 

 bee, and I have never observed it carrying bents. — Y. K. Perki^^s, Wotton-undei 

 Edge : July l.it, 1884. 



Coelioxt/s elongata pupating on a thistle. — It may be interesting to note a ver 

 curious departure from the supposed ordinary course of this species, which I bred o 

 the 7th July from a cocoon found on a thistle on tlie 26th June. 



My young friend, who has been doing a little to Entomology for the past seve 

 years, took unto himself a wife, and during his wedding trip saw a Vanessa cardi 

 larva on a thistle. It struck him that he might as well collect a few larvae of cardii 

 and in searching the thistles, he found the cocoon in question, and at once came I 

 the conclusion that it was an ichneumon cocoon. Knowing my weakness for tl 

 Ichneumonidce, he boxed it, brought it home, and gave it to me, with another 8U)( 

 posed to be ichneumon, but which is without doubt that of a species of SyrphidtB.x 



The cocoon is very compact and hard, and it has resisted my efforts to softtf 

 a portion of it in spirits of wine, and afterwards in boiling water. I was desirorl 

 of doing this to ascertain, if possible, of what the outside covering consists. I vet 

 strongly suspect it consists of portions of the florets of a thistle, as it has every a 

 pearance of it, and in examining it with a strong lens, I can see the silken cords \ 

 web which formed the foundation of the cocoon. My young friend thinks the vi 

 was made by the larvae of cardui, the web being the cause of attracting his attenti 

 to the thistle, thinking it contained a cardui larva. — G. C. Bignell, 7, Claren 

 Place, Stonehouse, Plymouth : July 14th, 1884. 



Odynerus reniformis, Gmel., at Chertsey. — While rambling along the raili 

 bank at Chertsey in search of Hymenoptera, at the latter end of May, my attent 

 was attracted to what appeared to me at first sight to be a species of Ichneumoni 

 but as its flight backwards and forwards was very rapid, it was some time befoi 

 succeeded in capturing a specimen ; at last I managed to get one in the net, and ' 

 delighted to find it was a species of Odynerus which I had not before met 

 This led me to look carefully for its habitat, which I imagined must be somewbl 

 in the bank close by. Some few yards from where I made my first capture, T c»j 



