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HYMENOPTERA. 



Notes on Hymenoptera. 



By Frederick Smith. 



If the question should arise in the mind of any Entomologist, 

 of what possible utihty can the record of the abundance or 

 scarcity of any tribe of insects registered year after year be ? 

 I would at once reply, of the greatest use; forming, as it 

 does, a most important phase in the natural history of the 

 insect world. There can be no doubt, I presume, in the 

 mind of any one, of their scarcity or abundance being regu- 

 lated by an all-pervading wisdom, and that one cycle of their 

 scarcity, through which we are now passing, excites our wonder 

 simply because it has not been paralleled by any seasons that 

 have passed in the remembrance of living Entomologists. 



The cause of the scarcity of the Aculeate tribe of Hy- 

 wenoptera is, I think, easy of solution : during the summer 

 and autumn of 1860 there scarcely occurred two succeeding 

 days of fine weather. The season of 1860 is thus recorded 

 in the "Annual" for 1861 : " Having arrived at the close 

 of a year during which w^e have scarcely enjoyed a day 

 either of summer or autumnal weather, properly so-called, is 

 it not highly desirable that the results should be recorded?" 

 A season such as is here indicated must operate most fatally 

 on the Aculeate Hymenoptera. During rain, neither bees, 



