NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 187 



of Peronea maccana. Urellia elitta, Mg. : a solitary male of this rare 

 species of Trypetidfe was taken by myself while sweeping herbage at 

 Lewisham, in September last. — T. R. Billups; 20, Swiss Villas, 

 Peckham, S.E., March, 1894. 



Notes on Wasps during 1893. — As in other parts of England, 

 wasps were very abmidant in this district of East Anglia during the 

 spring and summer of last year, but I do not think that they were 

 more numerous than in 1887, which summer was also remarkable for 

 its heat and drought. They made their appearance much earlier in 

 1893 than is generally the case, and many nests were found in full 

 activity by the latter part of May. On June 7th I removed, for so 

 early in the season, a very large nest, which was being built in a dis- 

 used pigeon-house. I suspended it from the rafters of an outhouse, in 

 order to watch them in their building operations. They worked 

 rapidly at it for a time and the wasps were very numerous. I 

 examined the nest almost daily until July 10th, when I left home for 

 a few days. On my return on July 19th I found to my astonishment 

 that the wasps had entirely disappeared, the nest being in perfect con- 

 dition and fully protected from the weather, and it had been quite un- 

 disturbed after its removal. As far as I could see there was nothing 

 to account for their extraordinary disappearance. I believe that they 

 were one of the tree wasps, but the nest was so unexpectedly 

 abandoned that I was unable to ascertain the species. On Aug. 4th 

 I was shown a hole in a bank in which I was told was a very strong 

 nest, but as I could not see any of the insects about I dug it out of the 

 ground and found that it was deserted. I was assured that no 

 attempt had been made to destroy it, and the nest seemed quite 

 perfect ; and there were no dead insects to be seen, which I should 

 have expected to find if they had been destroyed. Although I handled 

 the nest and carefully examined it, not a single wasp made its appear- 

 ance. From what I was told, it could not have been deserted for 

 many days. On Aug. 8th I took from the branch of a pear-tree a nest 

 of one of the tree-wasps. That, too, was quite deserted, but I was 

 informed that a short time previously the wasps simply swarmed about 

 the nest, so much so that the part of the garden in which it was 

 situated was carefully avoided. I observed that some of the cells in 

 this nest were sealed up, but as no wasps made their appearance they 

 apparently died while in the pupal state. The greater number of the 

 cells were entirely empty. What the cause was which made the 

 wasps forsake their nests so early in the season I cannot tell. I care- 

 fully examined them, but I could ascertain nothing to account for it. 

 I have never before known such cases as these, as in all the nests 

 which I have previously observed the wasps have been quite active 

 until the autumn nights have become cold. I should like to know if a 

 like occurrence has been observed elsewhere, and if the desertion of 

 the nest by the wasps is in any way to be accounted for ; I should be 

 glad to learn the reason. — Edwakd Ransom ; Sudbury, Suffolk, 

 Jan. 29th, 1894. 



Melanic form of Phigalia pedaria (= pilosaria). — Mr. George 

 Rose, of Barnsley, has very kindly sent me a fine series of P. 2)edaria, 

 which he bred in February last from ova deposited by a black female 



