THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 185 



red clover, so largely grown in New Zealand, is raised from 

 English and continental seed, and for the same reason. An 

 annnal saving of many hundred thousand pounds might be 

 effected, if, together with the seed, we coidd export the 

 insect, whose office in the economy of Nature is to render 

 the respective plants productive. During the past and present 

 months I have captured three hundred and sixty-one bees, 

 noting in every instance the flowers they were fertilizing, with 

 a view to ascertain their utility as fertilizers in a commercial 

 point of view. — Edward Neivman. 



CEnistis Quadra. — I took a fine specimen of CEnistis 

 Quadra, at lime blossom, in my garden, on the evening of the 

 10th July. The insect was a male, and appeared to have 

 been out only a few hours. — A. Harold Huston ; Aylenhj 

 House, Chatteris, Cambridge, Julj/ 24, 1874. 



Food-plant of Erastria fuscula. — The food-plant of E. 

 fuscula, or how to obtain the larvae, is no longer a mystery to 

 me. Having taken lodgings in the vicinity where the imago 

 was plentiful, I made up my mind, if it was possible, to 

 obtain the larvae : accordingly in the first week in September 

 last I set to work, and the first night searched the bramble 

 (the food-plant named by M. Guenee) for a long time; after- 

 wards tried ferns, and then the heath : the first two evenings 

 unsuccessfully; the third I tried sweeping, and to my delight 

 obtained about a dozen in the first hour. The question then 

 became, what was the food-plant? and on careful search 

 found it was grass (Moliuia caerulea). After that I collected 

 them without any trouble, feeding by night, about half-way 

 up the blade of grass. I bred a nice series of the imago this 

 spring, and tried to obtain eggs, but have failed, although I 

 placed several pairs on the food-plant I had growing in a 

 large pot. — G. C. Bignell ; 6, Clarence Place, Stonehouse, 

 Plymouth. 



Names of Insects. — I shall be much obliged if you will be 

 so kind as to name the insects I forward with this. No. 1, 

 one of the Ichneuraonid®, I bred from a mass of long, 

 fusiform, brownish cocoons, found at the base of willow 

 slumps; the little bee, No. 4, 1 have obtained very commonly 

 by sweeping in grassy places in May and June, whilst the 

 Dipterous insect, No, 5, is the only one of the kind I have 

 seen ; from its long, sabre-shaped ovipositor it would appear 



2b 



