'^36 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



first record of its occurrence here, I believe. — Joseph Anderson ; 

 Chichester. 



Vespa crabro and its Prey. — Hornets seem to have been more 

 numerous than usual in the New Forest this summer, and apparently 

 they have destroyed a large number of other insects. They seem to 

 have the habit of hunting over flowers in search of their prey. On 

 August 16th, after capturing one wliich was feeding on what looked 

 like a fly, a second was watched flying from head to head of a bed of 

 Mentha aquatica in flower. It suddenly pounced on a butterfly — 

 Pararge egeria — which it carried away in its jaws. — W. J. Lucas, 

 August 29th, 1918. 



Clusters or Assemblies of Bees and Wasps when Eesting. — 

 With reference to the clustering habit of Melitta leporina recorded by 

 Mr. O. H. Latter (' Entomologist,' ante, p. 215), the same is to be 

 observed of the males of many other bees and wasps. Halictus 

 calceatus {cylindricus) and albipes very commonly congregate in great 

 numbers on flowering heads of grasses towards evening, sometimes 

 both species being found in a single cluster. In other countries some 

 species of Nomia form very large clusters. In all non-parasitic bees 

 the males alone have this habit ; but in the case of some parasites 

 both sexes may be found either in clusters or at least a number 

 together in close proximity {e.g. Nomada, Epeolus, certain Nyssonidae, 

 and others). In some cases the males may be found at rest in the 

 closed flowers which they frequented by day. Thus, while the male 

 Chelostoma florisomnis frequently forms clusters or assemblies, the 

 small C. camjximdarnm sleeps in the flowers of Malva or Gavipamda, 

 often several in a flower. Gilissa hamorrhoidalis ^ may be found 

 in numbers at night in these same flowers. A year or two ago I 

 noticed some large holes in wooden posts quite filled up with the 

 males of Crabro crihrarius — a very unlikely resting-place, one would 

 have thought, for this sand-loving Fossor. — E. C. L. Perkins. 



Notes on Lepidoptera in Middlesex and in Hampshire. — 

 During last June and July moths were abundant at sugar (in Edg- 

 ware). Amongst many specimens taken were the following : Dicycla 

 00, eight taken, one being ab. renago; Palivipsestis octogessima, two; 

 Hahrosyne derasa, eight ; Dipterygia scabrmscula, one. From the 

 third week in July until now I have taken nothing on sugar. Seven 

 larvae of Cucullia verbasci were taken on clematis, and one on budleia. 

 In and around a wood near Whitchurch, Hants, the following butter- 

 flies and moths were taken : May 28 — Nevieobius liicina, abundant ; 

 also Brenthis cuphrosync, Eulype hastata. July (middle) — Limcnitis 

 Sibylla, Dryas 2)aphia, Argynnis cydippe, Melanargia galatca, Aphan- 

 topus hyperanthus. My wife caught L. sibylla on June 2nd near 

 Brockenhurst. — G. de Havilland ; Woodcote, Edgeware. 



Notes on Butterflies from Lulworth. — In 1917 I took a male 

 Colias edusa in June, and saw four other specimens — two of them 

 var. helice — during the autumn. This year a single male put in an 

 appearance at the end of July. Pararge egeria, var. egerides : for 

 the first time in my thirty-five years' acquaintance with the locality 



