88 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



1875, and one of Lasius niger on the 30th Novembei% 1875, there 

 were no queens ; and, as already mentioned, no workers have 

 been produced. Those now living are therefore the original ones ; 

 and they must be between six and seven years old. 



I had also some workers of Lasius niger, which I began to 

 observe on the 6th July, 1875; the last of these died on June 

 15th, 1881 ; and some of Formica cinerea on the 29th November, 

 1875 ; the ants in this nest died off somewhat rapidly, the last on 

 July 23rd, 1881. There were no queens in either of these nests. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES, CAPTURES, &c. 



Argynnis Adippe at Wicken. — Having succeeded in pro- 

 curing a small house in this village, I devoted the first fortnight 

 of last August to entomologising. Ten years previously I had, 

 under the guidance of Mr. F. D. Wheeler, of Norwich, made my 

 first acquaintance with Nonagria Helmanni, Apamea fibrosa, and 

 various other fen species. These are so well known to be 

 inhabitants of Wicken Fen that I do not propose to trouble you 

 with a list of even the better species I took. My house was 

 some five hundred yards from the nearest part of the fen ; but 

 this did not prevent numerous specimens of Papilio Machaon 

 from finding their way to my garden, and among them, much to 

 my surprise, I took on August 1st a specimen of Argynnis Adippe. 

 Now anyone who is acquainted with Cambridgeshire knows that 

 no Mher English county is so destitute of woods ; and A. Adippe, 

 as far as I know, is entirely a wood insect. I believe I am right 

 in saying that it frequents none but large woods. The only 

 attempt at a wood within moderate reach of the village is a 

 spinney, perhaps one hundred and fifty yards long and fifty wide, 

 chiefly celebrated as producing Hadena atriplicis in some quan- 

 tities. H. atriplicis, however, is a species that is widely 

 distributed in the fen-country, whereas A. Adippe has, to the best 

 of my knowledge, been recorded from two localities only in 

 Cambridgeshire. From Mr. Skertchley's interesting book on 

 ' The Fenland Past and Present ' I learn that it has occurred at 

 Bourn Wood, nine miles west of Cambridge, and that a single 

 specimen was taken at Wisbech in 1870. If the present note 

 should come under the eye of tlie gentleman who made the 



