THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 165 



and is already crowded with Agrotis Segetum, A. exclama- 

 tionis, &c. When in full blossom, later on, I have found 

 Aplecta advena, Leucania conigera, and Mamestra anceps, 

 frequenting it in great numbers, as well as stray specimens of 

 better species. I first discovered the intoxicating power of 

 these flowers last year by noticing the countless numbers of 

 bees they attracted during the day. I am not aware whether 

 the shrub is at all common in gardens ; but the three or four 

 I work were planted two years ago in a very heavy soil, and 

 thrive wonderfully. — Gilbert H. Raynor ; Hazeleigh Rectory, 

 Maldon, June 19, 1875. 



Visitors to the Trees sugared for Moths. — To the well- 

 known visitors to sugar I can add the great green grasshopper 

 (Acrida viridissima) : I suspect it came to feed on the 

 moths, not on the sugar. At Deal I once saw one eating the 

 body of a moth ; the moth meanwhile sucking up the sugar 

 as if nothing were amiss. At Bishop's Wood, Hampstead, I 

 used to see a smaller representative of the great green grass- 

 hopper (Meconema varia, I believe), which certainly took 

 the sugar. I am almost sure I saw the dormouse often at 

 Bishop's Wood at sugar. I never tried to catch them, but 

 remember admiring their fuzzy tails, so that I do not think I 

 mistook longtailed field-mice for them. The longtailed field- 

 mouse I never saw at sugar. Here they abound, to the 

 detriment of my excursions ; but though 1 have sugared 

 every summer for six years, I have not seen one at sugar. — 

 John T. Boswell (formerly Syme); Balmnto, Kirkcaldy, N.B. 



On Polydrosus sericeus. — With the exception of one 

 specimen, captured near Winchester last year by Mr. W. A. 

 Forbes, I believe this beetle has not been taken in England 

 for upwards of forty years ; and even previous to then it 

 would seem not to have turned up very abundantly. The 

 National Collection in the British Museum only contains 

 three specimens, — two perfect, and one mutilated. My 

 friend Mr. F. Smith possessed one pair in his private 

 collection, which were given him by the late Rev. Mr. E-udd, 

 rector of Kimpton, who took them in this neighbourhood. 

 The insect was quite unknown to rae until Mr. Smith kindly 

 pointed out its distinctive characters when examining the 

 specimens in the British Museum. Beyond the fact of its 

 being captured in a wood near here, I could glean no 

 information respecting its economy ; therefore did not know 



