288 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
the larva feeds in larch wood (Pinus Laria). 2. Sylvestris, 
with black antennz, and the male without the black tip to 
the abdomen, which is entirely yellow: the larva feeds on 
the wood of the Scotch fir (Pinus sylvestris). 3. Abietzs, 
with antennz black at the tip and yellow at the base: the 
larva feeds on the wood of the spruce fir (Pinus abies). Two 
of these insects have probably been introduced into Britain, 
seeing that the trees on which they feed are not considered to 
be native. Another large and rather common species of 
Sirex, S. Gigas, has yellow antenne, and a yellow-bodied 
female with one or two black bands. Why all the specimens 
sent me in the piece of wood should have died | cannot say. 
Roses of the Larch.—Everyone must have observed the 
beautiful little pink roses standing erect on the larch twigs at 
this time of the year. A singular and ingenious hypothesis 
was started last year that these were galls, and were produced 
by the puncture of an undiscovered species of Cynips. This 
idea having been ventilated both on the Continent and in 
Britain, I was induced to ask my friend Professor Oliver, of 
Kew, as to their true nature; and he decides, without hesita- 
tion, that they are the normal female blossoms of the larch, 
and kindly permits me to use his name in publishing this 
decision. 
Galls of Quercus toza.—The large and beautiful galls from 
the West of France are produced on the Quercus toza by 
the puncture of Cynips Quercus-tozz, an insect named by 
Fabricius. 
Bee of the Egyptian monuments——The bee sent me as 
obliterating the sculpture on Egyptian monuments is Chali- 
codoma sicula, one of the mason bees or mud-builders. It is 
thus, in obedience to a natural instinct, robbing us of one of 
the most interesting records of bygone ages, for it seems 
highly improbable, or, indeed, almost impossible, that these 
sculptures should ever be restored to their pristine beauty 
and sharpness by the removal by human hands of this insect 
masonry. 
Larva in Elm wood.—The larva is that of the Leopard 
moth (Zeuzera Aisculi). It is by no means an uncommon 
thing to find this larva in elm. It has done great damage to 
the elms in St. James’s Park, where the perfect moth may be 
found in the summer by examining the trunks of the trees in 
