NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 285 



that I have stuffed them by laying in stems of dry grass, by which 

 means they can be very quickly done. I was led to try this plan 

 by having a dragonfly sent me last year with the abdomen, by 

 some means or other, empty, and the colours not much faded. — 

 F. Milton; 164, Stamford Hill, N., September 15, 1887. 



[Our correspondent favoured us with an examination of the 

 specimens to which he refers, and we may say that their preserva- 

 tion seems decidedly in advance of anything we have seen. — Ed.] 



SiREx GiGAs IN NoRTH Wales. — A fine specimen of this 

 handsome sawfly was taken recently at Nantyn Hall, near 

 Llangollen, by Colonel Webb, of Lyncroft, Lichfield. — John T. 

 Carrington ; September, 1887. 



CORDULEGASTER ANNULATUS, &C., IN WyRE FoREST. 1 visitcd 



Wyre Forest on several occasions during July, and met with 

 Cordulegaster annulatus in the neighbourhood of Derule's Brook, 

 of which insects I have taken a grand series altogether. At 

 Earl's Wood, in June last, I saw Agrion minima in immense 

 abundance ; and at Stratford-on-Avon, in July, I was able to 

 collect a nice series of Agrion pumilio. Very little is recorded 

 about dragonflies ; so I thought that these few notes might be 

 interesting to collectors of these insects. — W. Harcourt Bath; 

 Lady wood, Birmingham. 



Ichneumons and the hot Summer. — With regard to the 

 interesting point raised by Mr. McMurtrie (Entom. 228), as to 

 the efi'ect of the great heat on ichneumon flies, I regret to say 

 that I have been forced to arrive at a very different conclusion 

 from his, as I have never known larvae so terribly subject to the 

 attacks of ichneumons as in the late exceptionally hot and dry 

 summer. It is only fair to state that my work has for the most 

 part consisted in rearing Micro-Lepidoptera, but the disappoint- 

 ments I have had to bear have been endless ; and larvae, whether 

 of single- or double-brooded species, seem to have suffered 

 equally from the attacks of these pests. Looking back on my 

 experience of this season, I am led to believe that the great heat 

 and drought, while favourable to lepidopterous larvae in general, 

 have been especially favourable to the parasites which prey upon 

 them. As regards the late extraordinary abundance of Pieris 

 hrassic(B and P. ra^xe, if, as seems probable, their numbers are in 

 a great measure to be accounted for by the immigration of large 

 flights from the Continent, the phenomenon is easily explained ; 



