THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 119 



question has already been raised and settled ? I have 

 slaughtered a large number of larvae, chiefly those of Pygsera 

 bucephala, and examined them, both with the naked eye and 

 the microscope, but with no result. 1 hope, however, next 

 year to pursue my inquiries on other species. The microscope, 

 as I have just said, does not, as far as my experience goes, 

 reveal any ditference between individuals of the species I 

 have mentioned ; but I am but a young observer, not having 

 to so great an extent the patience and experience of an older 

 " hand," who would know better how to set about his work. 

 I should feel greatly obliged to anyone who would inform me 

 what is known on the subject. — William Gibson ; Parkhurstj 

 Isle of Wight, October 21, 1864. 



[To me it seems highly probable that the silence of Ento- 

 mologists is to be attributed to a reluctance to offer an opi- 

 nion on so abstruse a subject : it has been asserted, but I 

 admit without satisfactory proof, that the larvae of bees are 

 asexual : the subject is one on which I solicit the views of 

 my readers, rather than express my own. — E. Newman.] 



55. Dasycampa rubi<jinea in Oallands Park. — Sugaring 

 last week in Oatlands Park, I was not a little surprised to find 

 a very fine specimen of this local and scarce moth on one of 

 the trees. It was a cold night, and the only other moth I 

 noticed was a specimen of Miselia Oxyacanlhae. Some few 

 years since, I spent many an evening in Norbury Park and 

 on Mickleham Downs, in the month of October, searching for 

 this rarity, but until now never saw it alive. Oatlands Park 

 is about six miles from this celebrated locality for the insect, 

 and within seventeen miles of London. I don't know if any 

 of your readers have noticed the great abundance of earwigs 

 this autumn that are attracted to the sugar ; on some trees on 

 warm nights 1 have counted upwards of fifty, and they scare 

 away all the moths. — Samuel Stevens ; 24, Bloomsbury Street, 

 W.C., October 10, 1864. 



56. Wasps in Yorkshire. — Wasps have been very nu- 

 merous in North Yorkshire this year (1864). They have 

 literally swarmed, and have committed great havoc in the 

 gardens, among wall-fruits and the sweeter sorts of apples. 

 I have been struck by the smallness of oue species, which is 

 very much darker in colour than the common wasp. When 

 on the north moors last July, I took two nests, and remarked 



