288 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. - 
May 25th. Oak-apple day (May 24th) came and went without a 
possible oak-apple; even the oak-buds themselves did not show. 
The first specimen of this gall (Andricus terminalis) I found was 
on June 16th; they have been very rare this year, quite a 
contrast to last. Then (1878) some specimens were full grown as 
early as May 9th, and in 1874 this happened as early as April 
25th. The galls of Dryophanta divisa, generally so abundant, 
are quite absent this year, though the leaf-spangles (Newrotert) 
are fairly common. Amongst the Hemiptera, Aphides and many 
of the true bugs have been fairly washed away; nearly all 
species have been very rare ; hardly a single instance of destructive 
(plant-) “louse” attack has occurred; and my prophecy as to 
Siphonophora pisi was happily altogether falsified (Entom. x1i., 196), 
though the peas perished all the same. The troublesome T'hripide 
were first noticed on August 10th, and were only worrying 
on August 24th; the predaceous Orthoptera have doubtless fared 
well by reason of their food being so easily procurable. Acrida 
viridissima has been common, and Thamnotrizon cinereus has 
been exceedingly abundant. About the middle of June I saw 
several Platetrum depressum here for the first time, and on 
August 22nd it was quite a glorious sight to see the hundreds of 
the beautiful Demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) flitting about over the 
Essex and Suffolk Stour, near its source. The lazy Limnophilus 
lunatus and L. affinis have been complete pests; indeed all 
aquatic insects, as might be expected, have felt but little ill 
effects from the generally pluvial season, but the floods have very 
probably tended much to their distribution in localities where in 
dry years their struggle for existence will be severe indeed. Many 
of the neglected Diptera, with some few of the smaller Hyme- 
noptera, together with a sprinkling of the larger Ichneumonide, 
such as Ichnewmon sarcitorius, Paniscus testaceus, Pimpla instigator, 
&e., have been quite abundant, and but for them insect-life would 
truly have been conspicuous by its absence. Great as is the 
wheat crop failure this year, little, if any, of the damage is 
attributable to Cecidomyia tritici (Entom. xil., 207); the various 
galls of C. rose, C. trifolii, C. urtice, and C. persicarie have 
occurred in unwonted abundance, and the larger Tipule have 
been especially common and troublesome, through their lethargic 
habits ; the first imago of Tipula oleracea occurred on September 
5th, and they became generally common from 10th to 12th. 
