NOTES ON HYMENOPTERA. 51 
of its beauty by the destruction of the cilis, or actual tearing of 
the wings by contact with the surrounding herbage. 
The woodcut accompanying this article gives a better fin 
of the species than would a minute description of the perfect 
insect, but the following are the chief characteristics :— 
The ground colour of Nonagria sparganii is a bone-coloured 
grey, paler along the veins, and with more or-less reddish buff 
interspersed. The principal characters are seven dark dots 
within the ciliz of the fore wings, and the shaded central 
line with its pale ocellus formed by the three or four black dots 
placed close together. The hind wings of the male have veins 
dusted with deep grey. ‘There is considerable variation in the 
intensity of colour in a series of specimens, but the above are 
the leading features. ‘he continental specimens are very much 
redder and otherwise differ from any of those as yet bred in 
Britain. It 1s a common species on the Continent of Europe, 
where it is said to feed chiefly on the reed-mace (J'ypha latifolia). 
The proper place for this species in our collections is between 
Nonagria canne and N. typhe, the imagines having some of the 
characters of both those species. 
We are indebted to Mr. Sydney Webb for kindly lending the 
specimens, bred by himself, from which the figures are taken. 
Joun T. CaRrincron. 
Royal Aquarium, Westminster, January, 1880. 
NOTES ON HYMENOPTERA. 
By Joux B. Brideman. 
HyMENOPTERA, as might be expected from the very unfavour- 
able season just passed (1879), have been unusually scarce in this 
neighbourhood, more especially the Aculeates. Anthophora 
acervorum, instead of swarming on every sunny bank in early 
spring, was very scaree. Willow blossoms were almost deserted 
instead of being alive with several species of Andrenu ; and, later 
in the season, the brambles, generally so attractive to bees, were 
almost as free from aculeate visitants as the spring flowers were. 
The only bee that really abounded was Bombus virginalis ; these 
were unusually abundant. Several species of this genus I 
scarcely saw at all. Wasps were equally conspicuous by their 
