42 Field Meetings. 



o'clock, thoroughly pleased with the day's enjoyment, for which 

 the Society's thanks are due to Mr Oswald of Cavens, Capt. 

 Stewai-t of Shambellie, and Mrs Hyslop of Lotus, for kindly 

 granting permission to visit their respective estates. 



Mr Lennon, Brooke Street, handed i\\ the following memorandum 

 with reference to the insects he collected : — " I never remember 

 seeing the wild bees and other insects so very scarce as they have 

 become this season since the hot, dry weather set in. On Satur- 

 day the only bees visible wei'e Bombus lapidarius, B. muscorum, 

 B. lucorum, and B. virginalis. Along with the scarcity of insects, 

 a scai'city of the usual flowers of the autumn months is noticeable; 

 almost the only wild flower in bloom just now is the Scabiosa 

 arvensis — a very favourite flower with various orders of insects. 

 The prevailing lack of insect life extends to the Coleoptera, which 

 are not usually much afiected by extremes of temperature; and the 

 following were nearly all the species I could find : — Elaphrus 

 riparius, E. cupreus, Broscus ce^jhalotus, Anchomenus cdbipes, 

 and A. marginatus. These were all collected under the stones at 

 the water edge. The water beetles were fairly plentiful, and of 

 this intei'esting class I dredged the following scarce species : — 

 Halij)lus fulvus, II. Jlavicollis, Hydroporus quinquelineatus, H. 

 novemlineatus, H. pictus, H. lepidus, H. dejiressus, and H. assiniilis. 

 The Lejjidoptera, with the solitary exceptions of Polia chi and 

 the Little Copper butterfly, were conspicuous by their absence." 



