NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 58 
XANTHORHOE SOCIATA IN NOVEMBER.—A @ taken drying her wings 
at Putney on the morning of November 28th last—H.Worstry Woop. 
Topis LACTEARIA Larva HiBpernatinec.—About a dozen larve 
beaten from oak on Wimbledon Common on September 15th 
continued feeding for about a week until nearly full-fed, since when 
they have refused all food, and though lively if disturbed have evi- 
dently settled down for hibernation. Has this tendency been noted 
before ?—H. Worstey Woop. 
SIREX GIGAS IN A CLYDE SHIPBUILDING YARD.—Sirex gigas, the 
Giant Wood Wasp, is well known to entomologists as a wood 
importer. We find this species of Siricide in a variety of situations. 
Gillanders in his ‘Forest Entomology’ tells us that the best con- 
signment of S. gigas he ever received was sent to him by a miner, 
who found the insects issuing from the pit-props. Carpenters 
not infrequently find the Wood Wasp when sawing the coniferous 
trees. The life-history of S. gigas is most interesting indeed. 
Dr. Sharp says that large numbers of these insects emerged from 
wood, which had been imported from Canada, in a house twenty years 
after the house had been built. There are numerous other records. 
In a large shipbuilding yard on the Clyde S. gigas aroused 
great interest. During the last week of July and in the 
first week of August they emerged from their pupe in the high 
‘uprights ” by which the scaffolding is held, and were found clinging 
to the bark. All the specimens I reserved from these coniferous, 
usually larch or pine, ‘‘uprights” were in perfect condition; I have a 
Q as small as 15 in., and another almost 2 in. long from tip 
of head to end of the long. thin ovipositor. The ¢’s were all alive 
when I got them and were in excellent condition. The ?’s especially 
aroused great interest, and the glistening bands of black and yellow, 
the long filiform antenne, the wide, clear wings and the slender 
ovipositor all combine to make S. gigas seem, at least to the 
uninitiated, to resemble the hornet. The ovipositor was popularly 
supposed to be a sting. It is probable that these “ uprights” were 
imported from the great pine forests of northern Kurope, where 
S. gigas is a veritable pest. As far as I could ascertain no 
S. juvencus were found.—ALEXANDER CuTHBERTSON; Hazelbank, 
Yoker, Dumbartonshire, November 10th, 1920. 
Vespa IN 1920.—In the November ‘ Entomologist” Mr. C. 
Nicholson draws attention to the scarcity of wasps in the south of 
England this summer. Now I have found the reverse to be the 
case in Western Argyll. In this locality wasps were very plentiful 
in September, and I noticed them particularly at Ballachulish, Kil- 
melfort, Crinan and Tarbert (Loch Fyne). At Crinan the wasps were 
so troublesome that the visitors at the hotel searched out some nests 
and destroyed them.—A. STEVEN Corset; 32, Hamilton Road, 
Reading. 
Vespa IN 1920.—In reply to Mr. Nicholson’s query, wasps were 
unusually abundant in this neighbourhood during September. Several 
hundreds entered one of my hives in a single hour, and a good many 
weakened stocks of bees were destroyed by them. On the other 
