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hiymmoptera, that great order whicli includes our wasps, bees, ants 

 chneuraons, &c., especially when we remember that twice lu fifteen years, 

 has an uncongenial winter almost annihilated the humble bees, invaluable 

 agents of providence, constituting as they do, the only certain insect 

 fertilizers of the red clover. 



I have often contended that a severe winter is not in itself inimical 

 to insect life but rather the reverse, but with one or two brilliant excep- 

 tions we have had admittedly bad collecting seasons since 1J*60, and 

 things are still going fi'om bad to worse. I will shortly review the last 

 from the points of my own observation. 



In 1888 we noticed two of the spring butterflies in great abundance, 

 the holly Hue left the ruiaed walls of St. Radigund's and coursed merrily 

 along our streets, whilst the pretty orange-tip was consjncuous everywhere 

 in the country, but the caterpillars of these had of course fed up and 

 undergone theii' usual preliminary metamorphoses in the autumn of 1887. 

 The sweeping net at night showed that this plethora was not confined to 

 these alone, larviE of galathea the marbled white ; corydon the chalk hill 

 blue, and the moths hipimctaria and fiilvaria were the commonest ; these 

 might have been obtained by thousands, whilst next to them in numbers, 

 sylvanus, the large skipper, and the meadow brown butterflies were in 

 great quantities ; but a change came quickly o'er the scene and the heavy 

 rains washed away and killed the larvae which would have supplied our 

 summer months with insects. May passed and we began to remark the 

 absence of many of our usual species, indeed it was not until June was 

 half thi'ough that common blue butterflies put in an appearance, followed 

 by the Bedford or little blue, ahits, and the brown ai'gus, medon. The 

 brilliant-hued adorns also occurred in limited numbers, but this was not 

 sui-prising as for some years it has been fitful in the early brood. The 

 time when these insects appeared on the wing was at least a month late, 

 but what then, they were there, and with bright sunshine ; even a late 

 season soon recovers itself in insect life; but sunshine in 1888 was only 

 represented by the mystical x of Algebra, and two-brooded insects were 

 unable to fight against circumstances. Week after week of cloud or rain, 

 with a temperature far below the average, prevented any improvement, and 

 when the time came that the second broods should have been on the wing, 

 of course, they could not be met with. Many of our naturalists expressed 

 opinions in the magazines that these broods were absent altogether, but I 

 do not chink this was the case. They were looked for in the autumn at 

 their usual time for appearing, but of course were absent then, though 

 certainly present later, although I saw neither agestis nor phleas, and but 

 very few adonis. As regards the later insect, a second brood could 

 scarcely have been expected, for instead of a rush coming out at the end 

 of May, there were but few examples in June, and stragglers continued 

 throughout the following months, indeed worn specimens at the end of 

 August ; a state of things that would not give an opportunity for many 

 larvae to feed up. The question with regard to them was, will the larvae 

 be able to hyberuate and come out in the ^ring ? will they stand over 



