109 



Mr. Westwood made some observations on the usefulness of labelling insects at the 

 time of capture, by which such instances of disputed identity as the present were 

 avoided ; he objected to the plan of employing a number referring to a note-book as 

 commonly in use, as, in the event of dispersion of a collection on the death of 

 the owner, such numbers became useless to all but the possessor of the note-book, and 

 indeed instances had come under his notice in which the said book had been lost. He 

 had always employed iu his collection tickets bearing an abbreviation of the locality, 

 as Cb. W. for Coombe Wood. 



The President feared that Mr. Westwood's plan of abbreviations would be rather 

 perplexing to any one but himself, unless accompanied by an index, which would be 

 open to the same objections as the note-books which he had just condemned. 



Some conversation ensued on the claims of Sphinx Pinastri to be considered 

 a British species ; during which Mr. F. Walker reminded the Meeting that Mr. 

 Thomas Marshall, well known to many Members present as one of our most accurate 

 observers, had himself seen this insect aliye in Cumberland, and had recorded the fiict 

 in the ' Entomologist' some years ago. 



Dr. Wallace exhibited two examples of Acosmetia caliginosa, taken by Mr. Grim- 

 stead in a wood near Ryde, Isle of Wight: he observed that the species had hitherto 

 only been captured in this country in the New Forest. 



The Secretary read the following paper by Mr. G. Wailes, of Newcastle : — 



The Hybernation of Vespa vulgaris. 



" It is very evident that we have a great deal yet to learn about the social wasps, 

 and therefore the following remarks as to Vespa vulgaris may be interesting. Ever 

 since 1829 I have, at intervals, searched the summit of Skiddaw (3022 feet) for speci- 

 mens of Leistus montanus, and on every occasion have taken out from underneath the 

 loose fragments of the slate perfectly torpid females of this wasp, with the wings, legs, 

 antennae, Sec, precisely iu the state iu which we find them during winter in the lower 

 lands. Not unfrequently I have met with dead specimens which seemed to have 

 perished in the same dormant state, and been there for a year or two at least. 

 Mr. Smith, in his ' Catalogue of the British Vespidae,' under this species, states that 

 ' Mr. Wollaston found the female abundant uuder stones ou the extreme summit of 

 Gribon Oernant, near Llangollen, in September, 185 4,' adding ' probably hybernatiug 

 for the wintei",' but had evidently forgotten my writing him on the same subject. My 

 visits to the mountain have extended from tlie latter end of June to the latter end of 

 August, and therefore it necessarily follows either that these specimens of the female 

 wasp were those of the previous year, or that this sex appears much earlier in the sea- 

 son than has been hitherto supposed. But in either case, the question arises why are 

 they torpid during these the hottest months of the year? It is quite true that the 

 temperature at the altitude is below that of the plains, especially during the night, and 

 I have myself been enveloped in falling sleet and snow more than once, both in June 

 and August, though as a rule the Cumberland mountains seldom have a thick covering 

 of snow, and often only a few inches once or tvvice in a winter. Still, the temperature of 

 ordinary mountains always approaches that of the plains in summer, and one would 

 have expected was in Britain at least sufficiently high to rouse these wasps in their 



