44 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



that of 1882. Sugar had no attraction whatever. — Thomas 

 Walpole; 48, Westgate, Grantham, December 13, 1883. 



Abundance of Exapate gelatella. — Has the excessive 

 abundance of Exapate gelatella been noticed in other parts of the 

 country ? In the West Biding of Yorkshire, at the end of October 

 and beginning of November, it occurred in profusion. Here it 

 seemed equally at home in all sorts of places, — gardens in the 

 town, fields, palings, woods, &c, all being favoured with its 

 presence. Near Bingley we are told " they arose at eveiy step, 

 and there must have been thousands of them." In contrast to 

 the scarcity of insects in the summer, autumn species seem to 

 have been plentiful. I took Dasypolia tevipli and Hybemia 

 aurantiaria about lamps almost in the town, and the latter has 

 been common on lamps in the outskirts ; and I do not remember 

 ever noticing Cheimatobia brumata so finely and strongly marked 

 as this year. — Geo. T. Porritt; Huddersfield, Dec. 1, 1883. 



[The last mentioned species, common in Epping Forest in 

 most seasons, has been unusually so in this, and of large size 

 and well marked. — J. T. C] 



Late Wasps. — The mild and open weather which we have 

 lately experienced, notwithstanding there has been a good deal of 

 rain, has tended to keep insects astir long after their normal time 

 for retiring. There having been no frosts of sufficient severity to 

 kill off the mignonette in the gardens the hive-bees have, up to 

 within a few days of the time I am writing, been doing their best 

 to extract what little honey they could from the blossoms. But 

 I have been more astonished at the number of wasps still about. 

 Early in August I marked two very strong nests of Vespa 

 vulgaris, which I expected would be of extra size, and con- 

 sequently make good cabinet additions. One of these I took on 

 the 16th of last month, but, unfortunately, I did not succeed in 

 getting it out perfect: it was in very rocky ground, and got 

 much crushed. I therefore determined to try the other on 

 another opportunity. This I expected to be the larger of the 

 two, so I kept my eyes on it at short intervals to watch how it 

 went on. It was built in one of those small mounds in a hilly 

 field, which go by the name of ant-hills. The excrescences, 

 whatever they may be, are not solitary mounds, but are strewed 

 thickly over the whole field, and are some sixteen to twenty 



