2 4 o LETTER TO MR. CONNOLD [CHAP. xxi. 



of them in the Arctic Norway, especially at Tromso and 

 other islands in the vicinity. Mr. J. S. Schneider, Conserva- 

 tor at Tromso Museum, writes in the Swedish ' Entomologisk 

 Tidskrift/ 1885, pp. 148, 149, about this matter as follows : 

 1 Who can tell all the tears which these wicked animals have 

 squeezed from the poor children, or the swearings which 

 the mowers have thrown out, the half-shut eyes, and the 

 swollen hands and cheeks which have shown forth in the 

 autumn months of these two years ? Perhaps this may 

 appear an exaggeration, but it comes, however, pretty near 

 the truth. They built their nests everywhere, in the earth, 

 in stone walls, behind the wainscottings of the houses, under 

 garden benches, on the trees ; it swarmed with wasps on all 

 the flowers and bushes, the windows were filled with them, 

 they crawled on the plates of the dining-tables, licked of the 

 dishes with preserves, crawled under the clothings, and in 

 the hair, and did not at all spare the ladies ! When one was 

 going in the woods, a humming warbling was heard, which 

 is still sounding in my ears ; wasps everywhere, it was 

 almost a despair/ &c. 



" I have not seen anywhere in the southern districts of 

 our country the wasps so exceedingly numerous as they 

 must have been in Tromso in the said years. The species 

 occurring here are : Vespa crabro, media, saxonica, and var. 

 norvegica, holsatica, vulgaris, germanica, rufa, and Pseudo- 

 vespa austriaca." (W. M. S.).] 



November 7, 1893 (continued). 



Now I have much pleasure in begging your acceptance 

 of a few pamphlets sent accompanying by book post three 

 on Hessian fly and one on Paris-green. Two of the 

 Hessian fly pamphlets were condensed notes regarding its 

 first appearance here, the other a report in full of the com- 

 munications of my correspondents. I wished very much 

 to send you a similar detailed report of the first year's 

 observations of this Cecidomyia destructor (fig. 15) in Britain, 

 but as yet I have not been able to find one remaining. 

 Every year since the first appearance of this infestation 

 amongst us, I have received some amount of information 

 as to its greater or less presence, and I have given, so far as 

 I could, my best attention to it. If it should happen that 

 there is any point on which you would wish a reply to any 

 inquiries, I would with pleasure do my best to answer fully, 

 and would think myself honoured, as well as be very much 

 pleased to be in communication with you on the above sub- 

 ject, or any other point of injurious insect presence. 



