RETURNS OF RAINFALL, ETC., IN DORSET. 



241 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE APPEARANCE OF INSECTS, 1891, 



* Hybernated April 17th. t Hybernated May 31st. 



Mr. E, Bankes says " an immense number of hybernated wasps 

 was seen everywhere, and especially along a piece of quick-set 

 hedge close to Corfe Castle Rectory, where on any sunny day in 

 May they could be counted almost by hundreds, and filled the air 

 with the loud humming noise they made that the Painted Lady, 

 Vanessa Cardui, was extremely scarce ; that the Currant Moth, 

 Abraxas grossulariata, was unusually abundant;" which latter 

 observation Mr. Richardson corroborates, but the Rev. 0. P. 

 Cambridge reports that it was by no means abundant in his 

 district, 



