THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 71 
composed of the cottony flowers of the “spear”—was a 
single cup-shaped waxen cell, nearly half an inch in diameter. 
The humble bee, after making its escape from the soft mass 
of material I held in my hand, circled round my head a few 
times in the air, and then went directly to the spot in the 
grass where I had taken the “nest” from, at the same time 
buzzing loudly, and being apparently in great agitation as it 
settled, and ran about amongst the blades of grass. Having 
no net with me I could not capture it. I have before seen 
similar occurrences to both I have here briefly described, so 
that the facts are as “old as the hills;” but may I ask what 
is the name of the respective builders, and did the humble 
bee construct the nest itself?—G. B. Corbin. 
[The larger nest, the wasp’s, was probably that of Vespa 
britannica; the smaller one, a bee’s, that of Bombus 
Sylvarum.—Hdward Newman. | 
Note on Megastigmus.—As I believe I have lately 
made two mistakes in stating that Megastigmus giganteus 
occurs in England, I wish to take the first opportunity 
of rectifying them. ‘The first error is in the name, M. gigan- 
teus, Kollar: it appears to be a synonym of Cleptes stigma, 
Fabr. (ichneumon stigma, Fabr., olim.). The second error 
is in the supposition that this species is a parasite of Cynips 
Kollari: it is a parasite of C. argentea, and differs slightly, 
though probably specifically, from the Megastigmus of 
C. Caput-Meduse, and still more from that of C. Kollari. 
This last Megastigmus has followed its prey into England, 
and there are some other undetermined British species of the 
green-back group of Megastigmus.—Francis Walker. 
Entomological Pins.—I should be obliged to any readers 
of the ‘Entomologist’ who would kindly inform me where 1 
can obtain pins measuring two-thirds of an inch in length, 
and of the stoutness of No.10. Ihave met with several pins 
of the size, but have failed to find out whence they were 
obtained.—J. E. Fletcher ; Pitmaston Road, Worcester. 
Proceedings of the South London Entomological Society, 
January 29th and February 11th, 1874. 
Donations announced. 
Sir John Lubbock’s work on the ‘Collembola and Thy- 
sanura;’ from the author. 
