THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 293 
to Vauxhall Bridge: thus London is not quite bereft of but- 
terflies.—T. P. Lucas. 
Honey Bees.—On Sunday morning last, shortly before 
ten o’clock, a swarm of bees issued from one of my hives. 
After remaining in the air for a few minutes, making the 
usual humming noise, they suddenly returned, clustering 
round the entrance of the hive for a little time before re- 
entering. The hive is not more than a third full of comb, and 
the stock is very small, being a late and weak cast. Can you 
assign any reason for this strange proceeding on the part of 
the bees? For some time after their return the noise within 
showed that they were still in a state of great excitement. I 
turned up the hive within a few minutes after their re-entrance, 
but could discover no cause for the unusual commotion.— 
Joseph S. Baly; Warwick, October 13, 1874. 
[Will some apiarian correspondent kindly reply.—Edward 
Newman. | 
Cynips lignicola, Wart.—Six species of Synergus are 
known to inhabit the galls of this species, namely,—Mela- 
nopus, Hayneanus, Pallidipennis, Apicalis, Pallicornis, and 
Vulgaris: for a translation of Dr. Mayr’s interesting note on 
its parasitism, see ‘ Entomologist,’ vii. 55. Ceroptres arator 
has also been bred from the very small, stunted galls of 
Cynips lignicola. All the above inquilines pass the winter in 
the gall, emerging in the spring of the following year.—E. A. 
Fitch; Downe Hall, Rayleigh, Essex. 
[I regret that this and the following note were not in time 
for insertion at p. 266.—Edward Newman. ] 
Cynips conglomerata.—Synergus melanopus, S. apicalis, 
S. pallicornis, and Ceroptres arator, are dependent on the 
galls of Conglomerata. Neither this nor the above species 
has been recorded as British.— EH. A. Fitch. 
An Epizoic Beetle-——Dr. Le Conte describes, in the 
‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London,’ November 
5th, 1872, a new family of Coleoptera, under the term 
Platypsyllide, founded on Platypsylla Castoris, made known 
by Ritsema, who discovered it on specimens of the 
American beaver in the Zoological Gardens of Amsterdam. 
A little later Prof. Westwood described it under the name 
of Platypsyllus castorinus, a singular coincidence as regards 
the scientific name. Ritsema regarded it as representing a 
