90 VARIETIES. 



appearance of a species of review, which can thus ably unveil a 

 pretender to science, without descending to a coarse and personal 

 attack. In June, we have miscellaneous records of captures, 

 and a few disconnected articles by the indefatigable Mr. Bree. 

 In July, " Notices of the Habits and Transformations of the 

 Dragon-fly, by J.D.," is an amusing paper, and full of in- 

 struction to beginners. We refer our readers to the articles 

 themselves, in which we are sure they will find abundance of 

 instruction and amusement. 



10. Obrium cantharinum. — Several pairs of this extremely 

 rare insect have been recently taken at Broxbourne, Herts, by Mr. 

 Bond, a diligent collector. Having met with one or two flying 

 in an outhouse, he was induced to examine the building, when 

 he discovered, from some holes in the rafters, that they were, in 

 all probability, bred in the timber. On further examination, he 

 found that the rafters were made either of the common poplar 

 or the aspen, and, as is frequently the case in country buildings, 

 had been used without stripping oflT the bark. On removing 

 the bark, he procured several more of the perfect insect, and 

 one larva. I have a piece of the bark which shows the path 

 of the larva and the place of exit of the imago. The outhouse 

 had been erected about eighteen months, and the timber had 

 been purchased from the park of J. Bosanquet, Esq. 



August i^,\^2,% A.H.Davis. 



11, Vespa vulgaris. — The predacious habits of the common 

 wasp are pretty well known ; but one or two singular instances 

 of this character which have come under my observation, may 

 not be altogether uninteresting. 



In 1830, during a short residence at Snaresbrook, in Essex, 

 I was much annoyed by the swarms of wasps which entered 

 the house from an extensive settlement in a bank not far dis- 

 tant. I had placed the produce of an evening's mothing on a 

 setting-board over the mantel-piece. On the following day, 

 I observed a wasp fly in at the open window, and make 

 immediately for the setting-board, on which it instantly 

 alighted. I rose to ascertain its object, when I found it sepa- 

 rating, with its mandibles, the wings of a moth from the trunk. 

 I captured the wasp ; and, on further examination, I discovered 

 that the whole of die bodies of the previous night's captures 



