NOTES AND OBSBKVATIONS. 185 



The Tapping of Anobium tessellatum. — Judging from the 

 notes on this subject by Mr. Gahan and Mr. Claude Morley in 

 vol. xliii., some record by an eye- and ear-witness may be acceptable. 

 Some years ago it was found necessary to replace a beam in the 

 library of Cambridge University. When the old timber was 

 taken out, it was found to be dreadfully riddled by Anobium tessel- 

 latum (now called Xestohium rufovillosum), and a lump of it was 

 brought to me with several of the beetles, as well as its attendant 

 Corynetes. The wood was placed with the beetles in a large glass 

 receptacle on my writing-table, and for some days I had frequent 

 opportunities of seeing and hearing the performance of the beetle. I 

 regret very much that I took no notes, and can therefore only speak 

 from memory. The beetle rests very quietly on the wood ; the head 

 is down below, on account of the peculiar formation of the thorax. 

 The creature at intervals becomes restless, and, raising the front 

 part of the body from the wood, rapidly lowers it, thus striking the 

 wood with the front surface of the head. After several taps it 

 becomes quiet again. My impression as to the number of strokes is 

 that they were usually from three to six in number. I did not find 

 that any impression was produced on its fellows by the performance, 

 and if asked I should say that it is merely a restless habit. It will 

 probably be easy to procure specimens of the beetle in the early 

 summer in places where there are old large buildings ; so that we 

 may hope that someone will soon give us a better account than my 

 recollection permits me to do. I would strongly advise that some of 

 the wood it may be found in be placed with the beetle. Indeed, it 

 should be kept in as natural a condition as possible, and the speci- 

 mens should not be crowded. — D. Sharp ; Lawnside, Brockenhurst, 

 April 12th, 1911. 



Odynerus callosus. — A few days ago a friend living in Stroud, 

 Gloucestershire, sent me an insect which he met with basking in the 

 sun on a stone wall not far from his residence on February 15th last. 

 The insect was Odynerus (subgen. Ancistrocerus) callosus, Thorn., a 

 very common species here in the summer and autumn. It must 

 have been a hybernated specimen. Can your readers inform me if 

 they have ever met with this insect so early in the season ? The date 

 I consider worth recording. — V. R. Perkins ; Wootton-under-Edge, 

 April 17th, 1911. 



The Tutt Collection. — We all knew Tutt. Not only in this 

 country but on the Continent of Europe also, and possibly far beyond, 

 his name was to the entomologist a household word. His ' British 

 Noctuae and their Varieties ' has for many years been a well-studied 

 book ; why, then, was so little interest manifested by those assembled 

 at Stevens's Sale Rooms on April 11th, when the material that he had 

 collected during the best years of his life, and on which this book was 

 largely based, was offered at auction ? A satisfactory answer is 

 difficult to find, but the fact remains that many lots which contained 

 the actual specimens on which his varietal names were founded 

 brought no more than, if as much, as would an equal number of 

 specimens from any ordinary collection. Thus, for example, a lot of 

 105 specimens, including Bryoiihila perla vars. distincta and flave- 



