SOME INSECT RECORDS FROM EDINBURGH DISTRICT 147 



SOME INSECT RECORDS FROM THE EDINBURGH 

 DISTRICT IN 1921. 



By William Evans, F.R.S.E. 



That sunshine and warmth favour an abundance of insect- 

 life is common knowledge ; but moisture, it must be 

 remembered, is also indispensable. Here, as in other parts 

 of the country, 1921 was an exceptionally sunny year; yet 

 on the whole it was, from the entomologist's point of view, 

 a poor one, the result no doubt of the severe droughts 

 experienced. Limitation of travelling facilities owing to the 

 great coal strike, and other circumstances prevented me 

 from getting much into the country ; but nevertheless some 

 interesting insects were obtained. The fine warm weather 

 in April brought the spring species early on the scene. 

 .Several bumble-bees, hibernated queens of course, were 

 busy at the blossoms of the white garden arabis and the 

 flowering currant on 6th April ; and long before the month 

 closed practically all our local species — Bonibus lappoiiicus 

 included — had been seen. On 23rd April several of the 

 smaller wild bees, Andrena albicans, Halictiis riibiaindus, etc., 

 were in profusion on the flowers of dandelion and others soon 

 followed. With a continuance of the fine weather these 

 spring aculeates were able to speed up their work, and 

 consequently the period of their activities was early over. 

 A tiny worker of the year's brood of Bovibiis pratorum was 

 seen on i8th May, and two males on 25th June. The 

 abundance of the Click Beetle {Cryptohypnus riparhis) in 

 fields of young grass about Edinburgh in the spring has 

 already been commented on by me in this magazine in 

 November 1921. 



On 20th April I spent a few hours in the glen of the Esk, 

 above Penicuik, looking for beetles, etc., under the bark of 

 felled trees. Almost at the outset the flight holes of 

 Trypodeiidron domesticuin on a dead limb recently cut from 

 an oak caught my eye, and by removing portions of the bark 



