The Zoologist— July, 1867. 839 



Mr. F. Smith exhibited an old razor-case in one of the compartments of which was 

 a nest of Odynerus quadratus : the case had been allowed to lie on a shelf near an 

 open window, and entry was effected through a hole in ihe bottom. In August, 1866, 

 it was seut to Mr. Smith, with a request that he would name the occupant; but ha 

 was then unable to determine the species, as several wasps of the genus Odynerus were 

 known to construct similar nests in crevices of old walls, holes in posts, and frequently 

 in bauks ; and various instances of the construction of their nests in odd situations 

 were on record. Thus Prof. Westwood had mentioned an instance of 0. quadratus 

 building its nest in the folds of a piece of paper; Mr. Curtis has discovered a nest of 

 O. parietum on the top of a book ; and a friend of Mr. Smith's had once brought him an 

 octave flute, which had been left in an arbour during a few days' absence, and in the 

 bore of which 0. quadratus had built its mud-cells. The cells constructed in the razor- 

 case produced ten males and four females; the cells were placed in various positions, 

 necessitated probably by the form of the case and the confined space; the four female 

 cells and six of the male cells were placed transversely, the rest were in a longitudinal 

 direction ; one cell was empty, and was placed obliquely to the sides of the case. The 

 development of the insects was as follows: on the 20th of March, 1867, they were 

 still in the larva state ; by the 10th of May they had changed to pups ; on the 22nd 

 of May six males came forth ; on the 25th three males; on the 30th one male; on 

 the 1st of June three females appeared; and on the 3rd another female. Not a 

 single parasite was obtained. Mr. Smith added that he had bred most of the species 

 of Odynerus, and had found that the number of males always exceeded the number of 

 females, in the proportion of three to one, or thereabouts. 



Prof. Westwood was able to add another instance to the list of curious localities for 

 wasps' and bees' nests. Mr. Higgins had a Peruvian drinking-vessel in the form of 

 some uncouth imaginary quadruped, the mouthpiece being in the back of the animal, 

 and in this cup, at the extremity of one of the creatine's legs, a bee had built its 

 nest. 



Mr. M'Lachlan remarked that he had receutly seen the male (S. linearis, Klug) of 

 the sawfly, Strongylogaster cingulatus, in some numbers near Croydon ; although the 

 female was geuerally very abundant, the male was very rarely seen. He alluded also 

 to the apparent total absence of males of many species of Tenihredinidae, as, e.^., in 

 Selandria stramiueipes, the females of which were universally abundant, in company 

 with the Strongylogaster, on the young fern in spring. It would almost seem as if 

 these were cases of parthenogenesis. 



Mr. Janson mentioned Tomieu* villosus as a nearly parrallel case among the 

 Coleoptera ; it was true Ratzeburg figured an insect which was said to be the male, 

 but, though myriads of the female were found annually, he believed that the male had 

 never been detected in this country. 



The President exhibited a specimen of one of the wingless Diptera which he had 

 found at Farnborough, Kent, under bark, in company with Thysanura. He believed 

 it to be the Epidapus venaticus of Haliday (see Walker, Ins. Brit. Diptera, iii. 56). 



Mr. S. Stevens exhibited specimens of Gordius aqualicus, numbers of which were 

 that morning observed on the ground in his garden at Kennington after the heavy 

 rain of the previous night. A nephew of his had also seen the Gordius at Ashford on 

 rose trees. Mr. Weir had noticed them at Brixton, and Mr. Bond near the Regent's 

 Park, ou bushes. 



