9138 Entomological Society. 
earnest of a correspondent summer flight, but rather the contrary. I-mean that if 
wasps are abundant in the spring they are scarce in the summer, and, vice versd, if 
they are scarce in the spring they are abundant in the summer.” The communication 
concludes with a hope that some reader will, if possible, throw a light upon the 
“above fact.” At Zool. 2678 I have endeavoured to account for the circumstances 
narrated by Mr. Bree. In order to support Mr. Bree’s conclusions, wasps should be 
comparatively scarce during the coming summer and autumn, and such I am inclined 
to expect will prove to be the case, for reasons which I will proceed to detail. All 
those who, like myself, take annual holidays in autumn will remember the wet, suaking 
wet, autumn of last year. I spent a week in Dorsetshire, visiting Pool and Swanage: 
to say that it rained every day would scarcely convey a correct idea of the weather I 
experienced ; it, in fact, rained every night also, more or less. I was told by the resi- 
dents that it was the wettest serson that had occurred in that part of the country for 
many years. During the few brief iutervals of sunshine that occurred, I rambled over 
Purbeck Hills, which are strewed over with slabs of the Purbeck stone; under these, 
when in search of Coleoptera, I found considerable numbers of female wasps; all were 
in a semi-torpid state, having apparently taken refuge for the purpose of hybernation. 
The pairing season had been most unpropitious to the Vespide, and I am inclined to 
believe that when this is the case a large majority of the females never copulate with 
the other sex; and if this be a fact we can readily understand that, in cold, ungenial 
seasons, the females will retire to their hybernaculi at a much earlier period than in 
fine warm sunny autumnal weather. Bearing these considerations in mind, I look 
forward to the coming autumn with a degree of curiosity, anxious to ascertain by facts 
in how great or less a degree they will accord with results which are anticipated in the 
above remarks, because I think we may fairly conclude that, if the majority of spring 
wasps deposit unfertilized eggs, we cannot look forward to the appearance of large 
swarms of wasps in the autumn.—Frederick Smith. 
Proceedings of Societies. 
Entomotocicat Sociery. 
June 6, 1864.—H. T. Srarton, Esq., V.P., in the chair. ' 
Donations to the Library. 
The following donations were announced, and thanks voted to the donors:— 
‘The Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, Vol. xxv. Part 1; 
presented by the Society. ‘ Verhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Kéniglichen Zuologisch- 
botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien,’ Band xiii.; by the Society. ‘Monographie der 
Oestriden,’ von Friedrich Brauer; by the Author. ‘The Transactions of the Ento- 
mological Society of New South Wales,’ Vol. i. Part 2; by the Society. ‘ Histoire 
Naturelle des Araignées (Aranéides) par Eugéne Simon; by the Author. ‘ Sitzungs- 
berichte der Naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft Isis zu Dresden,’ Jahrgang, 1863; 
by Herr L. W. Schanfuss. ‘The Zoologist’ for June; by the Editor. ‘The Intel- 
lectual Observer,’ Nos. xxviii. and xxix.; by the Publishers. ‘The Journal of the 
Society of Arts’ for May; by the Society. ‘The Atheneum’ for April and May; by 
the Editor. ‘The Reader’ for April; by the Editor. ‘Tbe Entomologist’s Monthly 
