9266 Entomological Society. 
shape may have been altered. My opinion is that a heat of 84° to 88° in the shade 
has a great effect on the wax; even the circumstance of a heavy hive being placed a 
little on one side on its board will affect the shape of the cells. Mr. Parfitt’s state- 
ment (Zool. 9155) is perfectly correct. Mr. Tegetmeier has made one observation in 
which I perfectly coincide: he says it is the bees which carry the queen, and not the 
queen which carries the bees, to take possession of an empty or deserted hive with old 
combs. Scout bees may often be seen entering these hives in the swarming season in 
numbers, and ransacking the combs. But who ever observed a queen enter among 
these scout bees to put the combs in order, or to reconnoitre, any time previous to the 
day of swarming? I have recorded that near Burnham, in Somersetshire, a second 
swarm or “cast” entered a vermin-trap, and on scouring the country it was found that 
no bees were kept nearer this spot than four English miles.—H. W. Newman; Hill- 
side, Cheltenham, August 3, 1864. 
Singular Freak of the Insect and Feathered Tribes:—At Hungerford House, 
Madeley, the residence of Mr. J. S. Wilkinson, a pair of swallows having perfected a 
nest under the eaves of the roof of the house, were summarily ejected therefrom by a 
swarm of wasps, who, taking full possession of the tenement, have constructed a very 
curious pyramidal or inverted cone nest, which is in itself quite a curiosity. What is 
still more remarkable, however, is that the swallows, nothing daunted, commenced to 
build a new habitation within two inches of the wasps immediately after being driven 
from the old one, and have since completed it and reared a brood of young birds, the 
insects and the birds appearing to carry on their work in the most friendly manner.— 
Contributed by Mr. George Maw, of Broseley. 
Larva and Pupa of Ripiphorus paradoxus.—Both coleopterists and hymenopterists 
will doubtless feel interested in the announcement tbat the discovery of the larva and 
pupa of the above parasite has at length been made. On Saturday morning last I was 
fortunate, on opening a cell contained in a nest of Vespa vulgaris, in discovering a 
larva of Ripiphorus in the act of consuming the spun-up larva of the wasp to whose 
body it was firmly adhering. -It had not then made much progress in the work of 
destruction, but in the course of the following forty-eight hours it entirely consumed 
its victim, with the exception of the skin and mandibles. From other cells in the 
same nest I obtained pupe of the parasite as well as specimens of the perfect insect.— 
S. Stone; Brighthampton, Witney, August 23, 1864. 
The Locust in Cornwall.—A specimen of the locust (Gryllus migratorius) was 
captured on the cliffs near this place on Tuesday last.—John Cornish ; Penzance, 
September 9, 1864. 
Proceedings of Societies. 
ENToOMOLOGICAL Soctery. 
September 5, 1864.—F. P. Pascor, Esq., President, in the Chair. 
Additions to the Library. 
The following donations were announced, and thanks voted to the donors:— 
‘Catalogue of North American Butterflies, by J. W. Weidemeyer; presented by the 
Author. ‘ Abhandlungen der Naturhistorischen Gesellschaft zu Nirmberg, Bd. 3; by 
the Society. ‘The Zoologist’ and ‘The Entomologist’ for September; by the Editor. 
