292 THE entomologist's record. 



this side of the field was twofold. In the first place, probably because 

 the flowers here were richer in sweets, the sun beating on this side of 

 the patch the whole of the day, and secondly, because between this 

 patch and the potato-field was a foot wide stretch of bare earth, which 

 was heated very much by the sun, and suited them admirably for 

 sunning themselves during the intervals of feeding. On my return 

 home, on September 16th, I found an Aglais urticae haunting the 

 scabious flowers, which it continued to do for over a week, and became 

 so tame, that it would walk from a flower up my wife's finger, on to 

 her hand, and rest there. It seemed quite to recognise her by her 

 white blouse, and hovered round without fear whenever she went near 

 the flowers, but whenever I, or my little daughter, went near, it was 

 off and away, but returned as soon as we retired to a distance. — Ibid. 



OxYPTiLus DisTANS AT Thetford. — -Whilst at Thetford, from the 

 end of July to the middle of August, I captured several specimens of 

 the local Oxyptilus distans. — E. J. Hare, 11, Woburn Place, W.C. 

 October 11th, 1906. 



Leaf-cutter bees and thier nests. — One day last August, a 

 wheelwright in a neighbouring village brought me a piece of wood, 

 which was part of the axle of a water-barrel, which had been sent to 

 him for repairs. In it, were three burrows made by a species of leaf- 

 cutter bee — probably says Mr. Guermonprez, of Bognor, to whom I 

 forwarded it — Megachile ligniseca, he having bred this species from 

 nests, which appear identical. The cells were constructed of cuttings 

 from rose-leaves, and retained the green colour as vividly as when 

 fresh. The situation selected for these nests struck me as being some- 

 what unusual. In most seasons, the geraniums in our gardens get 

 sadly disfigured by another species of leaf-cutter bee, doubtless 

 Megachile centuncularis, large semicircular pieces being cut out of the 

 petals by them, and that with greater sharpness and neatness than 

 could be effected by the most dexterous use of a pair of scissors. It is 

 a curious and a pretty sight to see the insects flying off with the 

 brightly-coloured pieces, which they take into holes in the ground, 

 and with which they then line their nests. — Joseph Anderson, 

 Chichester. October- 18th, 1906. 



A second-brood exabiple of Mimas tili^. — I was greatly sur- 

 prised, on the morning of the 18th inst., when my youngest son sent 

 down to my study a live ? of Mimas tiliae, in rather worn 

 condition, he found it on the floor of his bedroom (a room on the top 

 floor of my house, the window of which is open night and day). I 

 cannot find any account of a second-brood in any of my books or 

 magazines (Barrett says " no second-brood"), but I suppose it must be a 

 second-brood emergence. — W. E. Butler, F.E.S., Hayling House, 

 Oxford Eoad, Beading. October 21st, 1906. [See A Natural History of 

 the British Lepidoptera, in., p. 419; Hint. Record, ii., p. 302, etc. — Ed.] 



Abundance and variation op Polyommatus bellargus. — This 

 species simply swarmed at Folkestone at the beginning of September, 

 and some lovely forms and aberrations Avere taken. It is very strange, 

 as the first brood occurred very sparingly, all the ground having been 

 burnt, which makes the autumnal abundance the more remarkable. 

 It has been, on the whole, a grand year for insects, Pyrameis cardui at 

 Folkestone was a sight, so was it also at all the places I visited on the 

 coast, especially at Torquay, where they were everywhere. Colias 



