NOTES ON COLLECTING. 99 
after their winter rest. In the bottoms of the valley below the Villa 
Pagello I took a male specimen of the grey-brown Skipper Carcharodus 
alceae, apparently freshly emerged. This species is very common every- 
where in Italy from spring to autumn, and frequents gardens, fields, 
and other cultivated places, both in the plains and on the mountains. 
During the whole of March the Hemipiteron Ihapiyaster sagittifer 
has been very abundant, entering our Villa Pagello, where it has a 
great partiality for the open window sills, and also the interior and 
exterior walls of the Villa. This insect, which belongs to the Emitteri 
and which is extraordinarily abundant in Italy, frequents currant and 
gooseberry bushes and many fruit-bearing trees. It is not a welcome 
visitor as it emits a most repugnant odour, especially after the least 
touch. In length it is 15mm.-16mm., of yellowish-grey or brownish 
colour, and is completely covered with dark spots. The antenne are 
black ringed with white. Another of the “Solitary”? Bees, Psithyrus 
rupestris, is now common on the hillsides of Monte Berico. It is found 
chiefly in the mountainous districts of Northern Italy, where it settles 
often upon rocks or on the flowers of the fields. The perfect insect, 
in general appearance on the wing much resembles Bombus agrorum 
var. pascuorum (Scop.), and they both look very handsome under the 
strong light of the sun. 
March 23rd.—The weather for the past three or four days has been 
so bad that it has been almost impossible to make any fresh observa- 
tions worth recording. We have had a succession of high winds, rain, 
a slight fall of snow, with frequent changes of temperature, 
necessitating a frequent return to overcoats. In the covered arcades 
leading down towards Vicenza, I found this afternoon a freshly 
emerged specimen of the moth Taentocampa incerta. On the high 
slopes of Monte Berico near the gardens I also found to-day the bright 
fresh blossoms of Forsythia viridissima, a pretty garden shrub; also 
those of the charming Anemone coccinea, which grow singly on certain 
parts of the hillsides. 
March 25th—The weather has considerably recovered, though 
“March winds”’ are in evidence as in England. I have to-day taken 
the following species of Hymenoptera on Monte Berico, viz., the Wasp 
Polistes gallica, and the Solitary Bee Nomada succincta’; also the 
Rhynchota Hysarcoris aeneus; and the Beetle Anthaxia manca (Fab.), 
of the family Buprestidae. Lastly I have taken a specimen of the 
Dipteron which is common here, and noisy as well as conspicuous, 
, Volucella pellucens, a parasite of the Bombus Bees. 
March 27th.—This morning Signore A. HE. Barutfaldi of Vicenza 
most kindly brought me a small nest of the Wasp Polistes gallica 
found in a rather curious place—between the folds of a small woollen 
bag upon the kitchen chimney of his house. Signore Baruffaldi has 
been most kind in helping me to name the various species of Hymen- 
optera, Coleoptera, etc., which I have found during my stay at Vicenza 
and in many other ways. 
This afternoon I netted on the slopes of Monte Berico a fine speci- 
men of [phiclides podalirius apparently just emerged. 
I left Vicenza for good at the end of March, 1919, for Turin. 
The following are a few more species of various orders found 
during the month of March at Vicenza not mentioned in the previous 
notes, as I was unable to name them for various reasons until after my 
final return to England in October, 1919. 
