174 THE entomologist's record. 



The writer noticed a small branch of Sumach which had been used 

 as a dwelling by a number of Hymenoptera and which had been opened 

 at several points by a woodpecker. Subsequently to these operations, 

 and in spite of the precarious condition of the stem, opened at several 

 points, another Hymenopteron thought it still serviceable and turned it 

 into a nest for its progeny. One cell was built at the bottom of the 

 excavated channel, a piece of resin formed the floor, and a transverse 

 partition of the same substance the ceiling. The rest of that portion 

 of the tunnel up to the orifice bored by the woodpecker was left 

 unoccupied. A stopper of resin was then placed just below the level 

 of this opening, a second in the orifice itself and a third above it. In 

 the tunnel above this the bee constructed several cells, but again did not 

 make use of the whole length below the next orifice made by the wood- 

 pecker. A straight resin stopper was placed just below this second 

 orifice. The writer concludes with the following quotation from 

 Fenton, " A7i7i. Soc. Ent. Fr.," 1901, " With Hymenoptera, acts of 

 intelligence are exceptional ; often those which seem such are nothing 

 else than its manifestations of a habit but seldom remarked." 



Among the agricultural pests in the western continent but few 

 seem to give more trouble than those which have been unknowingly 

 imported from Europe. In two Bulletins received from the New York 

 Agricultural Experiment Station entitled respectively. The Leaf -weevil 

 [Polydrusns impressifro?is) and Plant-lice Injurious to Ajjple Orchards, 

 Prof. P. J. Parrott and his coadjutors discuss the life-history and 

 possible controls of four of these immigrants. Most of the experiments 

 detailed in these reports are on the use of various insecticides. Only 

 in the case of the weevil has the possible control of its natural enemy, 

 the only one so far discovered, viz., the Braconid THosjnlus jjolydrusi^ 

 been considered. 



The Ent. Mo. Mag. for May concludes an interesting article on 

 " The Rarity and Restricted Distribution of Insect Species," by G. B. 

 Walsh, B.Sc. The writer sums up the various factors in the problem 

 as follow : — 



1. Rareness, consists of — 



a. Paucity in numbers. b. Restriction of range or habitat. 



2. Rareness due to — 



a. Phylogenetic Factors. 



(1) Distributional origin. (2) Gradually increasing range. 

 (3) Gradually decreasing (4) Evolution of new forms. 



range. 

 (5) Relation to other (6) Past geological history. 



organisms. 

 (7) Difference in (8) Exceptional means of distri- 



migrational paths. bution. 



(9) Change of physiographical and climatic conditions. 



b. Ontogenetic Factors. (Almost invariably fundamentally 



climatic). 

 (1) Unfavourably on the 



organism. (2) Unfavourably on its food 



supply. 

 (3) Favourably on its enemies. 

 In the May number of the Ent. Mo. Mag., Mr. D. Sharp discusses 

 the British species of the Bagoini group of the Bhynchophora. He 



