1888.] 13] _ 



He must either, like myself, have mixed it with xanthura or else he 

 must have been singularly unfortunate in not meeting with it. In 

 fresh specimens it is distinguishable at a glance, but in worn ones its 

 resemblance to xanthura is extreme. The finer puncturation of the 

 first abdominal segment in similis, as Mr. Perkins points out, is the 

 only character to rely upon in rubbed examples, but even this varies 

 a little, which makes the determination of indifferent specimens very 

 difficult. — E. Saunders.] 



Rare Hymenoptera at Woking. — Although this year has not been one in which 

 sunshine has abounded, still, on the few occasions that I have had for collecting 

 Hymenoptera, I have found them quite as abundant as usual. I was on Woking 

 Heath on the morning of July 26th, and on one little spot near the high road 

 to Chertsey, where there is a slightly raised bank and a large patch of Potentilla 

 tormentilla growing on it, I caught the following in about two hours : — Pompilus 

 Wesmaeli, $ , and P. gibbus, $ . Aporus unicolor, $ — of this great rarity very few 

 British examples are known, and Woking is a new locality for it. Mimesa Daldbomi 

 and equestris — common, but I only got males. Oxybelus mandibularis —another 

 rarity, which hitherto has only occurred at Littlehampton, Hayling Island, and 

 Bournemouth. Andrena analis — commonly, &c. 



Dr. Capron has visited the locality once or twice since, and has succeeded in 

 capturing another Oxybelus mandibularis, and the following: — Ceropales maculata, 

 the two species of Mimesa mentioned above, Pompilus viaticus, Hvagethes bicolor, 

 Oxybelus uniglumis, Sphecodes affinis and pilifrons, Andrena decorata ( $ ) and 

 analis, Epeolus variegatus, Nomada Roberjeotiana ( $ ), always one of our rarities, 

 Hllampus Panzeri, and the pretty fly, Anthrax fenestrata, which he tells me is 

 recorded by Walker as rare in the South and West of England during August and 

 September. I have taken it at Chobham, where it generally seems pretty common. 

 — Edwaed Saunders, St. Ann's, Woking : September 12th, 1888. 



Ravages of Lophyrus pint. — Whilst collecting insects, on the 7th hist., on the 

 estate of Anthony Wilkinson, Esq., Shernton, about eight miles from here, I met 

 with Mr. Barron, his woodman, who informed me that in a small plantation of young 

 trees, about six acres in extent, belonging to a neighbouring landowner, the Scotch 

 firs were infested with myriads of larva? which were completely stripping the young 

 trees; as I expressed a strong desire to see them, he very kindly offered to accompany 

 me to the wood, some two miles away. Upon arrival I found he had not overstated 

 the case, for every tree was infested with hundreds of larva? of a sawfly, often two 

 or three batches upon one tree, eating almost exclusively the old or last year's needles 

 and leaving this year's growth untouched ; in some cases, where the supply of old 

 needles had fallen short, they had actually gnawed the bark ; I noticed one tree that 

 was entirely stripped of the old foliage, not a single needle left ! and I did not see a 

 single tree in any part of the plantation that wo visited but what was infested with 



