114 May. 



With regard to the genuine margarotana (which has not yet been found in the 

 British Isles) it will be sufficient to say, that it is a very dark species, darker even 

 than resinella, and that the dark grey of its fore-wings is broken up throughout by 

 transverse bands of rather paler grey, in which are indistinct leaden lines ; head and 

 thorax also dark grey, almost blackish, hind-wings dark grey with whitish cilia ; 

 female slightly darker in colour and more robust than the male ; it is also a some- 

 what stouter species than retiferana. It will be necessary in future to use the 

 latter name in referring to our rare British species. — Chas. G. Barrett, 39, Linden 

 Grove, Nunhead : March Ibth, 1893. 



Note on Eetima duplana, Hi. — In 1890 two females of this species were sent 

 with other moths by one of his correspondents at Forres to Mr. Salvage then col- 

 lecting in Ireland. They afterwards came into my hands, but owing to the damage 

 done to them by grease and mildew, to say nothing of their having been relaxed 

 and reset, it was by no means easy to identif}' them with any certainty, even with 

 the help of foreign specimens. In 1891 the Messrs. Salvage took several specimens 

 at Forres, which, when compared with those in Mr. P. B. Mason's series, and with 

 others from Silesia, proved to be undoubtedly R. duplana. Mr. Barrett also kindly 

 confirmed this identification. Last spring Mr. Eeid, of Pitcaple, sent me some 

 living females from Forres, which I sleeved on a small Scotch fir in my garden. The 

 larvae duly hatched and fed, as stated by von Heinemann, in the young shoots of the 

 bush. Unfortunately, I did not trouble myself about tliem, consequently, when full 

 grown, most of them ate their way out of the sleeve and were lost. A few larvae 

 luckily pupated in their prison in July, from which the moths are now emerging 

 indoors. They are much more beautiful than the caught specimens ; indeed, they 

 resemble in brilliancy of marking the Scotch form of R. pinivorana rather than the 

 dingy form of R. turionana known as posticana, with which the species has lately 

 been confused in this country. — W. H. B. Fletcher, Worthing : March \Zth, 1893. 



JEarly Hymenoptera. — Yesterday (March 23rd) I took two male Colletes cuni- 

 cularia, and to-day there were many more about, and I took one female also ; this 

 is a very early record for our local bee. The spot where the insects occurred is a 

 new locality, six miles west of the head quarters of the species at Wallasey, but on 

 ground of same character —rough sand hills by the sea. The males were coursing 

 very rapidly backwards and forwards, as is their wont, on a steep bank of bare sand, 

 seemingly regardless of sweet sallow bloom in valley below ; the female, as usual, 

 was revelling in the sallow blossoms. — Willoughbt Gardner, Hoylake, Cheshire : 

 March 2Uh, 1893. 



Nomada borealis parasitic on Andrena lapponica. — Andrena ^tf^/>o«jea appeared 

 here this year in considerable numbers. I saw the first $ on March 5th, and during 

 the following six or seven days they were out in abundance. On March 11th and 

 12th they were nearly all engaged in carrying pollen. On the 12th I saw several 

 NomadcB flying about the burrows of lapponica, and on catching one found it to be 

 N. borealis. A second one that I caught was just about to enter one of the burrows. 

 A friend, Mr. H. Elgar, who was wilh me, caught two more. They were all of the 

 same species. I am not aware that Nomada borealis has been previously recorded 

 as parasitic on A. lapjjonica, it being usually found with A. Clarkella ; in fact, only 



