1894.1 213 



and their larfjje size and pale colour. Their mode of flight, so different from the usual 

 $ wasp busy catering for a large family, certainly seems to confirm Mr. Saunders' recent 

 suggestion of "inquiline" habits like Psithyrus. I may mention also in this con- 

 nection that I followed one, late in the evening, to a heap of manure and rubbish in 

 the corner of the garden, where it proceeded to " go to roost," as if it had no nest of 

 its own. The species is easily distinguishable from the other British Vespidcs by the 

 combination in itself of the following characters,* viz. : — short face (as in the ground 

 wasps), with yellow scape to antennse (as in tree wasps) ; also three dots on clypeus 

 (as in some V. germanica), coupled with black hairs on tibise (as in V. sylvestris and 

 V. norvegica). — Willottghby Gaedneb, Hoylake, Cheshire: August, 1894. 



Solenopsis fugax, Latr., S(e., near Weymouth. — In June last I found at Portland 

 about a dozen workers of Solenopsis fugax, Latr., on the under-side of a stone. 

 These I sent to my friend, Rev. F. D. Morice, of Eugby, who kindly named them 

 for me, informing me that it is one of our rarest ants. It appears to be quite new 

 to Dorset. I have since searched for it, but with very limited success. The stone 

 under which I found them was placed between a nest of Formica nigra on the one 

 hand and F. fiava on the other, about eight inches apart, but ants of several species 

 are very abundant in the locality, and have nests under most stones. I have also 

 found several specimens of Myrmecina Latreillei in my garden here, in half eaten 

 strawberries, and been much interested in observing the manner in which they im- 

 mediately curl up and sham death when looked at, a habit I have not noticed in 

 other ants. I have not as yet found the nest. Some common ants appear to have 

 been most abundant this year, and the mowers complained greatly of the size and 

 number of the ant-hills (chiefly F. fiava) through which they had to mow, which, 

 before the grass was cut, were built far up the stalks, these being used as a foundation 

 to which to attach the earth walls. Is it that in a wet spring like the last the earth 

 (Oxford clay) gets rather sodden, and the ants like to raise their dwellings as high 

 as possible so that they may be drier ? Possibly one of your correspondents can 

 inform us of a good and inexpensive way of getting rid of these ant-hills in the 

 fields. — Nelson M. Eichaedson, Monte Video, Chickerell, near Weymouth : 

 July 22nd, 1894. 



Stylopized $ of Andrena Owynana, race hicolor, captured in cop. — The change 

 produced by the presence of Stylops in a female bee is so conspicuous, that one 

 might doubt whether the bee would retain any attraction for the male. That she 

 does so I recently had proof, by capturing a male and female of Andrena bicolor 

 copulated, and finding that the female was stylopized, having three of the parasites 

 protruding from beneath the apices of the dorsal segments. Since stylopized bees are 

 not abundant, and the intercourse of male and female not very frequently to be 

 observed, it is possible that a similar concurrence may not hitherto have been 

 noticed, and that tlie record of it be of interest to those who have investigated the 

 history of Stylops. I may add that I endeavoured to keep the female alive by 

 feeding, but that it died after four or five days. — A. Piffard, Felden, Boxmoor, 

 Herts : August 6th, 1894. 



* Apijertaiiiiiig aeparateli/ to our other wasps. 



