1898.] 211 



Andrena proxima at Osmington. — While at Osmington, near Weymouth, this 

 July I was struck by the fuss and flurry a rather small dark Andrena was making 

 over pollen gathering. She hummed like a hive bee, and tore the florets of an 

 umbelliferous plant in the hedge. On examining the capture I found it to be Andrena 

 proxima, which Mr. Saunders tells me is worth recording. — Id. 



Vespa austriaca, Panz., inquiline in the nest of Vespa ru/a, L. — A most inter- 

 esting article on the above wasp by Mr. Charles Eobson, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, 

 appeared in the August number of " Science Gossip," vol. v, pp. 69 — 73. Although 

 Vespa austriaca has long been suspected of inquiline habits, no actual proof of this 

 has been produced so far as I know until now, when its presence in a nest of V. rufa 

 has been satisfactorily discovered. 



Mr. Eobson having lately turned his attention to the subject of austriaca, 

 brought out for examination a nest of Vespa rufa which he had taken in 1S87, and 

 in the cells of this he succeeded in finding perfect females and males of austriaca, 

 and has thus proved beyond doubt that it is the inquiline of V. rufa. His own 

 account should be read, as he goes into careful detail as to the position of the cells 

 in the nest, &c., which contained the rarity. Some of the specimens he found were 

 practically ready to emerge ; the subdentate clypeus, the yellow scape of the antennae, 

 the long 1st abdominal segment, and the hairy tibiae, were all clearly observable. 

 This is one of the most important recent discoveries among the Aculeate Symen- 

 optera, and its author may well be complimented on it. Hymenopterists who want 

 to secure specimens of austriaca should evidently search for them in the neighbour- 

 hood of nests of rufa. Now is the time for capturing $ wasps, and should be made 

 use of in neighbourhoods where rufa abounds to search for the much wanted S of the 

 rarity. — Edwaed Saundees, St. Ann's, Woking : August 9th, 1898. 



Bare Aculeate Hymenoptera taken on the Kent Coast this year. — So far the 

 summer of 1898 has been an unusually cold and sunless one in East Kent, still I 

 have taken several good things, of which the following are additions to my local list. 



Mutilla rufipes, Ltr. — $ Kingsdown. 



Myrmosa melanocephala, Fab. — $ Kingsdown, St. Margaret's Bay. 



Tiphia niiuuta, V. d. L. — At Eipple, in some numbers on a particular patch of 

 parsley bloom in the beginning of July. One ? taken had only one submarginal 

 cell in one of the wings, the first submarginal nervure being absent. A ? of y. 

 femorata, taken on August 9th at St. Margaret's Bay, had both the first and second 

 submarginal cells absent in both wings. 



Astatus stigma, Panz., occurred plentifully in a certain spot on the sandhills to 

 the east of Eye Harbour, near the coastguard station, July 14th. Also a $ , Deal 

 Sandhills, July 26th. 



Tachytes unicolor, Panz. — <? Deal Sandhills, June 21st. 



Spilomena troglodytes, V. d. L. — St. Margaret's Bay. 



Gorytes tumidus, Panz. — Common at Kingsdown and St. Margaret's Bay. 



Nysson dimidiatus, Jur. — Also common at Kingsdown and St. Margaret's Bay. 



Odynerus melanocephalus, Grmel. — Common between Deal and Dover, extending 



some way inland. 



•' S 2 



