1898.] 213 



up from the ground below. She worked rapidly, taking about half-a-minute over 

 each pellet. — F. W. L. Sladen, Rippje Coiirt, Ringwould, Dover : Aug. llth, 1898. 

 l^Sphecodes spinulosus is quoted by Perez in his " Catalogue des Melliferes de 

 Sud Quest," as having a spring male — " S printanier" and of HaJictus xanthopus 

 he remarks, " le $ quelquefois, hiverne comme la $ ," possibly with us both sexes 

 of the Sphecodes hibernate. If this be so it looks as if the J of the inquiline had 

 learnt how to prolong its life by hibernation before its host. — E.S.] 



Sirices in Suffolk* — Until the present year the destructive Sir ex gig as appears 

 to have been rare in the county, the only specimens recorded (" Ent. Weekly Int." 

 [vol. ix]), being those taken by Mr. Eichard Tyrer at Eye, in September, 1860 ; 

 and many years ago at Great Glenham by Eev. E. N. Bloomfield. This year, 

 however, there appears to be an influx, since specimens have been noted at Orford, 

 Bury St. Edmund's, Eye (1883 and 1893), Bungay, Lowestoft, Ipswich, and Sud- 

 bury. I have been attempting to ascertain what proportion of these are indigenous 

 and those occurring at Bury (Tostock) and Orford (Gredgrave) are put beyond all 

 doubt by the larval borings being in the former case so numerous as' to render the 

 spruce-firs incapable of resisting a gale, and in the latter the larches, felled five years 

 ago for firing, are full of the larvae in all stages of growth. Those from Grlenham 

 are said to be indigenous, but the examples from the five last mentioned localities 

 have probably been for the most part imported from G-ermany, Austria, &c., since 

 only single specimens have been found at different times. As regards S. juvencus, 

 the only records, as far as I am aware, are from Mr. W. H. Tuck, who now and then 

 takes it at Tostock, from timber felled for firing in the immediate neighbourhood. 

 — Claude Moeley, Ipswich : July, 1898. 



P.S. — Since the above was written S. gigas has turned up in many more locali- 

 ties, and although such a thing is, I believe, not recognised, one may call the present 

 a "gigas year," at all events as far as Suffolk is concerned. The Eev. Foster Melliar 

 has seen one or two on palings at Botesdale, and Mr. Duncan Parker has found it at 

 Eattlesden and Clapton. Single specimens have also occurred at Woolpit, Alde- 

 burgh and Bentley. Mr. Bloomfield further informs me that he remembers 

 noticing S. juvencus at Great Glenham, but this appears to have been very rarely 

 seen with us.— C. M., August. 



Aculeate Symenoptera at Liitleliampton. — I spent four weeks this summer at 

 Littlehampton, from June 7th to July 5th, and hoped to have been able to record a 

 fair number of good captures, but I regret to say the result of my collecting was on 

 the whole distinctly disappointing. Only two really rare species turned up. One, 

 Astatus stigma in some numbers and in both sexes, the males being decidedly more 

 numerous than the females. They occurred on the sandy tract of coast across the 

 Ferry, apparently preferring the ground on the immediate north of the sand hills, 

 between them and the gravel pits ; there they delighted to sit and bask on the sand, 

 and the males could be easily detected by the ivory-white spot on the face, which 

 was distinctly visible even at some distance. A small fly with a silvery face and 

 dusky wings was abundant over the same ground, flying and moving almost exactly 



« Vide " East Anglian Daily Times," July 12th, 16th, and 19tb, &c., 1898. 



