300 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Wasps destructive to Larv^, &c. — I have heard a good deal of the 

 harm done by wasps, but not a word on the other side. There can be 

 no doubt, however, that they are very active scavengers, destroying aphides 

 and larvae in enormous quantities. The scarcity of larvge in the New 

 Forest this August was probably greatly due to their industry. The 

 destruction of larvae, of course, is to the entomologist by no means an 

 unmixed blessing, though from a wider point of view it may be. For the 

 destruction of nests, I have found by far the easiest aud most effectual 

 method to be a lump of cyanide of potassium dropped in the mouth of the 

 hole.— F. C. WooDFOKDE ; Market Drayton, Salop, Sept. 23, 1893. 



CAPTUKES AND FIELD EEPOETS. 



Notes on VANEssiDiE, &c., in the Cotswolds. — With reference to Mr. 

 J. Anderson's note (Entom. 276) I may state that, though Vanessa cardui 

 was very plentiful in this district (about seven miles from Stroud) last year, 

 and Colias edicsa swarmed round Dursley, I have not seen a single specimen 

 of either of these two species this season. Pliisia gamma, too, has been 

 very scarce ; last Saturday I noticed two or three in very good condition, 

 the first, I believe, that I have seen here this year. Vanessa io, V. atalanta, 

 and V. urticcR, on the other hand, have been plentiful enough ; at the 

 present time V. atalanta is particularly abundant in orchards, &c., feeding 

 on fallen pears. I took V. c-album on Sept. 2nd. Macroglossa stellatarum 

 has been noticed in considerable numbers round here of late. The August 

 brood of LyccRna bellargus was fairly abundant here ; this is, I believe, 

 rather a local insect in Gloucestershire. I have not heard of any Cotswold 

 captures of L. arion this year, nor have I found it myself. — R. W. 

 Fitzgerald; Uley, Dursley, Gloucestershire, Sept. 12, 1893. 



Macroglossa stellatarum at Kilburn. — On the 3rd inst. my uncle 

 and myself were pleased to see a fine M. stellatarum hovering over the 

 petunias in our garden, about 6.15 p.m. — George Bergman ; 29, Priory 

 Eoad, Kilburn, N.W., Sept. 5, 1893. 



Argynnis euphrostne late in August. — On August 26th, at Bagley 

 Wood, Berks, I took a small A. euphrosyne on the wing. It was a dark 

 specimen with very light fringe, in splendid condition, and had evidently 

 but shortly left the chrysalis. It appeared weak on the wing, but that may 

 have been on account of the weather being somewhat unfavourable. I have 

 recorded the capture as the insect is evidently a member of an abnormal 

 second brood, though, I beUeve, it is not an unknown occurrence for a few 

 individuals of this species to appear in the autumn. — W. J. Lucas (B.A.); 

 Juxon Street, Oxford, Aug. 31, 1893. 



Polyommatus bcetica near Dartford. — While seeking for varieties 

 of P. phloeas on the railway embankment near this town, on the 7th inst., 

 my son noticed a butterfly (with its wings closed) which he did not recognise, 

 settled on a flower. He accordingly at once netted and boxed it, and 

 showed it to me (I was only a few yards distant at the time), when I was 

 soon able to identify it as P. bcetica. It is a male, and in very fair condi- 

 tion, but is considerably smaller than Newman figures them in his ' British 

 Butterflies.' Doubtless, had the insect been on the wing, it would have 

 been passed over as a worn common blue, a few of which are about, aud we 



