1R87.] 91 



The electric light as an attraction for Trichoptera. — Whilst waiting for the 

 midnight train west, I pencil you a line. This place is a paradise for the Neurop- 

 terist. EphemeridcB of four or five species abound, some very large, and Trichoptera 

 are in thousands. At Niagara Falls Station the Trichoptera come to the electric light, 

 and in one glass there is a layer of them at least an inch thick at the bottom, they 

 having baen killed by flying at the light.— T. D. A. Cockerell, Buffalo Station: 

 Jult/ 7th, 1887. 



[Compare my notes in Ent. Mo. Mag., xxi, p. 91, September, 1884. — R. McL.] 



Swarms of Lasitis niger, L., var. alienus, Forst., near Dover. — This race or 

 variety of L. niger, which was at one time separated as a species (Forst., Hym. Stud., 

 Heft. 1. FormicaricB : and Cat. Hymen. Aculeata, F. Smith, Ent. Soc, Lon., 1871), 

 was in the most extraordinary abundance at Buckland, near Dover, on August 7th. 

 Being a still and sultry evening, the air was literally full of males, and the ground 

 and walls covered by myriads of both sexes ; the females had mostly denuded them- 

 selves of their wings in order to seek a suitable place for oviposition. I have seen 

 this species in great abundance on the sandhills at Deal in certain seasons, but never 

 anything to compare to the countless thousands on that evening. The late Mr. F. 

 Smith (Ent. Ann., 1856, p. 94) describes an extraordinary flight of Ants at Dover, but 

 this species was augmented by Myrmica scabrinodis and Icevinodis, which I did not 

 observe in this case. I may also mention that Mr. Smith saw them on the cliffs and 

 sea shore, and, in this case, they seemed nearly confined to Buckland, which is nearly 

 three miles from the town of Dover. — C. Gr. Hall, 14, Grranville Street, Dover : 

 August Ihth, 1887. 



Rare Aculeate Hymenoptera in 1887. — I have taken two species of considerable 

 interest this season, which I had not met with previously. The fu-st is Passalmcus 

 monilicornis , of which four ? occurred, three of them near our house, and one near 

 Wotton-under-Edge, about eight or nine miles from here. The other is Salictus 

 atricornis, Sm., of which I took a single male in the woods near "VVotton. I am not 

 aware that it has ever been taken in any other locality than the Cheshire one before. 

 — R. C. L. Perkins, Sopworth Rectory, Chippenham : July, 1887. 



Macropis lahiata at Woking. — On the 30th July, Dr. Capron and myself 

 visited Woking to look for this curious bee which Mr. Enock has so often taken on 

 the Lysimachia vulgaris along the banks of the Woking Canal. We were each of 

 us successful in taking a fair series of both sexes in very fine condition, flying about 

 and settling on the Lysimachia ; the males, however, seemed quite equally attached 

 to the Alisma, which was growing in abundance in the water, in fact, I think I saw 

 more males on the Alisma than on the Lysimachia. On leaving our hunting gi'ound 

 we were surprised to find both sexes plentifully on the common thistle, Cnicus arrensis. 

 Mr. Bridgman also used to take it near Norwich on thistle, so it is evident that it is 

 a species which is not very particular as to the plant it visits. — Edward Saunders, 

 St. Ann's, Bromley, Kent : August 15th, 1687. 



Local Semipfera at Bromley, Kent. — During the last month I have taken, on 

 the common willow, Salix alia, two species of Hemiptera, which are certainly far 



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