2960 Insects. 



common. I may particularly mention Tetanops myopina ; I also met with Pipun- 

 culus pratorum, and Asilus forcipatus ; the last was taken in the act of sucking the 

 juices from the body of the species of an allied genus, which it had captured, viz., 

 the Dasypogon brevirostris. A few days back I found Porphyrops latipes of Mac- 

 quart, in the neighbourhood of Bradford ; and I could enumerate many other unde- 

 scribed or uncommon species ; but by so doing, I should encroach too much on your 

 pages, and tire your readers. In conclusion, I may briefly notice the most serious 

 difficulty which the British student here has to contend with ; I allude to the litera- 

 ture of the subject. No work yet exists in the English language, describing the 

 genera and species of British Diptera, and it is necessary to have recourse to 

 foreign authors. I am glad to say that this difficulty is soon likely to be removed, 

 for the publication society which has recently been formed, under the patronage of 

 the Entomological Society, intends to commence a series of works entitled, ' Insecta 

 Britannica,' by a volume on Diptera, from the pen of Mr. F. Walker, who is well 

 known for his attention to this order of insects ;* and I hope that by means of this 

 society an impulse will be given to the pursuit of both Diptera and Hemiptera, which 

 will raise these hitherto neglected branches of our favourite study, to a level with the 

 more favoured orders. — R. H. Meade ; Bradford, Yorkshire, August 24, 1850. 



Impregnation of the Queen Bee. — In the beginning of the month of June, 1 S03 or 

 1804, the Rev. Edward Ridsdale witnessed at his apiary, at Ditton Priors, the return 

 of a young queen bee, after impregnation in the air. Standing two or three yards 

 distant from the entrance of a hive, which he knew had lost its old mother-queen, 

 sometime in the spring of the year, he suddenly noticed, what he supposed, at the 

 first thought, to be a dead drone carried out (as is frequently to be seen, at the end of 

 July or beginning of August) by two workers, with the thought instantly passing 

 through the mind, " how strange to be killing drones at this time of the year " (the 

 beginning of June) ; but in a moment afterwards he perceived his mistake : for, al- 

 though it was evidently a dead drone that was so carried about, it was not two workers 

 who were the bearers, but majesty herself, returning from her aerial excursion, with 

 the unfortunate male still attached. She then quickly made two or three very small 

 circular flights, so as to be distinctly visible, employed in detaching herself from her 

 dead companion, opposite the entrance to her own hive ; and having at length suc- 

 ceeded in so doing, the then evidently dead drone fell from her to the ground, and 

 she entered her abode. — Edward Ridsdale; Ditton Priors, Bridgenorth, August 13, 

 1850. 



On the Habits of Sirex juvencus. — About the middle of August last, upon splitting 

 down a dead spruce-fir, girthing on an average six inches, many specimens of this 

 handsome bymenopterous insect were found, in all stages, from the larva to the per- 

 fect fly. The eggs had been deposited by the parent just below the bark, which she 

 had penetrated in various places with her ovipositor, and as soon as they were hatched 

 the larva directed their course towards the centre of the tree, casting behind them, 



* Some of my readers may not be aware that there is a very useful Catalogue of 

 the Diptera in the British Museum, drawn up by this gentleman, which includes 

 most of the British species with their synonyms, and also references to the different 

 authors by whom they have been described, with full descriptions of all those species 

 which appear to be undescribed : it is sold at the Museum. — R. H. Meade. 



