288 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



the larva feeds in larch wood {Pinus Larix), 2. Sylvestris, 

 with black antennae, and the male without the black tip to 

 the abdomen, which is entirely yellow : the larva feeds on 

 the wood of the Scotch fir [Pinus sylvestris). 3. Ahietis^ 

 with antennae black at the tip and yellow at the base : the 

 larva feeds on the wood of the spruce fir [Pinus ahies). Two 

 of these insects have probably been introduced into Britain, 

 seeing that the trees on which they feed are not considered to 

 be native. Another large and rather common species of 

 Sirex, S. Gigas, has yellow antennae, and a yellow-bodied 

 female with one or two black bands. Why all the specimens 

 sent me in the piece of wood should have died 1 cannot say. 



Roses of the Larch. — Everyone must have observed the 

 beautiful little pink roses standing erect on the larch twigs at 

 this time of the year. A singular and ingenious hypothesis 

 was started last year that these were galls, and were produced 

 by the puncture of an undiscovered species of Cynips. This 

 idea having been ventilated both on the Continent and in 

 Britain, I was induced to ask my friend Professor Oliver, of 

 Kew, as to their true nature; and he decides, without hesita- 

 tion, that they are the normal female blossoms of the larch, 

 and kindly permits me to use his name in publishing this 

 decision. 



Galls ofQuen'tsioza. — The large and beautiful galls from 

 the West of France are produced on the Quercus toza by 

 the puncture of Cynips Quercus-tozae, an insect named by 

 Fabricius. 



Bee of the Egyptian monu'me72ts. — The bee sent me as 

 obliterating the sculpture on Egyptian monuments is Chali- 

 codoma sicula, one of the mason bees or mud-builders. It is 

 thus, in obedience to a natural instinct, robbing us of one of 

 the most interesting records of bygone ages, for it seems 

 highly improbable, or, indeed, almost impossible, that these 

 sculptures should ever be restored to their pristine beauty 

 and sharpness by the removal by human hands of this insect 

 masonry. 



Larva in Elm wood. — The larva is that of the Leopard 

 mojth {Zcuzera jJlscuH). It is by no means an uncommon 

 thing to find this larva in elm. It has done great damage to 

 the elms in St. James's Park, where the perfect moth may be 

 found in the summer by examining the trunks of the trees in 



