Insects. 3013 



Psecadia funerella. About fifty, flying at night. 



Chilo mucronellus. About fifty, flying at night. — J. Bond ; Kingsbury, Decem- 

 ber 12, 1850. 



Capture of Lepidoptera at Almondsbury, Gloucestershire. — I have little to report 

 this month, unless it be that the splendid weather of September appears to have been 

 favourable to the development of the autumnal Lepidoptera. Through September, 

 I took, by lantern, off" a garden-flower called by our " old wives v ' Aaron's rod,' 

 amongst twenty-one commoner species, Triphaena interjecta, Noctua bella, Anthocelis 

 lunosa, Xanthia citrago, Epione apiciaria, Harpalyce achatinaria, Endorea coarctata 

 and Depressaria propinquella. From the end of September till the end of October, the 

 Scotch firs near my house produced me Anthocelis litura, Xanthia cerago, Xylina 

 rhizolitha, X. semibrunnea and about ten other common species. From the begin- 

 ning of October to this date, the ivy in my garden, and in our village, has yielded me, 

 freely, the following thirty-three species, besides the rarer ones afterwards named ; 

 viz., Phlogophora meticulosa (that elegant pest), Caradrina cubicularis, Triphaena 

 connuba and orbona, Segetia xanthographa (worn), Noctua C-nigrnm, Agrotis sege- 

 tum and suffusa (very fine), Orthosia lota, Anthocelis lunosa and litura, A. pistacina, 

 Scoliopteryx Libatrix, Xanthia ferruginea, X. cerago, Glaea spadicea, G. Vaccinii and 

 polita, Scopelosoma satellitia, Miselia Oxyacanthae, Polia flavicincta, Hadena protea, 

 Plusia Gamma, Stenopteryx hybridalis (worn), Eubolia mensuraria (worn), Thera 

 variaria, Harpalyce russaria, Ypsipetes elutaria, Cheimatobia dilutaria, C. Brumaria, 

 Eudorea coarctata, Plutella porrectella and Pterophorus pterodactylus. The scarcer 

 kinds from the ivy have been, Orthosia macilenta, Hub., one ; Xanthia citrago, one ; 

 Dasycampa rubiginea, three (in first week of November), I missed a fourth, by its 

 dropping too quickly through the ivy ; Xylina rhizolitha, fifteen ; X. petrificata, 

 twelve ; X. semibrunnea, twenty-five ; Calocampa exoleta, one ; C. vetusta, one seen, 

 but lost, by dropping through the ivy, and Phaesyle psittacaria, one. My friend, the 

 Rev. Joseph Greene, of Lower Guiting, on the Cotswolds, tells me he took vetusta on 

 the ivy, near his house, at 7 p.m., October 23, and also one exoleta. His locality is 

 very elevated and cold, yet he has had his assiduity rewarded by many good things. 

 Though too late for this season, I have hopes that this communication may, next year, 

 direct the attention of my brother knights of the " net and pen " to the most probable 

 localities for the Xylinae, &c. — /. Allen Hill ; Almondsbury House, November 12, 

 1850. 



Impregnation of the Queen Bee. — Mr. Ridsdale's observations on the impregna- 

 tion of the queen-bee, as recorded in the 'Zoologist' (Zool. 2960), brought to my 

 mind a fact which I myself witnessed. In July, 1844, 1 was walking along the cliffs 

 between Brighton and Rottingdean, when I saw flying towards me what appeared to 

 be an immense humble-bee (Bombus terrestris). On its alighting on the grass I ran 

 to the spot, and discovered two humble-bees in coitu, ut apud muscas mos est. They 

 remained in this position for a quarter of an hour at least, and then separated and 

 flew away. The fact made an impression upon me at the time, from the obscurity in 

 which the impregnation of the queen of the honey-bee was involved, and I thought I 

 had made a great discovery ; but I find, in Dr. Bevan's work on the honey-bee, p. 31, 

 that he was fortunate enough to be an eye-witness of a similar fact. Although rea- 

 soning from analogy is said to be dangerous, yet, from these and other instances, it is 

 only reasonable to conclude that the queen of the honey-bee is impregnated in a 

 similar way, though it is singular that the impregnation should, for so long a period, 



