3496 Insects. 



as in the shades, some specimens being rather darker, but not without markings. It 

 rests on the branches of birch. I captured a few specimens in Perthshire in 1851, and 

 found it very sparingly in previous seasons. 4. O. approximaria, (Gregson, MSS.) — 

 This species is distinguished from No. 3 by the formation of the superior wings of the 

 female, which are pointed, and are also of a smaller size, having a resemblance to No. 

 5 ; but the male of this species differs much from that of No. 5, and forms a link be- 

 tween the two species. The males are very variable in size, and some specimens are 

 very dark, in fact there are more dark than light ones. I captured a good number in 

 Perthshire in 1851, located in plantations of spruce fir exclusively ; some I found at 

 rest on the trunks. No. 5. O. filigrammaria. — This species is smaller than No. 4, par- 

 ticularly the male, which varies in size, colour and marking. I captured a good num- 

 ber of it some years ago, high on the side of Goat Fell, Isle of Arran : I found them 

 only in one spot. The search for this insect is a laborious task ; I found it by parting the 

 heath with my hands, and steadfastly looking at the stems of the heath, for there they 

 rest by day. They are so completely wrapped round the heath as to be easily over- 

 looked, and greatly resemble a ring of gray moss that grows in similar situations. No. 

 6. O. precursaria, (Gregson). — This is smaller than all the foregoing species, and dif- 

 fers from the last two in the female having ample wings : the male I have not seen. 

 I reared one specimen from a larva that fed on the heath, in Perthshire, in 1851. — 

 Richard Weaver ; Pershore Street, Birmingham, March 16, 1852. 



A Continued Buzz from the Bees. — I like the sensible observations of Mr. P. V.M. 

 Filland (Zool. 3398) on Mr. Langstroth's " discovery ; " but although I assented to it 

 in part, I do not think it would do to leave the windows of the glass or unicomb hives 

 always open, for in one of my own, which was left open accidentally for some days, I 

 found it bedaubed with a substance that nearly prevented me from discovering what I 

 wished. I have not the least doubt that darkness is the natural state of bees, still, I 

 will give your readers my own plan, which is very simple: open the hive very gently, 

 with as little concussion as possible, and at first let the shutters be removed only for a 

 few minutes. Day by day let this be exercised for a quarter or half an hour, choosing 

 if possible a very fine morning, about 10 or 11 o'clock, when a large portion of the 

 bees are at work in the fields. As Shakspeare says, — " How soon even habit becomes 

 nature in a man ! " — so it may be, and no doubt is, with animals of all kinds, by do- 

 mestication. Every lover of bees ought to have the unicomb or show hive ; it is 

 of no use except for observation, as the bees never live through the winter : and it is 

 throwing away a good swarm to put it into one of these hives, as they become so crowd- 

 ed as nearly to obstruct all observation. A small cast at the end of June or beginning 

 of July, about one fifth of the size of a prime swarm, is the very thing, as a young queen 

 generally accompanies it. The last one I had, which clustered on a damson-tree, I 

 hived in three minutes and a half; but your readers must bear in mind that there were 

 about six inches of old comb at the lop. Independently of this, it is astonishing how 

 quickly these capricious insects will ascend one of these narrow hives at swarming time. 

 I see by the * Cottage Gardener' of February 20, that these unicomb hives are now 

 sold in London ; but should Mr. Filland wish to have a pattern of mine, I shall be 

 most happy, as I am 60 near him, to send it for a fortnight to Ross, when his carpen- 

 ter could make one from it at a quarter the price. I entirely agree with Mr. Filland 

 that bees arc not so blind jis Dr. Bevan and other writers would have us believe. They 

 are very quick-sighted at flowers, and if they were to leave the hive singly at first, like 

 humble-bees, people would sec wli.it extraordinary observations they would make on 



