1864 Insects. 



Argyrotoza ceneana. — This insect has been taken in profusion near the Willesden 

 Station, on the London and North- Western Railway, in company with Tortrix 

 Viburnana. — Edward Newman. 



Bees destroyed by the Tulip. — The Rev. L. Jenyns, in his * Observations on Natural 

 History,' has noticed the fatal effects produced on bees by the blossom of the dahlia. 

 The tulip appears to be equally noxious to these industrious insects ; for should an 

 unlucky bee chance to enter the cup of a tulip, it rarely, if ever, succeeds in getting 

 out again, but struggles about in its prison for a short time, and then falls exhausted 

 and dies, at the bottom of the flower. This is a fact well known to tulip fanciers, but 

 it has not, I believe, been published as worthy of notice. — Robert Cooper Douglas ; 

 Wolverhampton, July 12th, 1847. 



Sivarming of Bees. — The following paragraph is extracted from the ' Cumberland 

 Pacquet' for Tuesday, July 19th, 1847:— "Mr. Robert Longmire, of Troutbeck 

 Bridge, near Ambleside, had no less than three hives of bees which swarmed on Sun- 

 day week, all of which knit in an apple-tree, and were safely secured in one large hive. 

 On the next clay a fourth hive swarmed, and the bees took possession of the same hive 

 in which the three swarms of the preceding day are domiciled, all of which are evi- 

 dently upon the best possible terms, and work contentedly and well together. 1 ' — E. J. 

 R. Hughes ; Catharine Street, Whitehaven, July 19th, 1847. 



Captures of Hymenoptera and Coleoptera near Gravesend. — The following captures 

 are, I think, worthy of record, as they will point out to the entomologist a locality for 

 two or three very local insects. 



Apion Limonii, on Statice Limonium, growing on the banks of the Thames, about 

 a mile and a half below Gravesend ; found about the end of June and during July. 

 I have captured twenty-two specimens. Mr. Walton took this insect in abundance in 

 1841 at Holme-juxta-mare, on the coast of Norfolk, and Mr. Ingall, I think, took a 

 solitary specimen last year in the Isle of Sheppey. 



Polydrusus sericeus. Of this very local species I captured a fine series in the 

 month of June, by sweeping the grass, &c. close to the water-side, in the same situa- 

 tion as Apion Limonii. 



Smiera melanaris, Dalm. (Smiera Macleanii of Curtis). This insect is generally 

 known as the supposed Chalcis sispes of Fabricius, which, however, is distinguished by 

 having the petiole of the abdomen yellow ; the Smiera sispes, or true " Sphex sispes " 

 of Linnaeus is rather larger than our species, and has red posterior femora. I captured 

 both sexes of S. melanaris, the male not being previously known, as far as I can learn; 

 it agrees with the female in colouring, &c. exactly. I took twenty-one specimens by 

 sweeping the reeds and rushes that grow in the ditch which runs parallel with the 

 footpath. Latrcille says that these insects infest the Stratiomydse, which are aquatic 

 in the larva state ; various species of Stratiomys abound in the above locality. S. me- 

 lanaris is the species of which Mr. Ingall took three or four specimens in the Isle of 

 Sheppey. S. sispes is very abundant. 



I also met with several other scarce insects, as Araalus scortillum, Pachyrhinus 

 canaliculars and P. leucogaster, Erirhinus Festucae, Donacia nigra, &c, also a few 

 specimens of, I think, a new species of Bagous. — Frederick Smith ; 5, High Street, 

 Xctrington. 



Capture of Coccinella labilis in Britain. — A specimen of this beautiful insect was 

 taken by myself at Leominster, some years since, and placed with C. sept em -punctata 

 in the cabinet of the Entomological Club, where it has remained unnoticed, until Dr. 



