Insects. 4077 



Capture of Plutella Dalella. — I have taken some fine and beautiful specimens of 

 Plutella Dalella, and should be glad to make a few friendly exchanges with any gen- 

 tleman who may require them. — J.Johnson; Denby Parsonage, near Huddersfield, 

 September 15, 1853. 



Note on the Larva of Eudorea murana. — I have been fortunate enough to meet 

 with the larvae of this insect in abundance. The larva lives on moss growing on old 

 walls, and may probably be obtained throughout the whole year. I have found it as 

 early as February, and up to the present time. It is easily observed, from its con- 

 structing long tubular passages in which it lives during the day. When full grown, 

 it is about an inch in length, brown, with a few spots and hairs on each segment : the 

 head and shield pitchy. — John Scott ; London Works, Renfrew, August 29, 1853. 



Notes on the Hymenoptera of Southend and its Vicinity. By Fre- 

 derick Smith, Esq., Assistant in the Zoological Department, 

 British Museum. 



Southend and its neighbourhood have long been known as a loca- 

 lity producing many rarities in the orders Coleoptera and Lepidoptera; 

 the captures of Hymenoptera made by me during the last two weeks 

 of August and the first week of September in the present year, will, I 

 think, place this district in the highest rank as a locality for rarities in 

 that order also. The late period of the season when I explored the 

 district, precluded the possibility of giving any adequate idea of the 

 species of Apidae which may be found there ; but in Fossorial insects 

 it is fully equal in productiveness to any locality with which I am ac- 

 quainted. As in the Apidae our standard is the ' Monographia Apum 

 Angliae,' so in the Fossores is Shuckard's Essay. I will therefore 

 enumerate the species I met with in the order in which I find them in 

 the Essay, making such remarks as appear to be necessary as I pass 

 along. 



I should, however, in the first place, point out the exact spot where 

 my best captures were made. On arriving at Southend, the entomo- 

 logist would be induced, by the seeming excellence of the situation, 

 to search the slopes and shrubbery to the west of the pier : so far as 

 Hymenopterous insects are concerned, the result of my experience 

 would lead me to advise him to spare himself that useless trouble. I 

 spent two days in a fruitless search at that spot, not capturing a single 

 insect of the slightest rarity. My advice is, turn eastward, and then, 

 leaving the town and the deceptive slopes behind, trudge merrily on 

 for about a mile, until, in fact, you come within about a hundred yards 

 of the slopes, which in some parts of their extent rise abruptly from 



