5008 Insects. 



that would make them responsible for errors for which I alone am 

 accountable ; but that they have, in several instances, in which, without 

 them, I should have arrived at doubtful and unsatisfactory conclusions, 

 either confirmed my opinion by their own, or given opportunity for a 

 reconsideration of the point in question. 



To Dr. Gray and the gentlemen of the Entomological Depart- 

 ment in the British Museum I am also under obligations, for the 

 courtesy with which they have allowed me free access to the histori- 

 cally valuable collection of the late Mr. Stephens, now under their 

 charge. 



Hamlet Clark. 



Northampton, February 13, 1856. 



Humming in the Air. — White, in his ' Selborne,' writes of not being able to 

 account for the " humming in the air" ; Captain Chawner told me that since White's 

 time the country people had found out what occasioned it, and the Captain and I tried 

 the experiment by throwing a stone up in the air, when the humming was observed, 

 and the stone, in its descent, was accompanied by a specimen of Helophilus. I recol- 

 lect, at school, we used to throw up a piece of white or brown shard to attract a white 

 or brown butterfly, and down would come the butterfly in the same manner. — J. C. 

 Dale ; Glanvilles Wootton, January 12, 1856. 



Excrescences on the Leaves of Willows. — Last autumn I noticed at Norwood, 

 Sydenham and Forest Hill, the leaves of the young willow-trees to be covered with a 

 curious brown excrescence, which, at a little distance, had quite the ornamental effect 

 of a blossom. Will you oblige me, any time at your leisure, with the name of the in- 

 sect that caused this appearance ? — William Atkinson; January, 12, 1856. 



[Please to send some when again met with, and I will try to explain them : a very 

 common excrescence is caused by Euura Gallae. — Edward Newman]. 



Wasp in January. — A wasp in January is rather a rare occurrence ; one, however, 

 visited a member of this household the night before last while in bed, and stung him 

 three times before it was secured. I think this worth noticing, as last summer their 

 scarcity was the subject of general remark. — George Guyon ; Ventnor, Isle of Wight, 

 January 21, 1856. 



Note on the British Museum Lists of British Insects. — I observe that Forficula 

 decipiens is omitted : I presented specimens of this insect to the British Museum 

 Cabinet: is it possible it can be only a variety? and if a variety, of which species? 

 Again, Forficula forcipata I find on the coast, while borealis, although very similar, I 

 take here by beating the hedges, and never in company with F. auricularia, which 

 comes in plenty to sugar when placed as a bait for moths. I also see that Panorpa 

 germanica of Curtis is not considered distinct from P. communis; I never take them 

 together. — J. C. Dale; Glanville's Wootton, January 12, 1856. 





