HYMENOPTERA-ACULEATA. 367 



Valley ; but to the KE. o-f the county it rises to 30 to 40 

 inches. The latter figures also represent the fall over the 

 S. and S.W. of Lancashire, while in the high ground along 

 the IN .E. and the extreme N. the amount increases to as 

 much as 40 to 50 inches. 



V. — The sunshine of our district has been averaged 

 approximately at about 1,400 hours per annum ; there is 

 rather more along our dry, sandy coasts, and, owing to the 

 smoke of large manufacturing towns, much less in many 

 inland parts of Lancashire. The average is about equal 

 to that of the Midlands and the Thames Valley, but about 

 100 hours less than the lower Severn Valley and the 

 more southern and eastern parts of England, and 200 to 

 250 hours less than the extreme South and South-eastern 

 coasts. 



VI. — The winds of our district are largely westerly, with 

 a mean annual velocity of 15 miles an hour — excessive, 

 compared with the Midlands and South and East of 

 England. 



VII. — Another feature which has much effect in several 

 ways upon the fauna of a district is its population. 

 Cheshire is still mainly rural, having, even reckoning for 

 its towns, about an acre of ground to each person. In 

 Lancashire, the proportion is only about a quarter of an 

 acre per person, making it the most thickly populated 

 county in England next to Middlesex : and this notwith- 

 standing large tracts of waste or sparsely-inhabited 

 country in the North and West, so that the South and 

 South-east is very densely peopled indeed, town succeed- 

 ing town, with all their attendant destructive effects upon 

 flora and fauna. 



From the above it will be seen that the counties of 

 Lancashire and Cheshire afford the Hymenoptera- 

 Aculeata — 



