8344 



Insects. 



during the winter. On the morning in question the hive was beset by hundreds of the 

 Sirex Gigas, which were passing in and out, and the bees apparently engaged in 

 trying to turn them out of the hive, from which they were issuing in great numbers. 

 There was a battle of some hours, during which the bees killed many of their enemies. 

 The Sirex, however, retained possession of the hive, and towards evening the last of 

 the bees took their departure. The next morning every one of the Sirices had also 

 disappeared. On examining the hive it was found nearly empty. No honey remained. 

 The old comb was there, but there was no appearance of any new comb having been 

 built during the summer. In fact nothing remained except some dead bees and 

 Sirices, and a portion of old comb containing a little bee-bread." Miss Jeston gave 

 me some of the insects in question. I presume that this was a foray of a Sirex army 

 in search of honey or other food, and that they decamped when they had secured it. 

 I never, however, before heard of the insect congregating in such numbers, but have 

 generally seen only solitary individuals. I believe, too, that it is usually attached to 

 the region of fir trees, and there is, if I am not mistaken, no fir plantation of any kind 

 within a considerable distance of Henley. It is rather singular that a weak state of 

 the hive should have been noticed where it was expected to be strong ; but of course it 

 is not to be supposed that the Sirices bred in the hive, after the fashion of Sitaris or 

 Ripiphorus ; for I believe their habit is to bore into fir trees to deposit their ova ; and, 

 moreover, remains of their pupa?, &c, could not have failed to be found and noticed. — 

 John A. Power ; 52, Burton Crescent, October 17, 1862. 



Food-plants of Hypera Po/ygoni, Cionus Scrophularia, and one other of the 

 Curcnlionida. — I noticed in the summer, at Llandudno, the larvae of these beetles, 

 and their depredations on three somewhat local plants — Silene nutans, Scrophu- 

 laria vernalis and Medicago maculata. Silene nutans (the Nottingham catchfly) 

 is a tenant of the limestone ledges that overhang the town. It flowers and seeds 

 abundantly, and its capsules, besides yielding food to the Dianthceciae, are preyed 

 upon by the larvae of Hypera Polygoni. The larva is pale green, pitted and 

 spotted with black, with a pale line extending along the back. The head is 

 black, and more or less of hairiness is visible throughout the body by the aid of the 

 microscope. I often found the larva with its head buried in the capsule, the seeds of 

 which it greedily devours. On passing into the pupal stage of its existence it attaches 

 its light green semi-transparent cocoon to the axils of the dichotomous stems, so trans- 

 parent, indeed, that the wrigglings of the pupa may be readily observed within its case. 

 I picked off numbers of them, and had no difficulty in hatching the imago. The Scro- 

 phularia vernalis, another local plant, which I had previously only seen truly wild in 

 Surrey, was completely stripped by the larvae of Cionus. These feed seemingly gre- 

 gariously on the leaves of the plant, and stick their brown granulated cases to the cap- 

 sules. I procured them in plenty, as also the larvae, which were as slimy as slugs. 

 They were of an olive-green, with a darker line along the back. The head was black, 

 with two black square spots immediately behind it. The little weevil emerged from 

 the cases in due course, and I was disappointed that it was not something better than 

 my old acquaintance Cionus Scrophulariee. And now for my last beetle "discovery. 

 This was feeding on the leaves of Medicago maculata (the shamrock, I believe, of the 

 North of Ireland), revelling, for aught I know, on the drop of St. Patrick s blood that 

 stains each leaflet of the temate leaf. The case was of loosely constructed net-work, 

 with the interstices far apart. It was fixed to the withered leaves at the bottom of the 



