Insects. 



8473 



gave in. The eggs are small, oblong, wrinkled and of a dirty grayish green, soon 

 turning brownish ; they are laid singly, or two or three together, just below a projecting 

 bud or twig. The perfect insect is excessively wary. In collecting it we took our 

 station close to a magnificent male sallow in full bloom, around which they had been 

 sporting in some nnmbers before we approached. We frequently saw them coming up 

 towards the tree, but when they came within a few yards they wheeled off', and would 

 not settle till we moved. — F. Beauchamp. 



Note on Tinea granella. — This very destructive little moth swarms in the granaries 

 of Newcastle in myriads, and is quite as injurious to the corn-dealers as Calandra 

 granaria or Cucujus monilicornis, the ravages of which have been most ably delineated 

 by Mr. Bold. The larva feeds within the grain, and as soon as the weather begins to 

 turn rather chilly these little white creatures, having fed themselves up, come forth 

 and crawl all over the premises in search of some cracks or crevices wherein to undergo 

 their transformations. If you go into any warehouse or even counting-house where 

 grain is, in the beginning of autumn, you will not fail to see hosts of these larvae 

 making their way over sacks, counters, walls, windows, in fact over everything fixed 

 or moveable on which the eye can settle. — V. R. Perkins, in * Transactions of Tyneside 

 Naturalists' Field Club' 



Life- Histories of Sawflies. Translated from the Dutch of M. Snellen 

 van VollenhoveNj by J. W. May, Esq. 



(Continued from p. 8411.) 



Nematus viminalis, L. 



Linneus, Fauna Sitec. 1529. Ro'sel, Ins. Belustigung, Vol. ii. 

 Wespen, tab. x. p. 4 — 7. DeGeer, Memoires (German trans- 

 lation), Vol. ii. 2, p. 274, pi. 38, fig. 26—31. Hartig, Aderfl. 

 Deutschlands, i. p. 220, No. 55, N. Gallarum. Dahlbom, in 

 Stett. Ent. Zeit., Jahrg. 9, p. 182. 



Nematus niger, ore coxis, femoribus, tibiisque luteis, feminae ventre 

 rufo-flavo, alarum stigmate magno, nigro. 



Although I have placed the above references at the head of this 

 description, I by no means undertake to say that they all apply to 

 the synonymy of this insect. I give the reference to Linneus on the 

 authority of Dahlbom : this I am willing to accept, as I believe we 

 are bound to retain, with a certain degree of reverence, the nomen- 

 clature of Linneus and Fabricius, in case no cause to the contrary 

 can be shown ; but, on the other hand, I am so convinced of the 

 great difficulty, not to say impossibility, of distinguishing closely- 

 allied species of insects by means of the short diagnoses or insufficient 

 descriptions of these high-priests of our Science, that it is seldom 

 worth while entering upon any controversy for the purpose of showing 

 VOL. XXI. Y 



