Insects. 8139 



Capture of Deilephila lineata at Westbourne, Sussex. — A fine female of Deilepbila 

 lineata was found at rest in the garden of a cottage in this village, on the 4th of this 

 month (May).—//". S. R. Matthews ; Westbourne, Sussex, May 29, 1862. 



Destruction of Hymenoptera. — The present year has been a most disastrous one for 

 these insects, particularly the Bombinatrices. The lawn near my residence is riddled 

 with mouse holes, and during the month of May I have been amazed with the attempts 

 of the females of Bombus subterraneus, B. terrestris, B. lapidarius and a large black 

 bee, to commence nidification, but the ground seemed so wet a few inches deep that no 

 lodgment was made by any one of these until the 7th of June, when a queen of B. 

 subterraneus commenced her nest. She worked most vigorously until the 12th of June, 

 when an inundation of rain washed the poor bee completely out of her nest. I found 

 her a few inches from the entrance almost in a torpid state. She was taken in doors 

 and fed with honey for one day, and I had the satisfaction of seeing her return twice to 

 her domicile, but another torrent of rain fell on the 13th and 14th, and she never again 

 appeared. I believe she was too weak from the cold and wet below to escape the 

 second time. The bees alluded to were nearly every day for five weeks endeavouring 

 to find a place sufficiently dry to form their nests. I discovered some queen wasps 

 also commencing nidification as late as the 1st of June, from the same cause. The 

 continued rains from the first week in March, with little intermission until the 18th of 

 June, has no precedent during the present century, and we may hope that the law of 

 "compensation" will give us drier weather for the next three months, although with 

 a lower temperature. This day the temperature is ten degrees below the usual heat of 

 June, being 56° at 7 a.m., with a cold north-west wind. I found at least a dozen hive 

 bees fall short of their hives from cold at 8 a. m. They were quite. chilled, but were 

 revived by me.—H. W. Newman; Hillside, Cheltenham, June 28, 1862. 



Capture of Boletobia fuliginaria in London. — While passing down one of the lanes 

 in the City leading to Thames Street, I was somewhat startled on seeing at rest, on 

 the side of a door-way, a male specimen of Boletobia fuliginaria. Having fortunately 

 a small pill-box in my pocket, 1 managed to secure it, not, however, without some 

 little damage to one of the under wings ; in other respects is in very fine condition. — 

 F. O. Standish; 2, Alfred Cottages, Warner Road, Camberwell, July 12, 1862. 



Coleoptera found in company with Formica fuliginosa. — I forward you a few notes 

 on the distribution of species of Coleoptera fouud in company with Formica fuliginosa, 

 as far as they have come under my notice. I have found colonies of this ant at 

 Weston in two places, in the one case in an old tree as usual, in the other in a bank of 

 a garden. At Cambridge I have hitherto found only one living colony in an old wil- 

 low, but the majority of trees by the river-side have been inhabited by them, and in 

 these I find almost all the coleopterous inhabitants among the rotten wood. I will 

 now enumerate the species which I have found in order: — 



Falagria tboracica, Curt. Abundant round the base of the tree, Weston. 



Thiasopbila inquilina, Maerk. Hare. Apparently lives in the interior of the nest, 

 and will only occasionally come down to the rotten wood at the base. I obtained one 

 specimen of this from the bank above alluded to. Weston. 



Haploglossa , Maerk. Of this I have taken about eight specimens, all 



from damp moss placed at the roots of the trees and in the nest. Weston and 

 Cambridge. 



Myrmedonia funesta, M. laticollis, M. lugens. All common in the rotten wood 

 at the base of the trees ; also very abundant in moss. Weston and Cambridge. 



