150 



The Naturalist. 



all orders. It would be of advantage to those who may be inclined to 

 take up in good earnest the study of one of the " neglected orders," 

 if in the pages of the Naturalist they could obtain some idea of the 

 manner in which they ought to set about it, how they are to procure 

 the material, and what books are accessible for the identification of 

 the specimens obtained. And to this end I hope that Mr. Mosley 

 and others will supply these wants in an article or two, which no 

 doubt the editors would insert. 



I propose to give a few hints which may possibly be serviceable to 

 any who may feel tempted to take up some portion of that great order 

 which I may be pardoned for considering the most interesting of all 

 orders of insects — the Hymenoptera, of which there are nearly 4000 

 British species. 



Speaking roughly, the principal groups of Hymenoptera are, the 

 Mellifera (bees — 204 British species), the Diploptera (wasps— 20 

 species), the Fossores (119 species), the Heterogyna (ants — 35 

 species), the Chrysididre (22 species), the Ichneumonid^e (1186 

 species), the Braconida^ (439 species), the Evaniidas (7 species), the 

 Oxyura (373 species), the Cynipidge (gall-flies — about 30 species), the 

 Chalcididee (possibly over 1000), and the Tenthredinidse (saw-flies — 

 about 300 or 400 species). Of a few of these groups we are in 

 possession of text-books in English at very moderate prices ; while 

 with regard to other groups it will be necessary to understand Latin, 

 German, French, Dutch, and Swedish, in order to wade through the 

 voluminous literature which is necessary to the identification of the 

 species. 



The bees are a group which can be at once attempted by our York- 

 shire entomologists who may be willing to win their laurels on untried 

 ground at small cost. For five shillings the beginner can provide 

 himself with a manual which is in itself all that is necessary for the 

 naming of British bees : this is Mr, Frederick Smith's " Catalogue 

 of British Bees in the Collection of the British Museum," published 

 in 1876 (may be had of the chief librarian, B.M.). Directions lor 

 collecting and preserving bees will be found in the Entomologists' 

 Annual for 1856, in Science Gossip for October 1875, and in the 

 Entomologists' Monthly Magazine for June and August, 1875. 

 Briefly it may be stated that bees may be obtained in numbers at 

 various flowers, and that the solitary bees may be found burrowing in 

 sandbanks, roadsides, pathways, hedge-bottoms, &c., that the wood- 

 boring bees must be looked for on posts and railings. Bees may be 

 caught with the net, and in the case of some of swift flight that 



