272 



THE NATURALIST. 



^.eporfB d Societies. 



Amateur Botanists' Society. — At the an- 

 nual meeting of this society, held in the 

 School-room of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, 

 London, on Dec. 20th, 1865. A quarter- 

 inch Object Glass, made by Messrs. Powell 

 and Lealand, was subscribed for and given 

 to Mr. Thos, Ketteringham, the late secre- 

 tary, on his resigning that office. The 

 officers for the ensuing year are as follows, 

 viz. : — President, Mr. M, C. Cooke ; Yice- 

 president, Mr. Sandman ; Council, Messrs. 

 R. G. Keeley, H. Sandman, Jacques, and 

 Ralph Tate, F.G.S ; Librarian, Mr. A. 

 Grugeon ; Treasurer, Mr. W. M. Bywater ; 

 Secretary, Mr. "W. W. Reeves. 



Mildness of season at Market Harhor- 

 ough. — We have experienced an unusually 

 mild winter at Market Harborough. A few 

 days ago I saw several hybernated speci- 

 mens of V. urticce flying during sunshine 

 in a sheltered garden, and in the same gar- 

 den violets are flowering in profusion. 

 There is at the time I write (January 3rd, 

 1866,) in a garden about a mile from the 

 above town, an apple tree displaying its 

 blossoms, and on it are actually formed some 

 apples. Such a freak of nature as this is 

 rarely to be met with, and is worth record- 

 ing, as a proof of the extraordinary mild- 

 ness of the weather at the above season. — 

 T. "Wilkinson, High-street, Market Har- 

 borough. 



Oidemia fusca. — Mr. S. Smith will find 

 the bony laryngeal cavities, in the wind- 



pipe of this duck, fully described in Yarrell, 

 3rd ed. , page 317, and figured in page 318. 

 — Henry Reeks, Manor House, Thruxton, 

 Jany. 8th, 1866. 



Vespa Crabro and V. Norvegica. — I was 

 much interested in Mr. Rowley's amusing 

 account of the capture of a hornet's nest, 

 and quite hoped to find, towards the con- 

 clusion of his note, that he had not only cap- 

 tured the "varmints" themselves, but had 

 also taken the rare hornet-parasite, Velleias 

 dilatatus. Mr. Rowley does not, however, 

 even mention having searched for it. Was 

 he not aware of the existence of this curious 

 Coleopteron ? If Mr. R. should chance to 

 be in the neighbourhood of the original site 

 of the nest, it would most probably repay 

 him to make a careful search among the 

 debris at the far end of the hole in the thatch, 

 as this rare insect is supposed to hybernate 

 in the immediate vicinity of the nest in 

 which it has served its economy. The 

 English collection in the British Museum 

 does not contain a specimen of this rarity , 

 there are two specimens in the German 

 collection. Mr. R. asks ' ' how many hor- 

 net's stings would kill a man ?" This 

 would depend entirely on two things, viz., 

 the state of the man's blood, and the part 

 stung. I recollect a case, which occurred 

 a few years ago in Berkshire, in which a 

 poor man lost his life by being stung on 

 the back of the neck, near the head, by a 

 single bee, I do not think the sting of the 

 hornet more poisonous than that of the 

 hive-bee. Mr. Rowley also mentions having 

 captured a nest of V. Brittanica. Did Mr. 

 R. examine the inmates ? If not, I think he 

 had far better label the nest V. sylvestris ; 

 there is certainly no way of telling the 

 nests from each other, without an examina- 

 tion of the insects, — Henry Reeks, Manor 

 House, Thruxton, 



