NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
217 
ance which Mr. New noticed ; but it would have been more satisfactory if he 
could have obtained specimens of the insect for identification. 
W. F. Kirby. 
Holly Blue. — This butterfly is generally more or less common at Chiswick, 
and I have also seen it on various occasions in different parts of Surrey, such as 
Oatlands, near Weybridge ; and at Haslemere. Brighton collectors, however, 
used to consider it a rarity. I have not heard if it has been common in Sussex 
of late years. 
W. F. Kirby. 
Death's Head Moth, and Convolvulus Moths in South Devon. — 
On Wednesday last, October 2, a very fine specimen of the death’s head hawk 
moth (A. atropos) flew into my kitchen to the light. I secured it with the help of 
some chloroform, and it is evidently a very fresh and beautiful specimen. All the 
ten specimens which I reared from pupae in 1858 did not come out till November, 
so this seemed to me a very early arrival. On September 28, a beautiful 
specimen of the convolvulus hawk moth, was brought to me, and another a few 
days previously, so they seem to be rather numerous this year. 
Alodbtuy Vtcarape, South Devon. G. C. Green. 
"Vanessidae. — It seems to me that most of the common Vanessidae hide up for 
hybernation directly they have emerged from the pupa. Last spring there were 
more than usual hybernated V. io. V. urtica, and V. polychloros. I have reared 
two or three hundred V. io in my garden, which, as the empty pupa cases in my 
larva box prove, passed safely through all stages of their existence. I also placed 
on some nettles close to my flower garden a quantity of the larvae of V. atalanta 
and V. urtica. Hardly any of these are to be seen this autumn, and I have not 
set eyes on V. polychloros. This latter is always seen more frequently in the 
spring than in the autumn. 
Market Westo 7 i, Thetford, Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
September, 1901. 
Stray Colonies of Bees. — I am much interested in the note on p. 196. 
A few weeks ago I took out a portion of the brick-work in the gable end of a 
farm house to the extent of 3 ft. deep and 4 ft. bins, wide, which was packed with 
combs and honey, estimated at about l| cwt. It was stated that they had occupied 
the place over twenty years. Most of the combs were 4 ft. 6 ins. long and sus- 
pended. Some of the honeycomb was very wide — about 5 ins. — as much as I 
could grasp. I kept the bees in subjection, without veil or gloves, for about five 
hours with smoker and carbolic cloths. 
J. Hiam. 
Hornets. — This has been the most prolific season for hornets [ ever 
remember. Scarcely a day passed a month ago that some one did not tell me of 
a colony and in a variety of situations — some in the ground after the habit of 
ground-building wasps, one in a church tower, one in a barn suspended, one in a 
bee-hive, one in a hay-stack, several in thatch-roofs, some in cottage roofs under 
tiles, and about a score in hollow trees. Have other writers noticed in other dis- 
tricts any increase this season ? 
Ashwood Bank, Redditch. J. Hiam. 
Aphis. — It is well-known that wet weather is fatal to aphis, and that dry 
weather gives them advantage of which, as a rule, they are not slow to make un- 
pleasant use. This year many crops and plants have been ruined by aphis. My 
cabbages, French beans, and plum trees have been covered by them ; even the 
thistles in the fields had a black mass of them five or six inches down the stem, 
and owing to their attacks the bean crop is a failure. As the honey season has 
been cut short by the drought, one would suppose that bees would have stored the 
honey dew produced by aphides, which makes a dark debased form of honey. 
At the beginning of August, however, these insects seem nearly to have dis- 
appeared, owing no doubt, to the plants being so dried up as no longer to afford 
them the moisture they require. 
Market Weston, Thetford, Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
September, 1901. 
