THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
199 
Argynnis Selene, 
Thecla Quercus, 
Macroglossa Stellatarum, 
which I shall be glad to exchange for 
Melitaea Alhalia, 
Nemeobius Lucina, 
Thecla W-album, 
„ Pruui, 
Polyommatus Corydon, 
„ Adonis, 
„ Artaxerxes. 
I have also four specimens of Colias 
Hyale , which I shall be glad to exchange 
for Apatura Iris. — Heneage Gibbs, 
Siclmouth ; Sept. 7. 
CoLEOI’TERA. 
Wimbledon Common. — I have been 
working this locality lately with but 
small success, having taken the fol- 
lowing Geodephaga only that are worth 
mentioning: — 
Cychrus rostratus, 
Carabus mouilis, 
Leistus ferrugineus, 
Clivina fossor (plentiful), 
Demetrias atricapilla (plentiful), 
Olisthopus rotundatus, 
Harpalus honestus, 
Pterostichus erythropus, 
Stenolophus luridus, 
Bradycellus fulvus, 
Bembidium biguttatum. 
I have found Carabus arvensis once or 
twice here, but cannot take a specimen 
now, though carefully hunting for it. 
Geolrupes Icevis is tolerably common, flying 
in the hot sunshine, and Catocala nupla 
seems plentiful, as I have caught and 
seen many specimens on the palings, 
where also I observed (but did not catch) 
Macroglossa Stellatarum , near the Putney 
end of the Common. — E. C. Rye, 284, 
King’s Road, Chelsea, S.W. ; Sept. 9. 
A WORD FOR THE WASP. 
Sitting the other day in a cool and 
pleasant arbour, which commanded a 
beautiful view of the Surrey Hills in the 
distance, the mid-picture composed of 
the richest tinted foliage that even 
Turner could have desired, whilst in the 
foreground glided silently the waters of 
the “ silvery Thames,”— far beyond the 
London district, — our attention was sud- 
denly attracted from the lovely scene be- 
fore us by a denizen of the insect world ; 
this was no other than Vespa vulgaris. 
There is perhaps no other insect which 
lies under such an universal ban. “ A 
wasp! — kill it!” such is the instinctive 
exclamation the poor wasp is greeted 
with; and yet where shall we find an in- 
sect more admirable in its proportions? 
In its powers of flight, of vision or me- 
chanical dexterity it is unsurpassed. 
Look into the wondrous vesparion which 
it constructs; see the sedulous and un- 
ceasing assiduity with which it nourishes 
its young brood; and admire and appre- 
ciate the noble courage with which it 
defends them. Take a lesson from the 
wasp in its housewifery ; not a particle 
of rubbish, — not a grain of dirt is suffered 
to litter the chambers of his dw'elling ; it 
is a pattern of cleanliness in all its opera- 
tions. It is always the same, — active, 
trim, and apparently never grows older. 
No one ever heard of an old wasp. A 
bee, a moth or a butterfly gets worn, old 
and ragged, — a wasp never. Let the 
wasp then take, without grudging, a little 
of the superfluity of the produce of your 
gardens and orchards ; there is enough 
for him and you. The wasp on the 
window-sill has all this lime been brush- 
ing and freeing himself from the dust, 
accumulated apparently on his journey: 
he passes his antennae beneath the spur 
which arms his anterior tibiae, and which 
is pectinated at its apex, apparently for 
the purpose of combing and cleaning the 
hair on its head, which it does with the 
dexterity of a Truefit. It is now bent 
upon other occupation : a large bluebottle 
is buzzing against the window-pane, and 
has attracted the attention of the wasp : 
