Y. 
REPORT ON INSECTS OBSERVED IN HERTFORDSHIRE DURING 
THE YEAR 1885. 
By F. W. Silvester, F.B.Met.Soc. 
« Head at Watford , 20 th April, 1886. 
It Gnce more becomes my duty to present the annual report on 
Insects observed in Hertfordshire. The whole of the insects in 
the Boyal Meteorological Society’s list, with the exception of the 
fern-chafer, have been noticed during the past year, and I am 
indebted to the following gentlemen for being able to present so 
full a calendar:—Mr. John Hopkinson (Watford), Mr. F. G. Lloyd 
(Croxley), Mr. J. J. Willis (Harpenden), Capt. B. B. Croft (Ware), 
and Mr. B. T. Andrews (Hertford). The following observations 
have been made:— 
Melolontha vulgaris (cockchafer), seen at Harpenden, June 1st. 
Timarcha leevigata (bloody-nosed beetle), at Harpenden, May 22nd. 
Lampyris noctiluca (glow-worm), at Harpenden, July 3rd. 
Apis mellifica (honey-bee), at Watford, Feb. 5th; Ware, Feb. 
10th; Harpenden, Feb. 12th. 
Vespa vulgaris (common wasp), at Watford, April 20th ; Croxley, 
April 25th; Harpenden, April 27th. 
Pieris Brassicee (large white butterfly), at Watford, March 29th; 
Harpenden, March 30th; Hertford, April 17th ; Croxley, April 19th. 
Pieris Rapes (small white butterfly), at Hertford, April 16th; 
Watford and Croxley, April 19th; Harpenden, April 20th; Ware, 
April 21st. 
Anthocharis cardamines (orange-tip butterfly), at Hertford, May 
21st; Harpenden, May 23rd. 
Epinephile Janira (meadow-brown butterfly), at Harpenden, 
June 7th; Watford, June 10th; Hertford, June 15th. 
Bibio Marci (St. Mark’s fly), at Harpenden, June 13th. 
The concluding remarks of my last year’s report (with regard to 
the enormous loss sustained by insect-injury to timber) were pro¬ 
ductive of the following letter from Mr. Gadsden, of Sheppy’s 
Farm, Bedmond:—“ By the bearer I send the grub found in an 
ash tree, which was somewhat decayed and blown down; the tree 
might be 100 years old or more. I put this grub and another in a 
drawer, but they gnawed their way out at one corner, and this one 
was crawling about; the other I could not find. I send some of 
the tree where it had bored holes through the timber.” I found 
the injury to the wood to be the work of the larva of Cossus ligni- 
perda , the goat-moth (so called from its strong and peculiar smell) 
which bores into the live wood and often lives there for three .or 
more years before turning into the chrysalis. Sixty have been 
found in one tree. Miss E. A. Ormerod, F.B.Met.Soc., in her 
‘ Guide to Methods of Insect Life,’ gives the following remedial 
measures : “ Something may be done by thrusting a stout wire up 
the boring; if the end comes back moist with white matter on it 
VOL. IV. —PART II. 4 
