196 
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 
hairs or in the sap I cannot say. I am inclined to think that the 
sap is poisonous, having found that after breaking off leaves and 
re-potting the plants I have had a sharp attack of the irritation. 
It does not affect every one the same: we grow it here in quantities, 
hut the young man who is looking after the plants now is never 
troubled with any effects from it. I have tested the fluid in the 
blisters with litmus-paper, and I find that it gives an acid reaction. 
Primula obconica is a native of South and Central China, and was 
first introduced here under the name of Primula pocul iformisP Mr. 
Darby of Watford tells me that one of his men cannot work in the 
greenhouse where this plant is grown, but that other men are not 
affected by it. I have examined the leaves under the microscope, 
and I find that their hairs are similar in appearance to those of the 
stinging-nettle.— A. T. Brett , [J/.D.,] Watford. 
Zoology. 
Insects building in a Lock. —A locksmith in Watford was asked to 
put a large lock in order, and in taking it off the door to repair he 
found it to he full of the eggs of some insect. It was in the winter, 
and he said that a common housefly flew out of the lock. I 
examined the lock and found it to he full of cells, not formed of 
wax, hut of wood or pith, and leather-like in texture. They were 
not so regular as those of the bee. Some of them were open, and 
in them I could see larvae wagging their heads about in a very 
grotesque manner. Mr. Arthur Cottam thought they were the cells 
of the common housefly. Miss Ormerod informed me that some 
years ago she had found several Hymenoptera establishments in 
locks in chests of drawers in rooms not in use, and she believed that 
the nests were those of Odyneri. One species of Odynerus , she 
said, is stated to have set up its house on one occasion in a pistol.— 
A. T. Brett , \_M.B.,~\ Watford. 
Stoat caught in a Mole-trap. —Mr. T. Durrant, of Knightlands 
Farm, Barnet, early in February (1891) caught a large male stoat 
(Mustela erminea) in a mole-trap. The animal had evidently been 
pinched for food, and had sought it among the subterranean passages 
excavated by moles. I thought this a very interesting circum¬ 
stance, and worth recording.— W. Lewis , Barnet . (Communicated 
by Dr. Brett.') 
