for, and what I contend for now, that if any part of the summer brood of larvæ produce perfect insects the same year, which pair lay eggs and produce full-grown larvæ and pupa in the autumn, then the insect to which these results occur is doublebrooded. For instance, F. conspicuata appears for the first time at the beginning of May; it lays eggs, and its progeny are full fed and spun up at the end of June. From these pupa a number of moths emerge, pair and lay eggs from the middle to the end of July, and the larvæ are full fed the middle or end of August. Ergo, F. conspicuata is double-brooded. Mr. Greene contends that unless the whole of the summer brood emerge the same year the insect is not double-brooded; but this appears to me to be splitting a hair. Every one knows that in the case of acknowledged singlebrooded insects,-e. g., Smerinthus ocellatus and S. Populi, Sphinx Ligustri, Cerura vinula, C. bifida and C. furcula, Bombyx Quercus, Saturnia Carpini, Acronycta megacephala, Dianthæcia carpophaga, &c.,—several pupa out of a brood will very frequently remain two years before emerging, yet no one would, on this ground, dream of contending that these insects were not annual-brooded. Whether an insect be single or double-brooded the appearance of all or part of those broods is a point upon which, I believe, no certain rule can be laid down. These matters are all directed by the masterly hand of an All-wise Providence, who so orders them that no vicissitudes of climate, temperature or weather has any serious effect upon the existence and continuance of a species.-H. Harpur Crewe; Ivy Cottage, Wickham Market, Suffolk, February 3, 1860.

Description of the Larva of Eupithecia castigata.-Long, slender and tapering. Ground-colour pale or dusky olive or reddish brown, with a chain of dusky lozengeshaped dorsal spots, becoming confluent on the anterior and posterior segments. Segmental divisions reddish. Body thickly studded with minute white tubercles, and clothed more sparingly with short bristly hairs. Belly with a central blackish or purplish line running from tip to tail. Feeds promiscuously upon almost every tree, shrub and flower, in August and September. In almost every particular closely resembles the larva of E. vulgata. Pupa enclosed in an earthen cocoon. Abdomen slender and tapering, reddish or greenish yellow. Thorax and wing-cases yellow; the latter more or less suffused with green.-Id.; January 31, 1860.

Description of the Larva of Eupithecia minutata.-Short, thick and stumpy. Ground-colour dull pink or flesh tint, with a series of dusky Y-shaped dorsal spots connected by a central pink line, and becoming faint on the anterior, and almost obliterated on the posterior segments. Each dorsal segment studded with four yellowish tubercles. Spiracular line yellowish, interrupted at intervals by dusky blotches. Head dusky olive, marked with black. Belly dusky or pinkish white. Back thickly studded with small white, and a few black tubercles, and sprinkled here and there with short hairs. Feeds on the flowers of Calluna vulgaris in August and September, and is by no means uncommon where that plant occurs in any plenty. Pupa enclosed in an earthen cocoon. Short and thick. Thorax and wing-cases golden yellow; abdomen yellow, generally suffused with red. Wing-cases very transparent. Tip of abdomen blood-red.-Id.

Clostera anachoreta in the "Home Counties."-" Home counties" is the only locality I have ever publicly given for Clostera anachoreta, and the only one for which I will be responsible. The statement in the 'Annual' that I took it in the "neighbourhood of London" was published without my knowledge or sanction.-H. G. Knaggs ; 1, Maldon Place, Camden Town, N.W., January 20, 1860.

Food of the Larva of Depressaria ultimella, Staint.-The larva of this species appears to be unknown. I bred a specimen early in June from a larva found feeding on the flowers of Conium maculatum, near Freshwater, Isle of Wight, last May; the larvæ were gaily coloured, and, judging from descriptions, must resemble those of Depressaria nervosa. Mr. Bond, who was with me at the time, saw them, but considered them to be those of D. heracliana. Perhaps this may serve as a hint to those who are looking for it, where to find it.-H. S. Gorham; 10, Alfred Street, Montpelier Square, Brompton.

Cryphalus Fagi, Fabr.-About Christmas, last year, I found several specimens of this species in the bark of a decaying beech near Westerham. With the exception of the specimen exhibited by Mr. Janson at the February meeting of the Entomological Society, I believe it has not been met with previously in Britain.—Id.

Capture of Diachromus germanus at Hastings.—A specimen of this insect was taken on the 25th of September, 1859, by Henry Case, Esq., in the neighbourhood of Hastings, and, through the kindness of Mr. Case, the specimen is now in my possession. I have little doubt that additional specimens may be secured in the ensuing season, if powerful efforts are made.-Henry Adams.

Facts connected with the History of a Wasp's Nest; with Observations upon the Parasite, Ripiphorus paradoxus. By S. STONE, Esq., F.S.A., &c. *

OBSERVING a number of wasps entering an aperture in the ground, at Cokethorp Park, on the 25th of July, I revisited the spot in the evening, with the view of obtaining the nest. Accordingly, having

taken the precaution to render the inmates insensible, by pouring a wine-glass full of spirits of turpentine into the aperture, which was then closely stopped up with clay for a short time, I proceeded to dig it out. In doing this, so hard and dry had the ground become that I broke the covering to pieces, displacing and scattering the combs. Finding that I had utterly ruined the nest as a specimen, I determined, at any rate, on securing the combs; I therefore began to collect them, and, placing them singly on the floor of the vehicle in which I had driven to the spot, brought them away, unaccompanied by a single wasp, the whole number, including of course the foundress of the colony, being left behind. The nest was one belonging to Vespa vulgaris, and being composed of decayed wood its destruction was the more complete, for so fragile are nests of this species that even a touch of the finger, unless extraordinarily light, is fatal to their beauty.

* Read before the Entomological Society of London, November 7, 1859.

On reaching home I passed a wire through the centre of each comb, just as people are in the habit of filing bills, placing between the several tiers, by way of supporting columns, small fragments of Celtic pottery I had obtained in prosecuting some archæological researches in the neighbourhood, and which happened to be the most convenient material for the purpose I could at the moment lay my hands upon. Having so done, I suspended this archæo-entomological specimen near the window of a room in which I had established a working community of the same species of wasp, procured on the 24th of June, when a body of workers at once passed over, and the next morning were found to be busily engaged in feeding the larvæ the combs contained, and in the construction of a fresh covering. In the course of a week the combs were completely enclosed. In a few days after this Mr. Douglas's note on parasitic beetles appeared in the columns of the Intelligencer;' and on the 10th of August I forwarded to that gentleman, for identification, a specimen of Ripiphorus paradoxus I had obtained in the immediate vicinity of the nest abovementioned, and in which it had doubtless been bred.

On the morning of the 15th of August I was watching the progress of the work, and, in order to be enabled to do so the more narrowly, was holding the nest in my hand by the wire which supported it, when a second specimen bolted out, followed immediately afterwards by another. As Mr. Douglas had stated that it was desirable some observations should be made upon the habits of these parasites, if an opportunity of doing so presented itself, I thought now was the time; so I contrived to rid the nest, there and then, of the more active wasps it contained; and, taking it into an adjoining room, proceeded to denude it, with the aid of a pair of scissors, of its recently-formed covering. While preparing to perform this operation, as well as while it was being performed and for some time afterwards, the parasites continued to emerge at short intervals; so that between the hours of 10 A. M. and 2 P. M. twenty-eight specimens had made their appearance.

This nest, be it observed, had been removed from its original situation exactly three weeks; consequently all the eggs (I am speaking of those of wasps) deposited prior to that event must have produced larvæ, the larvæ must have all become full-grown and spun up, while such as had made any progress in their growth at the time the nest was removed must have undergone their final change into perfect wasps. Great was my astonishment, then, on removing the covering, to find the cells containing not only larvæ in every stage of their

growth, but eggs also in vast profusion. All the larvæ that had attained anything like their full size, or even half their full size, were found to occupy each a separate cell, as is observed to be invariably the case in all well-ordered nests, the parent wasp depositing only a single egg in each cell; but in the present instance, where the larvæ were minute in size, groups of three, and even four, apparently varying slightly in age, were located in one cell. Some of the cells contained an egg and one or two small larvæ; and some, two or three eggs, a single egg in a cell being of rare occurrence. Many of the cells had been almost demolished since the nest had been removed from under ground, the walls having been gnawed away nearly down to their base; yet they contained eggs or small larvæ. That the larvæ were those of wasps (I had a faint hope they might have turned out to be those of Ripiphorus) the testimony of Mr. Douglas, to whom some were sent for examination, proves beyond a doubt. It may be well to remark that no additional cells had been formed in any of the combs since their first removal.

Neither among the wasps driven out of the nest before the covering was removed, nor among those found to be congregated between the combs after it had been removed, was one single individual observed larger than a full-sized, plump worker; nor, indeed, was it to be expected, for it was at far too early a period in the season for the young females, which are destined to become the foundresses of colonies in the ensuing year, to have made their appearance; nor could the presence of a single male be detected; and as the cells contained, as before stated, larvæ in every stage of their growth, as well as nymphæ in every stage of their advancement toward the perfect state, it is obvious that since the removal of the nest from its underground situation the process of egg-depositing must have been going on from the first, at which period it is certain none but workers could have been produced in any nest of this species. It must, therefore, have been by one or more individuals of this class that these fertile eggs were produced!

I may be allowed to cite two or three additional instances bearing upon this subject.

In a paper upon wasps, by Dr. Ormerod, of Brighton (Zool. 6641), mention is made of a nest of Vespa britannica (norvegica, Smith) having undergone three removes. On its first removal the stragglers, four in number, among which, the writer remarks, "no wasp distinguishable by her larger size could be seen," set about the construction of a fresh nest, which in the course of ten days was found to

contain a small comb, consisting of eight cells, " with distinct eggs in them." These eggs, it appears, came to nothing when the nest was sent to the writer, at Brighton,-a circumstance doubtless arising from some cause connected with its removal. On the original nest being removed a second time, it is stated that the stragglers, which were more numerous than on the former occasion, built another. This in the course of two or three weeks was found to contain "two tiers of cells, the upper one full of grubs."

On the 12th of last July I dug out a nest of Vespa rufa. It was situated in the deserted burrow of a mole. The parent wasp and a few of the workers were brought away with it, while the rest, about thirty in number, were left behind. These were soon observed to be busily engaged in constructing a fresh nest in the same burrow, and close to the spot from which the former one had been removed. On the 26th I took possession of this nest, which measured about 1 inch in diameter, and contained a small comb of an irregular shape, the cells in which numbered thirty-two, some containing eggs, and some small larvæ. The covering of the nest was at least four times the thickness one of the same size, constructed by a single female, would have been. None but wasps of the ordinary size, or those commonly known as workers, were found to be connected with it.

Now, although these facts may not amount to absolute proof, do they not point to the probability that, in colonies of wasps, the workers, or imperfectly-developed females, may become so far developed as to have the power of producing fertile eggs, and that without previous connexion with the male sex? This further development, however, does not ordinarily take place, occurring only when some extraordinary circumstance has arisen which renders it necessary or desirable.

I must now return to the parasites, which, as already stated, continued to emerge from the cells after the covering of the nest had been removed.

The lower comb contained twelve covered cells, and to these my attention was principally directed, in consequence of the cap or covering of each appearing to me to be more pointed in form than those usually spun by the larvae of wasps. Presently I observed a pair of jaws, from the inside of one, running rapidly round the crown, and cutting a circular piece not quite out, but sufficiently near to enable the insect, which proved to be a specimen of Ripiphorus, to effect its escape by pushing up the piece it had cut, and leaving it like the lid of a vessel attached by a hinge, just as the