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INSECTS

(continued) Pachtylus cinerascens, L. Manchester—migratorius, L. Bolton

(Crickets)

The only species recorded from the county is Gryllus domesticus, L., the common cricket of our houses, which is locally common, but hardly generally abundant, the cockroach having in many places supplanted and even exterminated it

[The determination of several of the exotic species mentioned above is due to the kindness of Mr. Malcolm Burr, the well-known authority on the Orthoptera]

HYMENOPTERA

The only portion of this order of which detailed and trustworthy data are obtainable is the Aculeata, that is the ants, wasps, and bees. These have been studied by the late Benjamin Cooke of Southport, and the Rev. H. H. Higgins, formerly of Rainhill near Liverpool. The result of their observations, together with those of a few other local students of the order, has been incorporated in a paper on 'The Hymenoptera-Aculeata of Lancashire and Cheshire, with notes on the habits of the genera,' by Willoughby Gardner, F.L.S., reprinted from the Transactions of the Liverpool Biological Society, 1901. This list deals however only with the southern part of Lancashire. The centre and north of the county are still practically virgin ground to the Hymenopterist, and probably many species are to be found there which have no place in the list referred to.

As regards the remainder of the order—the ichneumons, saw-flies, gall-flies, etc.—a short list exists compiled by Benjamin Cooke which enumerates about 150 species as having been noticed by himself of the Tenthredinidæ, Xiphydriidæ, Uroceridæ, Cynipidæ, Ichneumonidæ, Braconidæ, Bethylidæ, and Embolimidæ, and also about 23 species of Chalcididæ and Chrysididæ. These are all from the immediate vicinity of Manchester. This list was published in the Naturalist, vol. v. No. liii. Dec. 1879. It makes no pretension to be in any sense exhaustive, and is really not much more than a 'note' of species observed near Manchester. We have however no other accessible local information on this part of the order known to the writer.

Reverting to the Aculeata, it appears to be unnecessary to mention in detail species generally and everywhere abundant. The following records however seem worthy of attention as of species more or less rare and local. They are taken from the list of Mr. Gardner already mentioned.

HETEROGYNA


 * Ponera contracta, Lat. Near Manchester

FOSSORES


 * Sapyga 5-punctata, F. Rainhill near Liverpool




 * Pompilus rufipes, L. — plumbeus, F. — niger, F. — pectinipes, V. de Lind. || ||Recorded from the coast sandhills
 * }
 * }


 * Salius exaltatus, F. Bowden near Manchester


 * Ceropalpes maculata, F. Southport

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