A HISTORY OF WORCESTERSHIRE Leptocerus alboguttatus, Hag. By a brook, Cotheridge — aterrimus, De G., Stph. A pool, Cothe- ■idge I By the Severn By Laughern Brook The Severn ^ , L. The Tetne and the Avon — azurea, L. The Teme Triaenodes bicolor, Curt. By a pool, Cotbe- — cinereus, Curt. — albifrons, L. — bilineatus, L. — dissimilis, Stph. Mystacides nigra. — consperta, Ramb. Bank of Teme CEcetis lacustris, Pict. Comes to 'light' ; by nearly stagnant water — notata, Ramb. Two, by Severn^ Lench- ford — testacea, Curt, Banks of Teme, Cotheridge Setodes tineiformis, Curt. By the Severn, Camp — interrupta, F. Severn and Teme — punctata, F. One, by the Severn, Grimley Beraea pullata. Curt. A brooklet, Cotheridge Beraeodes minuta, L. Laughern Brook Hydropsyche pellucidula. Curt. By the Teme — augustipennis, Curt. Teme, Cotheridge — guttata, Pict. The Teme, Bramford — instabilis. Curt. Broadwas — lepida, Pict. Severn and Avon Wormaldia subnigra, McLach. By a rill out of bank of Teme Plectrocnemia conspersa. Curt. Comer Gar- dens Polycentropus flavomaculatus, Pict. Teme — multiguttatus. Curt. The Teme, Powick Holocentropus dubius, Ramb. The Teme, Bramford — picicornis, Stph. Pond, Grimley — stagnalis, Albarda. Marsh, Grimley Cyrnus trimaculatus, Curt. By rivers gener- ally Tinodes waeneri, L. Laughern Brook Lype phaeopa, Stph. Avon and Severn Psychomyia pusilla, F. The Teme, Cothe- ridge Chimarrha marginata, L. Two or three, by the Teme Rhyacophila dorsalis, Curt. By the Teme Agapetus fuscipes, Curt. By rills generally — comatus, Pict. One or two, Teme Agraylea multipunctata, Curt. To 'light,' Worcester Allotrichia pallicornis, Eaton. One at 'light,' Pitmaston Hydroptila sparsa, Curt. The Severn, near TVorcester — forcipata, Eaton. By the Teme, Brans- ford Oxyethira costalis. Curt. To ' light,' IVor- HYMENOPTERA It would seem that this order of insects has not been worked at in this county until my time, so there is little to be said in a preliminary way. The order contains creatures only second in interest to the human species. Parthenogenesis is very common among the Sawflies, and a similar case came under my notice in the Ants. A small ant {Leptothorax tuberum), consisting of but a few individuals in any one community, chooses for its nest some rather prominent piece of bark, more or less hollowed on the inner side (if indeed the creature does not form the cavity), on a tree in a retired thicket — poplar and maple are the only trees I have found it on — in which to set up its home. In the begin- ning of April, 1887, I came across such a piece of bark on a scrubby maple, which with my trowel I chipped off, exposing to view a little group of twenty or thirty of these creatures. As I had no males and only one wingless female in my collection, it occurred to me to carry these ants home and try what could be done with them in captivity. I tried to get the ants into a tin box, but only succeeded with the greater part ; the female, owing to the rough bark and projecting shoots of the tree, escaped me and fell to the long grass at the roots and was lost. On reaching home I took a short piece of green willow, the thick- ness of a man's arm and some 10 inches long, and stood it up in a large 86
