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INSECTS The county of Leicester does not take an important place in regard to the number of its species of insects. Many interesting forms occur both in the Coleoptera and Lepidoptera which have been well worked out, but owing to the absence of specialists in the other orders the records are very scanty. The greater part of the county is arable and pasture land in a high state of cultivation, but on the whole it is well wooded. Charnwood Forest, which includes well-known localities like Buddon Wood, Bardon Hill, and Bradgate Park, is perhaps the richest district in the matter of records, pro- bably because it has been more worked than other districts. Owston Wood, on the Rutland border, with its varied flora, produces a number of species not found in other parts of the county. Seal Wood, Grange Wood, and the Ambien Wood, in the neighbourhood of Sutton Cheney, are all good collect- ing ground. The following abbreviations have been adopted throughout the lists in this article, viz. : c. denotes common ; v.c., very common or abundant ; n.c., not common ; r., rare or scarce ; v.r., very rare ; and gen. dist., generally distributed. I have to express my thanks, for valuable assistance received, to Mr. H. St.J. Donisthorpe, F.Z.S., F.E.S., Rev. Canon Cruttwell, M.A., Rev. G. W. Whittingham, Prof. Hudson Beare, Mr. W. A. Vice, M.B., Mr. G. B. Dixon, F.E.S., Mr. W. J. Kaye, F.E.S., Mr. C. B. Headly, F.E.S., Mr. G. B. Chalcraft, Dr. W. H. Barrow, Mr. J. H. Wooley, Mr. H. Holy- oak, and others, for notes on the various orders. I have also had the advantage of the use of notes made by the late Rev. A. Matthews and Mr. J. Weildt. HYMENOPTERA Ants, Wasps, Bees, &c. So far as is known Leicestershire has never been systematically worked with regard to its hymenoptera. A few bees and wasps have been taken from time to time in different parts of the county, and that is all that has been done. The hymenopterist has here full scope for his energies and need not anticipate much rivalry in this field of research. The members of the Psythorus and Crabro families are well represented and generally abundant, as are also some of the Andrena, Nomada, and Fossores. Ichneumons are abundant but practically nothing is known of them. It is not intended to put the following notes forward in any way as a list, but it is certainly advisable to show what has been done, or rather, in this case, what has' not been