18 



Apogonia of Kirby. Having found two specimens this spring, 

 I can send you one if desirable. I have not yet met with M. 

 balia here ; the one found near Round Hill is the only spec- 

 imen I have seen, and unfortunately that was imperfect. 



At Cambridge I found Malachius quadrimaculatus, on the 

 flowers of Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, but, though females 

 occurred in abundance, I obtained but two males, distinguished 

 by the singularly enlarged joints near the base of the antenna?; 

 they confirmed the observation I had before made that the an- 

 terior tarsus of this sex has but four joints, whereas the inter- 

 mediate and posterior tarsi as well as all those of the female 

 have five joints to each ; it was this circumstance that per- 

 plexed me in ascertaining the genus when my first specimen 

 (which was a male) was discovered. 



In the course of the next winter I propose revising and 

 publishing my subgenera of the genus Melolontlia, and any 

 observations or new species you could send me would be very 

 acceptable. It appears to me that Trichius eremicola, scaber, 

 and the European eremita, should constitute a new genus, 

 or at least a subgenus. These species are distinguished by the 

 want of a hairy covering, and by having three teeth on each 

 of the tibire, whereas in other Tricliii there are but two, and 

 the body is more or less hairy. Other diagnostic characters 

 might be pointed out, but these are the most obvious. One 

 important difference exists in their habits. The species in ques- 

 tion are active only in the night, never found, like other Trichii, 

 feeding (as the bees, which they often resemble, do) on the 

 pollen and nectar of flowers during the brightness of the day, 

 but secreting themselves in dark recesses, whence they emerge 

 at night and fly abroad, probably to feed, like the Mdolontliidce 

 and JjUcanidcBi'on the leaves of trees. 



I had almost forgotten to urge you to visit Goshen, taking in 

 company the lad who found the two specimens of Ampliicoma, 

 and solely for the purpose of finding duplicates of this most 

 interesting insect. To Europeans it would be worth a journey 



