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Remarks on a Parasite of Homble Bees. 



Sphcerularia Bombi. Leon Dufour. 



By W. Cole, M.E.S. 



Read August 27th, 1875. 



The parasites of insects form a most interesting and varied 

 subject of investigation for the entomologist and microscopist, but 

 it is a branch of natural history very little attended to in this 

 country ; probably on account of the scanty and scattered 

 character of the information on the subject contained in Eng- 

 lish books on entomology. Those who are in search of a pro- 

 fitable employment for their observing powers, may find a wide 

 field for exertion in this direction ; one less hackneyed, perhaps, 

 and more likely to lead to remarkable, if not new results, than 

 many others which are in fashion with amateur naturalists. No 

 one need here fear of lack of worlds to conquer; the subject would 

 appear to be well nigh inexhaustible. Judging from the data 

 furnished by my own rather limited experience, I am disposed to 

 think that not only does every species of insect suffer from the 

 attacks of some endemic parasite, but almost every individual 

 affords nourishment to a guest either internally or externally ; and 

 many insects examined this year were found to be playing the part 

 of hosts to four or five different species of parasites. 



Partly from their social habits, and partly, perhaps, from the 

 fact that their life-histories, have been more closely watched than 

 those of some other orders of insects, the Hymenoptera have been 

 found to be the especial victims of these uniwelcome guests. Some 

 of the parasites of bees are so strange in appearance, and so 

 anomalous in their mode of life, that they long formed a puzzle 

 to naturalists, and may still be considered as amongst the most 

 wonderful creatures in the whole range of entomology. We have 



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