BRITISH HYMEN OPTEBA. 279 



dust; examine it, and in all probability she will be found to be covered with 

 an innumerable quantity of exceedingly minute animals; these are the larva? 

 of Stylops; by the aid of a raagnifying-glass they may be seen to issue from 

 the transverse aperature on the thorax: when the bee re-enters the cell, or 

 settles upon flowers, these diminutive creatures will of course occasionally be 

 deposited, and by these means, when other bees visit the flowers, they attach 

 themselves to them and are carried to their nests. Judging from the multi- 

 tude of larva? produced by each female Stylops, amounting to many hundreds 

 in each case, and the rarity of the perfect insect, the majority must perish, 

 probably in their larval condition. From the fact of seldom more than two 

 Stylops being found to infest the same bee, we may suppose that to be the 

 largest number which infests one larva of an Andrena; they undergo their 

 changes in the body of the bee, the male on its final transformation becoming 

 an active winged insect, the female remaining a mere apod, attached for life 

 to the bee which nourished it. A most complete and interesting summary 

 of the observations of entomologists on these parasites, will be found in the 

 twentieth volume of the "Transactions of the Linnsean Society," by Mr. 

 George Newport, who has in this paper entered most minutely into the 

 anatomy, functions, and development of these remarkable parasites, being the 

 most interesting and complete essay on the subject yet written. 



There are still other parasites to be noticed, which will occasionally be 

 found on the bodies of these bees; the first to be noticed is a small orange- 

 coloured Pcdiculus, which is about one-tenth of an inch in length; this is 

 the larva of Meloe; I have several times reared these hexapods from the 

 eggs of that beetle. For the most complete account of their history, reference 

 must be made to the twentieth volume of the "Linnsean Transactions," which 

 contains Mr. George Newport's most interesting memoir on Meloe cicatricosus ; 

 in this paper it is shown that the larva of the beetle feeds on that of 

 Anthophora pilipes ; but it remains to be proved, that the larva of an Andrena 

 can serve as food for the larva of a Meloe; I am inclined to think this can 

 never be the case, and that the fact of our finding them on these bees is a 

 mere indication of the usual habit of the larva? in attaching themselves to any 

 insect which comes in their way, for we as constantly find them on Diptera 

 and flower-visiting Coleoptera as upon the Andrenidce : it has been shown that 

 a larva of Anthophora will nourish that of Meloe, but so small a larva as 

 that of Andrena can I think scarcely answer that purpose; I have however 

 included them, but merely as supposed parasites on Andrena. 



~We now come to the last supposed parasite on these bees; it is found on 

 their bodies, and exactly resembles in form the last-mentioned, but is of a 

 brown-black colour, and is full twice the size; they attach themselves to the 

 hairy parts of the bees, as the metathorax, and the sides of the thorax 

 beneath the wings. What these pediculi really are, is at present involved in 

 complete obscurity; Mr. Kirby regarded them as insects in their perfect 

 condition, naming them Pediculus Meliltee. I have frequently observed these 

 creatures in considerable numbers in the flowers of Ranunculus acris, as 

 many as twenty or more in a single flower, about the month of April; and 

 I think always before the usual time for meeting with the larva? of Meloe. 



