170 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [June, 



ON THE PARASITES OF WILD BEES IN CALIFORNIA. 



By A. DAVIDSON, M. D., Los Angeles, Cal. 



In ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS for May, 1893, I recorded the para- 

 sites I had found affecting the Carpenter bee, Xylocopa orpifex, 

 and in the further investigation of parasitic life among the Hy- 

 menoptera I have bred some insects the record of which may be 

 of some interest : 



Photopsis unicolor Cress. Four specimens of this species were 

 bred from cells of the following bees: 



No. i, from cell of Anthidium emarginatzim; found in Septem- 

 ber, 1892; adult issued July 20, 1893. 



No. 2, from a cell of Anthophora sp.? dug from a soft rock in 

 September, 1892; hatched July 2Oth, 1893. 



No. 3, from cell of the same species; hatched in August, 1893. 



No. 4, from cell of Anthidium emarginatum ? occupying a hole 

 in the ground ; found in October, 1892; hatched Nov. 5, 1893. 



In one instance no cocoon seems to have been formed; those 

 of the others closely resembled cocoons of the Anthophora they 

 infested. The larvae of the bees had been entirely consumed. 



Argyramceba cedipus, Fabr. From the cell of a small bee 

 found six inches deep in adobe soil this bee-fly appeared on July 

 29. The parasite had evidently attacked the larva after the latter 

 had spun its cocoon; and while in the pupa stage had, after the 

 manner of its tribe, wriggled itself through the cocoon and then 

 transformed. 



Leucopsis sp.? Three of these Chalcids were hatched from the 

 lower cells of a series of about a dozen of a species of Anthidium 

 in August. The bee cells occupied about nine inches of the hol- 

 low stem of an Audibertia polystachya and when found in the 

 previous month contained only the three parasites, the bees and 

 some other parasites having already escaped. The parasites 

 formed no cocoon and the remains of the nearly full grown bee- 

 larvae were easily recognised among the debris. 



One of the most common Bumble bees of this section is the 

 handsome yellow-coated Bombus fervidus Fabr. Whether its 

 describer named this insect from the warmth of color in its coat, 

 or for reasons associated with a more intimate acquaintance with 

 its habits I cannot say, but at all events the name suggests the 

 character of the receptions the innocent seeker after truth is likely 

 to experience. These insects are .especially numerous along the 



