The Scottish Naturalist. 



223 



time to prevent it. Two or three of the nests were placed in holes in the gable 

 of a house immediately adjacent ; the others were apparently at some distance. 

 Reamur ( 'Me 'moires pour servir a V Histoire dcs f/isectes, tome vi. J gives an 

 excellent account of a bee which he called Abeille tapissicrc (Meg. fa paver is of 

 Latrelle), which used the petals of the field-poppy to ornament its cells with. 

 This is the earliest account we have of any of these bees selecting coloured 

 material for this purpose. Unfortunately, this species is not found in Britain. 

 More recently, Mr. Newman, in the 3d Vol. of the Entomologist, states that 

 some species of Megachile line their nest with the scarlet petals of pelargoniums. 

 Mr. F. Smith, in recording his observations on this subject in the same volume, 

 says that he was astonished to observe M. centuntularis cutting the scarlet 

 petals of geraniums to line its tunnels, at an old house in Deal. The above is 

 the first notice, so far as I am aware, of this curious practice of any species of 

 Megachile as observed in Scotland.— Robt. Walker, St. Andrews, May, 1872. 



NOTES ON SCOTTISH HEMIPTERA. 



By F. BUCHANAN WHITE, M.D. 



DIPSOCOEIS ALIENUM H.S. 



'T^HIS curious little bug is usually considered to be rare in 

 A Britain, but in Scotland at least, I am convinced that it 

 is universally distributed, and may be found in appropriate 

 localities throughout the country by any one conversant with its 

 habits. The celebrated Haliday, who constituted the genus, 

 thus writes of Dipsocoris (Nat. Hist. Rev. ii. 61) : — " Inhabits 

 the banks of rivers throughout the summer, gliding among the 

 wet gravel, its silky down protecting it from the wet. It takes 

 flight readily, even off the surface of the water. The yellowish 

 larvae and pupae are found in the same situation, leaping like 

 the perfect insect. In its habits it most resembles the Saldce, 

 but shuns the light more than they do." 



The favourite haunts of the Dipsocoris are the large banks of 

 shingle that are to be met with here and there beside most of our 

 Scottish rivers. In such places, on turning over stones near the 

 edge of the water, one is almost certain to see the little creature 

 gliding swiftly along among the damp gravel, and hiding itself 

 in some crevice. As far as I have seen, it does not appear to 

 like too much wet, and I have never noticed it, as Haliday 

 seems to have done, on the water, nor flying. When alive, the 

 wing-cases are purplish-brown, with a whitish bloom-like gloss, 

 produced by the fine appressed hairs with which they are 

 covered. The larvae and pupae may be frequently seen along 



