MUTILLIDAE BEES 303 



Another family of fossors, the Scoliidae, has been men- 

 tioned because they save themselves a great deal of 

 labour by searching out the food for their larvae and 

 laying an egg on it in situ. 



They are interesting also from another point of view, 

 because, of all Hymenoptera, they have the quietest flight ; 

 even the largest specimens produce a barely audible hum, 

 thus contrasting greatly with Pompilidae. They are 

 usually rather solidly built, hairy insects, sometimes 

 black, sometimes reddish or yellowish in colour. 



Lastly, there are the Mutillidae, which will only be 

 mentioned on account of their scarcity on the islands. 

 It seems that forested country and a damp climate are 

 not so suitable to them as the more open bush country 

 with regular dry seasons such as occurs in much of ex- 

 German East Africa, where I found Mutillidae far more 

 abundant than on the islands. They are remarkable 

 among Hymenoptera for the complete absence of wings 

 in the females, which are often mistaken for ants as they 

 run quickly over the ground. A species of Methoca was 

 obtained which was not in the British Museum collection : 

 the few African species that are known of this genus 

 had previously only been obtained from south of the 

 river Limpopo. 



Regarding Bees I have little to say. The very hand- 

 some large " Carpenter bees " {Xylocopidae) , . which in 

 the tropics take the place of our " Bumble bees " 

 at home, are plentiful enough, and may often be seen 

 visiting the large yellow flowers of ambatch trees. A 

 particularly handsome large one is covered with bright 

 golden brown hair ; this is the male of a species whose 

 female is black and white. Their burrows in dead 

 trees are commonly seen. The natives call them 

 " Buvumira," which is quite descriptive of a large 

 buzzing insect. 



A smaller bee {Crocisa meripes) presents a great con- 



