Dec, I9II.] Grossbeck: Ejipiior bombiformis. 243 



the larva of the bee, or an inquiline in its nest; but the Hfe history 

 of this wasp as given by the Peckhams is so entirely different, that 

 one simply wonders what it was doing among the nests of bombi- 

 formis. 



In the following year, March 26, 1910, the first trip of the series 

 I proposed to take to the camping ground of the bees was made, and 

 about one square foot of soil was dug over and carefully examined. 

 Old cocoons, most of them filled with earth and as hard as the 

 packed shale imbedding them, were obtained in great numbers, no 

 less than one hundred and sixty being found in the square foot of 

 earth examined. These undoubtedly represented the empty cocoons 

 of years' accumulation. Apart from this number of old cocoons, six 

 new ones were found, and these, unlike the others, were of an ochre 

 color, in appearance much like the original pollen ball stored by the 

 bee but larger, and they rolled out of their cells as they were freed 

 from earth on one side. Of the six cocoons five contained large 

 white larvse with the head and thorax bent under against the venter 

 as shown in Fig. i. Nothing was left of the pollen ball, and appar- 

 ently the larva merely awaited the advent of warm weather to change 

 to a pupa and eventually to an adult. The other cocoon contained 

 a dead larva, shrivelled, and to some extent covered with fungus. 



On April 27 a second visit to the place was made and this time 

 the entire ground inhabited by the largest of the three colonies was 

 dug over. Old cocoons were present by the hundred, but only twenty- 

 one good ones were secured. Also, about thirty pollen balls, un- 

 touched in any way, were obtained. Either the adult female neglected 

 to place her egg upon these, or the egg, in case it was deposited, 

 failed to hatch, or the larva died at a very early stage of its exist- 

 ence. No indications of Meloid beetles, which it was the special 

 object of digging up the entire area to secure, were seen. 



A few of the larvae secured on this trip were preserved, but the 

 majority of cocoons were buried intact beneath an inch or less of 

 loose sand with a view to rearing the adults. These were then left 

 by themselves without as much as an occasional wetting (except 

 that on June 10, one cocoon was opened to note the condition of the 

 larva) and on July 11 the first bee, a male, emerged. A cocoon was 

 immediately dug up and the pupa sketched. This presented an ap- 

 pearance shown in Fig. 2. Other adults, numbering six in all, emerged 

 up till July 20, two appearing on this date, and all of them females. 



