I. Figulus Litm. — Panz. 80. 16. — Jurine pl.9. Gen. 9,. 

 Black, shining, cl3'peus and the margins of the segments sil- 

 very on the sides. 



Authors do not seem to agree respecting the oeconomy of 

 this abundant species, which is found on old posts, paling, 

 outhouses, gates, barn and stable doors, from the middle of 

 May to the beginning of August, and in the Isle of Wight I 

 have frequently found it upon rushes. Latreille says that it 

 avails itself of the holes made by other insects in wood to form 

 its own nest. As soon as the proprietor of the hole leaves it, 

 the Trypoxylon takes possession of it, cleans, enlarges, and 

 clothes the inside with a coat of diluted earth, places a spider 

 (Mr. Westwood says the young o{ Epeira diadema) in it, de- 

 posits an egg, and then closes the aperture with moist earth ; 

 each cell occupies it two days. The larva is an apode and 

 resembles those of bees : after having consumed its provision 

 it spins a very thin cocoon, in which it becomes a pupa. This 

 view has been confirmed by the observations of Mr. Shuckard 

 and Mr. Westwood, but from the account of the oeconomy of 

 this insect by the latter gentleman in the Trans, of the Ent. 

 Soc. he seems to be disposed to think that the Trypoxylon 

 forms its own burrows. M. St. Fargeau considers that these 

 insects are parasitic, and from an anecdote published in Mr. 

 Shuckard's fossorial Hymenoptera it appears that Mr. John- 

 son detected them carrying masses composed of Aphides into 

 the burrows occupied by Odyneri. 



2. aurifrons. " Male black, silky-aureous, antennge fulvous, 

 margins of the abdominal segments ferruginous : 7 lines." 

 Shuc. 117. 2. 



Mr. Shuckard thinks this species, which is in the British 

 Museum, may not be an European insect. 



3. clavigerum St. Farg. — Curt. Brit. Ent. pi. 652. ? . 

 Black, minutely punctured, clothed with short soft white 

 pubescence, clypeus silvery in both sexes: metathorax 

 striated obliquely, with a large channel down the centre : 

 abdomen piceous, basal joint elongated, subpyriform, with 

 a sharp groove down the base, the segments constricted at 

 the base, sides of the margins silky- white : scapulae and tips 

 of thighs ochreous, 4 anterior tibiae and tarsi ochreous, the 

 former fuscous outside, except at the base and apex. In the 

 male the legs are darker. 



Mr. Shuckard obliged me by the loan of this insect, which 

 he has taken at Hampstead and Darent ; it has also been 

 found at Camberwell : he adds that it frequents holes in posts 

 and paling, especially where Heriades Campanularum (fol. 504) 

 nidificates. 



For specimens of Polygofium vivipartim, Alpine Bistort, I 

 am indebted to T. Howson, Esq., who took me to their locality 

 in the neighbourhood of Giggleswick. 



