Philantiius was not known to inhabit this country until last 

 autumn, when I discovered specimens at the back of the Isle 

 of Wight, and afterwards near Heron Court, in company with 

 the Hon. Charles Harris, the middle and end of August. They 

 were either resting upon the ground amongst multitudes of 

 bees (Andrena?, &c.), and of the Cerceris lately figured, or 

 were flying over grassy places at the borders of a corn-field, 

 and settling upon Hawk's-weed and other flowers. 



Latreille's account of this fine insect is too interesting to be 

 omitted. They do not, it appears, live in society, but both 

 sexes are found upon flowers in sandy districts ; the female 

 burrows in the earth; and placing a bee there, most commonly 

 an Andrena, which she has killed, deposits an egg near and 

 closes up the hole. 



The same author says, the P. apivorus (which is our insect) 

 is a dangerous enemy to the hive-bee. The females dig, in 

 light soil, on a declivity exposed to the sun, a gallery almost 

 horizontal, and about a foot deep ; she employs her mandibles 

 and her feet to raise and remove the earth, which is collected 

 as she proceeds with her labour. When their nest is finished 

 they go and search the flowers to find a bee, which they kill 

 by piercing it with their sting where the head or abdomen is 

 united to the thorax, and afterwards carry it to the end of 

 their burrow. As each female lays at least five or six eggs, it 

 follows that the same number of bees are destroyed; and con- 

 sequently when they abound in the neighbourhood of hives, it 

 is probable that they do great mischief. 



Mclamj)yrum arve?isc (Purple Cow-wheat), the local and 

 beautiful plant figured, I have gathered from the end of July 

 to the beginning of September, in corn-fields at the top of the 

 Cliff in the neighbourhood of Niton in the Isle of Wight, 

 where it is sometimes so abundant that the bread is discoloured 

 and rendered unwholesome by the vast quantity of the seeds 

 which are mixed with the wheat. 



