Since Mr. Kirby wrote his able Monograph, his suspicions 

 have been confirmed relative to the sexes of this bee having 

 been described by Linnaeus under two names, yet the fact of 

 Mr. Shuckard having seen the female Clielostoma paired with 

 an Osviia, shows how difficult it is to ascertain the sexes of in- 

 sects, and how cautious we ought to be in deciding on such 

 questions. 



It is said that the idle males of this singular bee sleep away 

 a great portion of their time in the bosom of some pretty flower, 

 whilst the female labours hard with her mandibles to form cells 

 several inches in length in posts and rails, where she deposits 

 her eggs, supplies them with pollen, and then dies. By the 

 following extract from a letter written by the Rev. R. Albion 

 Cox to Mr. Dale, it is evident that they sometimes save them- 

 selves the labour of excavation by employing the stubble of 

 wheat for their nests, a remarkable departure from their usual 

 ceconomy which has not been hitherto noticed. " The habits 

 of this species (says Mr. Cox) are singular, the reed-motes 

 contain their nests. On splitting a portion from one you will 

 find a most ingenious arrangement for the support of the in- 

 fant progeny. First a store of pollen, then an egg or grub, 

 and lastly a small pellet of earth or stone, and so on in a se- 

 ries from the joint to the end of the straw, which is carefully 

 sealed. The pellet is placed in the position described, evi- 

 dently for the purpose of intercepting the progress of the larva 

 in that direction, lest he should infringe upon the rights of his 

 next-door neighbour. If you should chance to meet with a 

 straw whose inmates are in a more advanced stage, you will 

 find the pupa inclosed in a silken shroud at the end opposite 

 to his original position, and behind him the rejectamenta of 

 his banquet. Whatever may be the diameter of the straw, the 

 quantity of food appears to be precisely the same; whence it 

 happens that the deposits differ in length, proportionably to 

 the size of the cylinder which contains them." Mr. Cox adds, 

 " Mr. Paulett Mildmay first pointed out the ingenuity of the 

 contrivance." 



Mr. 11. Bakewell, of Nottingham, also informs me that the 

 females o( Sapi/ga clavicornis (pi. 532.) enter the holes of Clie- 

 lostoma^ and are always to be found about posts where that 

 bee nidificates, but the male Sapj/ga is very rare and difficult 

 to capture. 



The Ichneumon manifestator, Fccnus jaculator (fol. 4-23.), 

 Ichneumon femorator^ Kirb., and Chrysis cijanea are recorded 

 also as parasites on the larvae o'i Chelostoma. 



For the pretty plant, Exacum fliforme. Least Gentianella, 

 I am mdebted to the Hon. C. A. Harris. 



