NOTES ON VARIOUS INSECTS. 477 



Sp. 1. Eul. Megalarus. Fem. Cupreus, abdomen fuhum, 

 antennae fusccp.^ pedes fulvi, alee limpidce. 



Obscure cupreus : oculi picei : ocelli rufi : antennae fuscae ; articu- 

 lus 1"". nigro-cupreus ; 2"^ flavus : abdomen fulvum ; discus 

 subtus cupreus : pedes fulvi ; coxae nigro-cuprese ; tarsi apice 

 fusci : alse limpidge; squamulae piceae; nervi fulvi. (Corp. long, 

 lin. 1^; alar. lin. 2.) 



March ; King George's Sound, Australia. 



Art. XLIX. — Notes on various Insects^ hy J. B n; with 



further explanatory Observations, by W. E. Shuck ard. 



[If our correspondent, when sending to town, will transmit us specimens of the 

 insect he supposes to be Philanthus, it will greatly oblige. By favouring us 

 with his address, he will enable us to return him the correct name. See vol. iv. 

 p. 5. — Editor.] 



Sir, — I have sent you a few scraps ; if you think any of 

 them worth insertion in the Entomological Magazine they are 

 at your service, with the greatest pleasure. J. B n. 



On the Habits of the Chrysididw. — Mr. Shuckard, in his 

 Essay upon the British Chrysididas, (Ent. Mag. vol.iv. p. 156,) 

 states that their habits are not known with certainty, but that 

 they are supposed to be parasites upon various species of 

 Odynerus and solitary bees.^ I think the following statement 

 of facts that have come under my own notice bear out his 

 inference. In the old root of a tree which had been dug out 

 of the earth and left in a waste place near the side of the river 

 Avonllwyd, with a quantity of the soil (a hardish clay) re- 

 maining attached to it, I observed it perforated with a quantity 

 of small holes, the work of some solitary bees or wasps. One 

 bee I caught coming out of one of them, and also a Chrysis 

 bidentata coming out of an adjoining one ; this happened in 

 1886. In March, 1837, I happened to go by the stump again, 

 when I scraped a little of the earth from the upper surface of it, 

 and thus uncovered six or seven specimens of an ichneumon, 

 half an inch long, and all quite lively. [See Note A.] I could 



'^ Is there any probability of Mr. Shuckard's promised work upon the Bees of 

 Britain coming out this season ? [Mr. Shuckard promises it before the end of 

 the present year. — Editor.] 



