18!i7.] 247 



coating is a very interesting one to watch ; although a local insect, 

 it is abundant in some localities, and the very much larger size o£ the 

 ^ , in comparison to that of the ? , is very striking. The three 

 species of Sielis are all rare, aterrima is the least so, and S-maculata 

 the rarest ; they associate with species of Osmia, the latter with 

 O. leucomelana, from nests of which species in bramble stems it has 

 been bred ; aterrima and phceop'era associate with 0. fidviventris, and 

 are also taken occasionally at flowers. I have found aterrima on the 

 tall garden Veronica, and have received phceoptera several times from 

 Mr. W. H. Tuck, who takes it round the burrows of Osmia near Bury 

 St. Edmunds. 



Ghelostoma Jlorisomne and campanularum both burrow in wood, 

 and neither of them is rare ; the former is found in May and June, 

 and the latter, which frequents the flowers of the harebell, in June, 

 July, and August. Of Reriades very little is known in this country. 

 Brentford (Kirby) and Dulwich (Ingall) are the only localities 

 recorded. I have pointed out in my " Hymenoptera Aculeafa,'" p. 311, 

 the doubtfulness of the second locality. The species is a wood 

 burrower, so should be looked for round posts, dead trees, &c. Most 

 of the Osmias occur in June, and several are very rare ; hicolor and 

 aMrw7^??^« make their nests in old snail shells; ecBrulescens,fulviiientris, 

 and pilicornis in wood, although the former sometimes burrows in 

 bard banks ; rufa usually in the mortar of walls, &c., but sometimes 

 in banks, snail shells, or wood, in fact no sort of locality seems to come 

 amiss to it ; xanthomelana makes its cells at the roots of grass ; parie- 

 tina under stones, &c. ; leucomelana in bramble stems or banks ; 

 hicolor occurs in chalky and limestone districts ; parietina is very rare, 

 and only occurs in mountainous and limestone districts ; xanthomelana 

 appears to be very local, but has been found in recent years in the Isle 

 of Wight and in Gloucestershire, and several older localities are 

 recorded for it; the others are pretty generally distributed, although 

 leucomelana and spinulosa are not recorded from the north. Ceratina, 

 which could hardly be overlooked on account of its steel-blue colour, 

 appears to be strangely scarce in this country ; a good many localities 

 are recorded for it, and yet I have scarcely seen any specimens taken 

 in recent years ; Mr. Harwood, of Colchester, meets with it, but I do 

 not know of any other collector who takes it : it visits the flowers of 

 Echiiim, and nests in bramble stems. Eiicera longicornis is another 

 bee which no one could overlook, although they might wonder to what 

 genus its female belonged ; it is local, but abundant in many localities, 



