SCIENTIFIC NOTES. Ill 



ifc as far as the British Islands are concerned. The first known capture 

 was on the Wallasey sandhills on May 4th, 1855, by the Rev. H. H. 

 Higgins, who, however, only noted it in his private diary. In 1867 

 several specimens of the bee were taken at the same place by Mr. N. 

 Cooke, brother to Mr. Benjamin Cooke ; the fact of the discovery of 

 this addition to our British fauna by Mr. Cooke was announced by Mr. 

 F. Smith in the Ent. Mo. Mar/., 1869, p. 276, but, owing to the 

 specimens having been inadvertently transferred to a box containing 

 some Isle of Wight captures, the locality was recorded as Ventnor. In 

 1870, Mr. Cooke found further examples of the bees at their burrows 

 at Wallasey (Ent. Ann., 1870). From that time to the present the 

 insect has been taken freely in the same locality, where it is, in fact, 

 abundant, making its burrows gregariously in various parts of the 

 sandhills. It has also since been discovered to have a much more 

 extended range in our two counties than was at first supposed. On 

 the opposite side of the Mersey it occurs freely along the Lancashire 

 coast, e.rf., near the Waterloo coursing grounds, among the sandhills 

 at Crosby, and at Southport, while it has been taken as far north 

 as Blackpool, by Mr. C. E. Stott. South of its "metropolis" at 

 Wallasey, its range extends along the sandhills in Cheshire as far as 

 Hoylake, where there is a large colony, and West Kirby, while inland 

 a specimen has been taken near Rock Perry, and another fifteen 

 miles away from the coast, near Chester. Whether the two 

 last-named captures represent distant wanderers from their seaside 

 homes or belong to as yet undiscovered colonies located at these inland 

 stations, has not yet been determined. On the continent, however, 

 the insect has a Avide range inland as well as along the coast line. C. 

 cunicularia is a large, handsome species, the female about the size of, 

 and much resembling, a honey-bee when on the wing ; even when 

 hovering over the sallow-bloom which it loves, however, it may easily 

 be distinguished from the latter species by its thinner legs ; in the 

 honey-bee the broad flat hind-legs hang conspicuously below the abdo- 

 men in flight, identifying it at once ; if our Colletcft be captured and 

 examined, moreover, it will be found to have a broad, short, double- 

 lobed, flat tongue, like that of a wasp, instead of the long pointed 

 tongue of the honey-bee ; ('. cunicvlaria is, in fact, the only British 

 bee of large size which has a tongue of this description. Sphecodes 

 pilifrons has been observed frequenting its burrows, and is possibly 

 inquiline upon it." 



.SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



The Specific value of Malacosoma luteus, Obth. — Kirby (Cat., 

 p. 832) makes this a Lachncis, and Staudinger (Cat., 3rd ed., p. 

 119) makes it a var. of Malacosoma franconica. In Brit. Lep., ii., p. 

 498, we have followed Kirby, but in iii., p. 226, we have followed Staudin- 

 ger. A recent letter from M. Oberthiir, makes it clear that both are 

 wrong. He writes {in litt.): " Lutetis is a distinct species, intermediate 

 between M. castrensis and M. franconica ; it is nearer the former than the 

 latter. The 5 Z»«ci/s looks like var. taraxacoides hnt is A&vkev (liitea nee 

 ritrina) ; the <? M. luteus differs from M. caatrensis ^ and M. franconica 

 c? , I believe it to be a distinct species and not a variety." I only 

 regret that I had not this note before completing my list in Brit. 

 Lep., vol. iii., p. 226.— J. W. Tutt. February 28t/i, 1902. 



