174 [August, 



hood, 7?. lapidarius. Of tlie other species, those which live on the 

 surface of the ground are preferred, no doubt because their nests are 

 more easily discovered than those in holes. 



The nests are attacked between the middle of June and August, 

 and the moth searches for them at night. When young the larvae of 

 the moth do not greatly damage the comb, especially if they are not 

 numerous or if the colony of bees is a strong one. When the 

 droppings, old cells, &c., have all been devoured, they will attack the 

 bee-brood until the entire nest is riddled with their silk lined tunnels, 

 and nothing is left but fragments of cocoons and. nest material strung 

 together with tough web. I have frequently taken nests of JBombus 

 Derhamellus in this state containing two or three workers and the old 

 queen, which had fallen into a drowsy state and seemed quite incapa- 

 ble of helping themselves. The mature larva is from about one inch 

 to one and a quarter in length. It is of a pale olive-green colour ; the 

 skin is tough and leather like, and is very sparingly clothed with short 

 hairs. It is very active, wriggling backwards as well as forwards with 

 great agility when disturbed. 



In August or September the larvae spin their long tough cocoons, 

 not changing to pupae until the following June. At the end of that 

 month the moth usually emerges and searches for a fresh nest in which 

 to lay its eggs. When the nest is below the surface of the ground the 

 larvae often spin a web to the mouth of the hole, and climbing up by 

 this spin their cocoons on the surface of the ground. A cluster of 

 cocoons, the size of a cricket ball, does not seem to be so very large, 

 taking into consideration the size of the nest. The comb of Bomhus 

 terrestris is often seven or eight inches in diameter ; it would almost 

 supply food for a mass of larvae as large as a football ! I am sending 

 you a cluster of cocoons spun in a heap of straw close to the mouth 

 of a hole of a nest of Bomhus Jiortorum, which was about eighteen 

 inches from the surface. It is about one-fourth of the cluster that I 

 found outside the nest, and there was a number of cocoons inside 

 as well. 



Dover: January , \9,9Q. 



[A paper (Ent. Mo. Mag., vol. xxxi, p. 72) upon the curious mass of cocoons 

 formed by larvse of Aphomia sociella, with further remarks upon the food by Dr. 

 Chapman (Ent. Mo. Mag., vol. xxxi, p. 96) brought me a note from Mr. W. H. B. 

 Fletcher recommending that I should apply to Mr. F. W. L. Sladen, of Dover, for 

 information respecting his experience of this species wliile rearing wild bees. Mr. 

 Sladen's response, given above, was of much interest. 



The cluster of cocoons which is before me is of the size of a tennis ball. For 

 the last ten days the moths have been emerging daily, sometimes in dozens; con- 



