1902.] 183 



pair of Andrena ferox, Smith. The ? was caught on May 22nd, flying along the 

 bottom of a hedge. The <? was found on May 24th, attached to a stem of grass 

 about a yard from the place where I caught the female, and was lifeless, apparently 

 it had just expired, it is much larger and more strongly coloured than the $ taken 

 by me at Dodington in 189fi. The locality is quite three miles off Dodington 

 locality, so that as ferox has also been taken at Wychling beyond, it is evident that 

 the bee is spread over this part of the country. I saw no signs of any other 

 specimens either then or a fortnight later, when I had the assistance of The Rev. 

 F. D. Morice, but on the later occasion the weather was execrable. I suggest that 

 the male has a very short life. The ? , however, is rather an insignificant bee, with 

 thin pubescence on the abdomen, and though particularly on the look-out for ferox, 

 I was unaware that I had taken the ? as well as the $ until later, when it was 

 identified, with Mr. Morice's assistance. The wide membrane of the mandibles is 

 not very easily seen, but the mandibles are peculiarly thickened. Mr. Morice kindly 

 dissected out the genitalia of the $ , and no doubt will describe them. The place 

 where it was captured is peculiarly suitable for bees. A field, thinly covered with 

 poor grass, slopes very suddenly towards the E. S. E. forming one side of a deep 

 valley, through the centre of which runs a road, the hedge mentioned by me is at 

 the bottom of the slope, and a hop field lies between it and the road. The slope 

 and hedge get the full morning sun, and the slope is literally covered with the 

 burrows of Halicti, Andrena', Eucera, &c. At a gap in this hedge I was fortunate 

 enough to take on May 21st, at about 10 a.m., a fine $ Stylops melittce, Kirby, the 

 first I have seen alive, though I have searched for it every spring since 1894. As 

 early as March this year I found a bee which had evidently just been left by a male 

 Stylops ; so the Stylops occur during a considerable period of the spring. 



I was surprised to find what a very conspicuous insect it is ; my specimen 

 rose and fell up and down the hedge, its wings never ceasing to vibrate until it was 

 bottled. A £ Andrena Wilkella, Kirby, found dead with a very large Stylops hole 

 in it shortly afterwards was probably t he host. 



I may perhaps mention the following eaptiu'es : Andrena chrysosceles, Kirby, 

 four $ cj on May 17th, on daisies growing on a grass path at the edge of a wood. 

 Two of these were badly Stylopised, and in these the clypeus was almost entirely 

 without its usual conspicuous white colour. There were no $ s about. The £ $ 

 kept entirely to the daisies. I could have taken several more specimens had I been 

 minded to do so. 



Andrena humilis, Imhoff. — A pair taken on May 21st and 22nd at the ferox 

 locality. I have never seen this before here, and was surprised to come across it. 

 The <J of the allied A. labialis, Kirby, also occurred, and I saw it the following 

 week abundantly at Pamber, Hants. I have never been able to find the 9 of this 

 species. 



Andrena proximo, Kirby, $ $ fairly common, May 24th and 25th, also at the 

 hedge, also Odynerus melanocephalus, Gmel., a $ on May 22nd, and trimarginatus, 

 Zett., a c? on June 6th. I also took a Vespa rufa $ , the first I have seen in this 

 part of the country. The cold spring has had a curious effect upon the times of 

 the appearance of the bees this year, and quite fresh specimens of the usual early 

 spring bees were to be taken at the very end of May.— Arthur J. Chitty, 

 Huntingfield, Faversham, Kent : June 20th, 1902. 



