270 [November, 



extremities ; the segmentation is clearly marked by constrictions, but no legs 

 are visible. Twenty days from oviposition the larva of No. 1 spun a cocoon of 

 white (subsequently yellowish) silk quite free from dirt particles some three- 

 quarters of an inch long —the Swedish observers speak of an " earth cocoon." In 

 the case of No. 2 a rather smaller cocoon was spun 18 days, and in that of No. 3, 

 28 days after oviposition. In No. 3 only the uppermost inch of the burrow had 

 been filled up and the parasite and its host had been near the bottom, three 

 inches lower down ; on becoming full-fed, the former, in spite of its legless 

 condition, climbed up to the top of the free portion of the burrow to spin 

 its cocoon. 



6. The parent $ parasite in this case we are not sure of : on digging out 

 some burrows on August 29th for more experimental larvse, a Methoca larva 

 was found feeding on a paralyzed Cicindela larva ; it is noteworthy that this 

 burrow had not been filled up, but it is probable that the <j> concerned was one 

 caught quite near on August 14th, and thus prevented from completing its 

 work in which case 17 days elapsed before the cocoon was spun on Sept. 1st. 



Horsell, Woking : 



October 9th, 1914. 



HOMONOTUS (POMPILUS) SANGUINOLENTUS, F., IN SURREY, 



BY H. G. AND R. J. CHAMPION : 



WITH NOTES ON THE CHARACTERS OF THE & AND THE 



DISTRIBUTION AND NOMENCLATURE OF THE GENUS, 



BY THE REV. F. D. MORICE, M.A. 



During the past summer, we took in this district two Fossores 

 which we were quite unable to match with any insect described in 

 Saunders's Hymenoptera Aculeata of the British Isles. One of them, 

 a $ , was very characteristically coloured, black with red pronotum 

 and propodeum, whilst both were remarkable for the elongate form of 

 the thorax, largely brought about by the shape of the pronotum. 



We suspected the two of being the sexes of a single species, and 

 the Rev. F. D. Morice kindly examined them for us. He at once 

 recognised the ? as Homonotus sanguinolentus, F., and the $ as almost 

 certainly of the same species, and on his advice we sent the $ to the 

 British Museum, where Mr. B. Turner compared it with the collections 

 there and confirmed it as belonging to this species. 



This interesting and beautiful Fossor has hitherto only once 

 been recorded from Britain [Ent. Mo. Mag., 1900, p. 206J, by 



