1882.] . 163 



Perhaps this notice may elicit, either from our English collectors of this group 

 of insects, or from some Foreign Entomologist, some corroboration of this, so far as 

 I am aware, single instance of one of this section of the Aculeata being carnivorous. 



While on the subject of abnormal (?) peculiarities of bees, I may mention that 

 I have made special observations on Anthojihora acervoruni. A pair, or at most, so 

 far as my observations go, two pairs, had taken up their abode in a cob-wall at the 

 end of my garden. I began to notice them in 1863, and have noted the time of their 

 appearance in our meteorological register each year since that time to the present, 

 ■with the exception of one year (1878), when I did not see them at all for the -whole 

 season. The next year, however, a pair took up their abode in the same place, and 

 have continued since. With the one break mentioned above, the male has always 

 put in an appearance about a week before the female ; thus, for 19 years, this law 

 has held good, but this year it was broken, for the female preceded the male by a 

 week — she appeared on March 9th, and the male came out on the 15th. — Edwabb 

 Pabfitt, Exeter : November 6th, 1882. 



TJoplisus hieinctus, Rossi, near Plymouth. — On the Ist August last, between 

 Bickleigh Bridge and the Railway Station, I had the pleasure of taking two females 

 of this rare Hymenopterous iasect. It differs, however, from Mr. Smith's descrip- 

 tion, in having the fuscous portion of the flagellum extended on to the last apical 

 joint ; in having on the scutellum a yellow line, instead of two spots ; on the first 

 segment of the abdomen two egg-shaped spots broadly united and covering the 

 upper-surface and nearly the whole of the sides (in fact, it would be better described 

 as a band), instead of two triangular spots ; the broad yellow band on the second 

 segment is continued across the venter, the narrow band on the third is not con- 

 tinued across the venter, but is represented by a dot on each side and two in 

 the centre, in one specimen, in the other the central dots are wanting. Mr. E. 

 Saunders describes this insect with two spots on the first segment, and length 11 

 mm., these are respectively 9 and 9^ mm. — Gr. C. Bignell, Stonehouse, Plymouth : 

 \Uh November, 1882. 



Error as to jig -insect from Ficiis religiosa. — As accuracy is always desirable, even 

 in minor matters, I beg to point out that in the Report of the Proceedings of the 

 Entomological Society of September 6th, which appeared in the last part of the Ent. 

 Mo. Mag. (p. 144), the fig-iusect from Calcutta, referred to as described by me on 

 that occasion, was obtained from the Ficiis indica, and not from the F. religiosa, as 

 stated in that report. Both sexes were forwarded to me, with the figs, by Mr. J. 

 Wood Mason, to whom I have dedicated the species under the name of Eiipristina 

 Masoni. The female is very remarkable, having a duplex serrate appendage attached 

 to the base of each of the mandibles and exarticulate therewith, the one series fur- 

 nished with nine teeth, and the other with seven, side by side with each other and 

 connected together at their base. The wings are also entirely different from any 

 allied species. The Australian species from Ficus macrophylla has a very long ser- 

 rate process attached in like manner, consisting of thirty teeth in a single series, 

 closely resembling a carpenter's hand-saw, the large hooked mandible representing 



