several specimens of the F. Assectaior, and they reminded me 

 in their flight of the Ammophila vulgaris, from the singular 

 manner in which they raised their bodies. The following 

 observations I have copied from Latreille. " They live upon 

 flowers, and often elevate their abdomens in a state of repose : 

 during the night, or when bad weather prevents them from 

 flying, they fix themselves by their mandibles to the stalks of 

 different plants, and are then almost in a perpendicular posi- 

 tion. They are often met with in dry and sandy districts, 

 flying with solitary bees and Spheges in order to discover their 

 nests and take possession of them, or to deposit their eggs by 

 the side of those of the above insects, or upon their larvae, which 

 become their prey. The larvee undergo their metamorphoses 

 in the same nest where they lived." Linnaeus says, on the 

 authority of Bergman, that /. Jaadator inhabits the larvae of 

 Apis tnmcoru7n,Jiorisom7iis, and Sphex Figulus, examining with 

 its antennae where the larva is concealed, it flies away, returns, 

 and deposits an egg in it. 



1. F. Jaculator Li7in. F. S. 406. 1626.— Paw;^. 96. 16 ? .—Jti- 



rine, pi. 7. Gen. 2. ? . 



Black, slightly glossy : head excessively thickly and 

 minutely punctured, forming fine transverse lines: 

 thorax coarsely punctured and reticulated : abdomen 

 with the 2nd and 3rd joints reddish yellow : oviposi- 

 tor as long as the rest of the insect : base of 4 ante- 

 rior tibiae white ; posterior with a white ring near the 

 base and another on the 1st joint of their tarsi. 

 Taken near London and in Norfolk in June. 



2. F. Assectator Liim, — Curt. Brit. Ent. pi. 423. ? . 



Smaller; silky black, head and thorax excessively 

 minutely punctured, the latter also variolose or like 

 the end of a thimble : abdomen with 3 reddish irre- 

 gular bands on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th segments : ovi- 

 positor not half the length of the abdomen : tibiae with 

 a white ring near the base : tips of the thighs some- 

 times white. 

 I took both sexes of this insect towards the end of June, 

 flying about the southern sides of rocks and over sandy places 

 at the back of the Isle of Wight : it has also been taken by 

 Mr. Dale in Devon, and sometimes met with, I believe, near 

 London. 



The Plant is Orchis latifolia (Marsh Orchis). 



