GALLERIID.F.-APHOMIA. 141 



prolegs pale brown ; skin generally tough and leathery, and 

 very sparingly clothed with small hairs. 



July and August, in and feeding upon, the nests of humble- 

 bees, and occasionally of wasps. 



Mr. W. F. L. Sladen, of Dover, has furnished me with 

 much information concerning this species. He says: "It 

 will attack the nests of all the species of Bombus, but it is 

 singular that it never thrives in those of B. lapidarius, which 

 is one of the commonest species in this neighbourhood. Of 

 the other species, those that 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 larv^ of 

 the moth do not damage the comb much, especially if the 

 colony of bees is a strong one. When the droppings, the old 

 cells, and the other refuse have all been devoured thej^ 

 will attack the bee-brood, until the entire nest is riddled 

 with their silk-lined tunnels, and nothing is left but frag- 

 ments of cocoons and nest material strung together with 

 tough web. I have frequently taken nests of i>. dcrhamcUus 

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

 queen, which had fallen into a drowsy state, and seemed 

 quite incapable of helping themselves. 



" In August or September the larv£e 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 attacked is below the surface of the ground, the larvas 

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

 by this, spin their cocoons on the surface of the ground. I 

 send you a cluster of cocoons spun in this way in a heap of 

 straw, close to the mouth of the hole of a nest of Bovibns 

 lioriornm, which was about eighteen inches from the surfac?. 

 This cluster was about one-fourth of that which I found out- 



