114 HYMENOPTERA. 



Harpactus tumidus. This scarce species was taken in 

 Pakefield Gap. 



Mellinus sabulosus. Shuckard says of this insect, "all 

 the specimens I have seen have come from Norfolk or Suffolk, 

 where it appears to be local ;" Mr. Hewitson took it, I 

 believe, near Newcastle; Dr. Howitt found it at Notting- 

 ham, and Mr. Dossetor captured it at Christ Church Sands, 

 Hampshire : at none of these localities does it appear to 

 have occurred in any numbers ; to the south of Pakefield 

 it occurs in the greatest profusion — here, for the first time, 

 we had the pleasure of seeing this pretty species alive. 



Crabro scutatus. We had not taken this insect for se- 

 veral years ; in 1836 we took two males and one female at 

 Birch Wood, Kent, and have always considered it one of 

 the rarest species of the genus to which it belongs. Near 

 Pakefield it occurred in the greatest abundance; they are 

 very fond of settling on the leaves of plants, particularly 

 those of the Coltsfoot, and sunning themselves ; the females 

 burrow in hard sandy banks, and provision their nests w T ith 

 a species of Co lex. 



Cerceris interrupta. This rare insect was the only species 

 of Cerceris which we captured near Lowestoft. 



This record of captures of fossorial Hymenoptera will, 

 no doubt, induce others to visit Lowestoft, certainly the best 

 locality for that family of insects which we ever discovered ; 

 insects of rarity only are enumerated, but a long list of more 

 generally distributed species were equally numerous. We 

 may mention Crabro dimidiatus on account of its extreme 

 abundance ; we took two or three examples of the rare black 

 variety of the male. 



The captures of bees, during the past season, have not 

 been by any means so numerous as in 1857, a season remark- 

 able for the acquisition of several of our rarest species ; but 



