NOTES ON HYMENOPTERA. 57 



and its parasite were both captured at Woolacombe Sands, 

 in Morte Bay, in August last. And I may incidentally 

 mention that I picked up on these sands, in the month of 

 October, two specimens of Aphodius Uvidus ; at the same 

 time thousands of the A. contaminatiis were scattered there 

 by a strong land breeze. 



I can only add one species, Ceropales maculatay to my 

 last year's list of N. Devon Fossores, this was found in the 

 same locality as the former insects. 



To the list of VespldcB I can add the Hornet, Vespa crahro; 

 I saw numbers of the workers busy capturing flies on the 

 flowers of the ivy in the month of October. 



Last year I recorded the capture of many specimens of the 

 local insect, Tiphia femorata, and I observed that they were 

 all of a much larger size than any I had found in Surrey or 

 Kent; this season I found the species equally abundant, but 

 they were uniformly one-third smaller than last year's cap- 

 tures; these smaller examples occurred at Ilfracombe, the 

 larger ones were found at Woolacombe Sands. 



I do not know with certainty, but observation has led rae 

 to believe, that Tiphia is a parasite upon Aphodius. Every 

 entomologist knows that the Aphodius is found commonly 

 in the droppings of horses and cows, and I have repeatedly 

 found Tiphia under those of cows, when the heat has dried 

 up the moisture and when the droppings may be turned over 

 as if they were pieces of bark or turf. It may be argued 

 that the Tiphia merely resorted to such a situation for shelter 

 from the sun's heat, but this fossorial insect appears to revel 

 in the most intense heat, and is found active, and apparently 

 enjoying itself most, when the heat is greatest; at such times 

 it sometimes swarms on the flowers of the wild carrot (Z)aw- 

 cus carota), or on those of the samphire (Crithmum mariti- 

 mum). I have never had the means of digging beneath the 



