NOTES ON HYMENOPTERA. 115 



but " they manage these things better in France." A paper 

 that, in my opinion, is rather highly flavoured with tlie 

 above mentioned quality, so charmed a friend of mine, that 

 he was induced to publish an abstract of it in the *^ Dublin 

 Natural History Review," entitled ^' The Works of M. 

 Fabre." A short summary of that part of the paper which 

 treats on the habits and metamorphoses of Sitaris humei'alis 

 will be a fair example. 



The larva of this beetle is parasitic upon Aiithofhora 

 acervorum, and, in general form, is very like the little hexa- 

 pod found so fi-equently on wild bees, named Pedlculus Me- 

 littcB by Mr. Kirby ; possibly it may be identical ; both Mr. 

 Newport and myself were quite satisfied that it could not be 

 the larva of a Meloe. The larvae of Sitai^is are active little 

 creatures, and traverse the burrows leading to the cells of 

 Anthophora, and on the bees issuing from the cells, cling to 

 them as they pass along the galleries ; on the bodies of the 

 bees they remain until such time as the bee has formed a 

 fresh cell, provisioned it with pollen and honey, and thereon 

 deposited an egg. At the very moment of the latter operation 

 being performed, M. Fabre tells us, the Sifai'is larva, watch- 

 ing its opportunity, springs from the body of the bee and 

 alights on the fresh deposited egg ; here, we are told, it floats 

 on the surface of the liquid honey, the egg not only serving 

 as a repast, but also as a raft. After eight days the egg is 

 consumed, and on the empty shell, as in a boat, the Sitaris 

 undergoes its first transformation ; it now changes into a 

 white fleshy grub, so organized as to float on the surface of 

 the honey. This certainly is all very circumstantial, and 

 when we reflect upon the dangers to which the little mariner 

 is exposed, we feel quite a sensation of terror and alarm for its 

 safety ; an unlucky lurch on the part of the Sitaris, when 



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