FAMILLE. {Mflitta. *. a.) 123 



Willugliby, also, appears to have found the 

 nidi of one species of this family ; for in his de- 

 scription of his " ^pis sylvestris in terra foremen 

 sihi fodiens" in Ray's Historia Insectorum (u), he 

 says, ^' millas omnino iiymphas inveni, sed cellas 

 quasdam rotundas ex alba et tenui cnte, in quihus 

 mel demum sordidum ;" which words evidently de- 

 scribe the membranous cells of the insects of this 

 family. His description of the individual seems to 

 point out our Melitta fodiens, which I believe 

 nidificates under ground. Of his insect he ob- 

 serv^es, " Mult<^ siinul habitant et foramina in 

 terra fodiunt, terrain e^erentes ad modiim ver^ 

 mium." 



I have found the males of one species of this 

 family fluttering about a southern bank, when the 

 sun shone ; but though I took some pains, I could 

 discover no nest, nor a single individual of the 

 other sex. I have seen only two species taken in 

 England, but I believe there are several foreign 

 ones : there is one in the Linnean cabinet labelled 

 j4pis marginata, and I think I observed others in 

 Sir Joseph Banks's collection. They appear with 

 us in the autumn, about the time that Senecio 

 Jacohcea is in flower. Reaumur supposes that 

 two generations of them are produced in the 

 course of twelve months, from one spring to 

 another. 



(?/) P. 24i. 



K 3 - #. b. 



