ISQ FAMILIiE. (Jpis. **. d. 1.) 



nious entomologist. In this instance, the antennas 

 appear to have been the instrument which informed 

 the little animal both where the holes were that she 

 was in search of, and also whether the larva, to 

 which the Author of Nature had instructed her to 

 commit her eggs, was in them. I have often seen 

 the hive bee insert one of its antennae into the 

 blossom of a flower previous to exerting its tongue 

 to collect the honey, as if to inform itself first 

 whether there was any; and insects in general, 

 when they are v/alking, keep perpetually moving 

 their antennae from side to side, as if, by their 

 means, they vv'ere collecting information concern- 

 ing what was going forward around them. 



But to return to the insects of which we are 

 treating. Miller in the MS. notes before quoted(«), 

 gives the following short history of ^^pis longicor- 

 nis. " Mense Julio medio copidantur prope terrain 

 volitantes in graviine detonso. In puteo cylindrico 

 terrce ovafemina deponit." These cells are two or 

 three inches below the surface of the ground ; they 

 are very smooth within, and of an oval form. I 

 found several in the southern declivity of a grass 

 walk, which had been frequently mowed. 



# *. d. 2. a. (b) 



H. F. A. Corpus oblongum, villosum, interdum 

 hirsutum; Capita trunco angustiori, vel subtri- 



(a) Vide supra, p. 6l, note %. {J:) Tab. 11. **. d. 2. ». 



ApiS;, Eucera, Fab. 



angularly 



