292 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



seen everywhere, whilst in this country a hyhernated speci- 

 men was never seen before April, and rarely before the time 

 when the hawthorn is in blossom. 



April 5, 1869. — H. VV. Bates, Esq., President, in the chair. 



Mr. Bond exhibited Sciaphila coramunana, of Herrich- 

 Schaeffer, a moth new to Britain, captured at Wicken Fen, 

 Cambridgeshire; also dried larvae of Myelophila cribrella, 

 in situ, within the stems of thistles. 



Mr. Smith exhibited several species of humble-bees with 

 their respective parasites or cuckoo-bees. Bombus subter- 

 raneus varied from yellow to entirely black, and the parasites 

 Apathus campestris showed the same variations in colour; 

 the same was true of Bombus Muscorum, and its parasite. 

 Bombus terrestris was not liable to variation, its parasite 

 Apathus vestalis was also constant ; the same was true of 

 Bombus lapidarius and Apathus rupestris, though the para- 

 site in this case had dark wings. Bombus Pratorum was the 

 only moss-building species which was infested by a parasite, 

 Apathus Barbutellus, and this did not at all resemble the 

 humble-bee. The first idea that suggested itself was that the 

 cuckoo-bee bore resemblance to the worker of the humble- 

 bee in order to gain access to the nest ; but it was only in the 

 social species that the parasites resembled the humble-bees, 

 and the parasite of B. Pratorum militated against the theory. 



In the course of the conversation which ensued, it was 

 suggested that an entry might be effected into the nest of a 

 solitary bee, in the absence of the true owner, without dis- 

 guise ; whilst in the case of a social species, of which some 

 of the colony would always be at home, the entry of an un- 

 disguised stranger would be detected. And in reply to 

 inquiries, it was elicited from Mr. Smith that the moss- 

 building Bombus Pratorum was a placid bee, by the side of 

 whose nest a person might sit with impunity ; and hence it 

 was to be inferred that this species, by reason of its different 

 mental constitution, might more readily admit a stranger into 

 its nest without opposition, whilst stratagem or deception 

 was necessary to obtain access to the nests of species less 

 peaceably disposed. 



