THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 195 



patch of sand, and after the lapse of a few days the little 

 Megachile argenlata was burrowing in every hillock. This 

 little bee was considered one of the greatest hynienopterous 

 rarities thirty years ago, a single specimen being then con- 

 sidered a perfect treasure : the Rev. F. W. Hope occasionally 

 captured a few specimens near Southend, and there also I 

 first took the species, that gentleman having pointed out the 

 locality to me ; this is situated about a mile and a half 

 beyond the town, at the termination of the low cliffs toward 

 Shoeburyness ; the viper's biigloss (Echium vulgare) grows 

 theie sparingly, and in that locality it frequented the flowers 

 of that plant. At Deal, however, this little bee will be found 

 to attach itself to the bird's-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), 

 and also, not unfrequently, to the Trifolium arvense : its 

 burrows are lined with cuttings of different plants ; at one 

 time it selects (he leaves of the rose, and at another those of 

 the hare's-foot trefoil ; and 1 have detected it cutting the cir- 

 cular pieces of leaf, with which it divides cell from cell in its 

 tunnels, from the leaf of the buckthorn, which grows plenti- 

 fully on the sand-hills. It is subject to the parasitic attacks 

 of a species of Dipteron, 1 believe a Miltogramraa, but, 

 although I have bred many examples of the species, 1. have 

 only twice obtained the parasitic fly ; 1 have also observed 

 Ccelioxys quadridentata entering its burrows. This bee has 

 been taken at Weybridge and at Sandgate by myself, and by 

 Mr. VValcott at Burnham, in Somersetshire ; Dr. Thwaites 

 took it some years ago at Braunton Burrows, and I have seen 

 a specimen or two taken near Rye, in Sussex ; Mr. S. Stevens 

 found it at Little Hampton, and Mr. Dale took it in White- 

 sand Bay, at the Land's End. Thus, although extremely 

 local, it will be seen to be widely distributed. A reference to 

 the notice of this species, in the work referred to on the 

 ' British Bees,' will serve as an example of the poverty of in- 

 formation therein contained, when compared with our present 

 knowledge of the Apidae. 



Tiie type of the genus Megachile is M. centuncularis, and 

 at Deal I have noticed a remarkable divergence from the 

 usual habit of the species : in the street that runs parallel 

 with the sea stands a brick house, very old, but tastefully 

 decorated, the occupant having planted and trained up 

 its walls a variety of climbing plants j the window-sills are 



