THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 293 



Mr. Hewitson, in bis ' Catalogue of Lycaenida?,' removes 

 Thecla Betulae and T. Quercus to the genus Dipsas, Douhl. 



W. F. KiRBV. 



A Revision of the British Species of the Genus Bomhus. 

 By Frederick Smith, Esq. 



(Continued from p. 288). 



Genus Apathus, Newin. 



Of this genus four species are found in this country ; they 

 are the well-known parasites of the genus Bouibus : so 

 closely indeed do they resemble the latter insects that, until 

 Mr. Kirby subjected them to the same critical anatomical 

 investigation which he bestowed upon the rest of our native 

 Apidae, it is almost certain that no one ever delected any 

 ditf'erence in the habits of these bees. Mr. Kirby says, 

 "After my ' Synopsis' was printed 1 discovered, what had 

 escaped me before, that four species were deprived of some 

 of the characters of the Bombinatrices, having neither corl)i- 

 cula nor pecten at the apex of the tibiae, nor auricle at the 

 base of the plantae of the posterior legs :" he does not appear 

 to have suspected their parasitism, for he adds, " 1 suspect 

 they nidificate under ground," and that he did not is, 1 think, 

 proved by his supposing them to have neuters. 



I have not been able to discover who it was that first indi- 

 cated this habit, or first discovered them in the nests of the 

 Bombi. I have myself found Apathus vestalis in the nests 

 of B. terrestris, B. Lucorum and B. Latreillellus. Apathus 

 campestris 1. have seen entering the nest of B. Hortorum. 

 Apathus Barbutellus was bred by Mr. Walcott from a nest of 

 B. Pratorum, and I have observed A. rupestris issuing from 

 a nest of B. lapidarius : by watching I captured several 

 females making their exit. B. Muscorum, senilis, frafjrans 

 and Sylvarum do not appear to be subject to their attacks ; I 

 have taken many nests of these species without ever finding 

 a single parasite : the species that build under ground are 

 certainly most sulvject to their parasitism. 



The fact of the Apathi never, apparently, entering the 

 nests of some species, proves that their presence in no way 



