388 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Name of a Bee. — Will you kindly name, in the 'Entorao- 

 logist/ the enclosed bees. — Robert Kay; 2, Spring Street, 

 Bury, April 18, 1873. 



[The bees are Andiena nigroacnea of Kirby. On this 

 species Mr. Kirby discovered his Stylops Melillae. — Edward 

 Neicman.] 



On Turkestan Diptera. — The Diptera of Central Asia will 

 probably be soon well known, in consequence of the events 

 occurring in that region, and the history of them will supply 

 some of the links between the Diptera of Europe and those 

 of Amurland and of Japan. The Diptera of Turkestan have 

 been already investigated by Alexis Fedtschenko, whose 

 discoveries therein will shortly be published. I am indebted 

 to him for the following summary of the Turkestan species of 

 some families of this order. Two hundred and forty-three 

 species represent the following families : — Xylophagidse, 

 Therevidae, Scenopinidae, Cyrtida?, Leptidae, Nemestrinidae, 

 Bombylidae, Asilidae, Stratiomyidap, and Tabanidae. The 

 Bombylidae include ninety-three species; the Asilidae, sixty- 

 two species; and the Nemestrinidae, ten species. This last 

 family takes the lead in Diptera as regards the development 

 of the wing-veins, and culminates on the coast of South 

 Africa. — Francis Walker. 



Apion apricans and Clover Seed. — In the ' Entomologist' 

 for September, 1872 (Entom. vi. 177), you answered some 

 enquiries ] made as to what insect infested the heads of 

 cow-grass seed (T. pratense) I sent you. I think it may be 

 interesting to you to know the effects of the mischief caused 

 by the insect (Apion apricans) to the field of seed I sent you 

 the heads fronfi, and to show the loss sustained by farmers 

 from the weevils when the crop is infected ; and I am sorry 

 to say the infected crops were greatly in excess of good ones 

 last year. The following will show the difference in the yield 

 of seed grown in the years 18C9 and 1872, when the former 

 was free from the Apion. In 1869, eleven and a quarter 

 acres produced 7647lbs., which sold for a£268 I'is.Td. In 1872, 

 eleven and a quarter acres produced only 2361 lbs., which 

 sold for a£88 14.9. Qd. Showing a discrepancy of 5286 lbs. in 

 seed, and i£l80 0*. \d. in the value; the two pieces being 

 equally good as to crop and quality of the seed, and sold at 

 the same price, namely Qd. per lb. The whole of the loss I 



