NOTES, CAPTURES, ETC. 93 
compound eyes, placed a little behind the antenne, and without 
any trace of ocelli. ‘The antennz resemble those of the mason 
bees. Thorax: the prothorax black, the meso- and metathorax 
red. ‘The whole is thinly covered with black hair. ‘The legs are 
black, and there is no sign of elytra or wings. Abdomen black, 
with the exception of a white spot on the first segment, and two 
placed opposite to each other, one on either side near the anal 
segment. The spots are thickly covered with silky white hair, 
and the remainder of the abdomen with black. If any reader of 
the ‘Entomologist’ can inform me to which order it belongs, 
with its name, I shall be obliged.—W. T. Pearce; Buckland, 
Portsmouth. 
[I have little doubt but that the insect described and figured 
by Mr. Pearce is the female of Mutilla rufipes, Latr. ( = ephippium, 
Fabr.), a somewhat local species of fossorial Hymenoptera which 
is supposed to be parasitically attached to humble bee (Bombus) 
nests.— EH. A. F.] 
ASILUS CRABRONIFORMIS.—I have repeatedly seen it stated 
that Asilus crabroniformis sucks the blood of animals, and Miss 
Ormerod gives it as injurious to agriculture. Can anyone prove 
the above statements? The Asilus of the Romans (Mr. MacLeay 
observes) was the Gistrus of the Greeks and the Hematopota of 
the present system, a fly exceedingly annoying to horses, whereas 
our Asili prey on other insects, especially the Diptera. They 
prefer resting on the ground, particularly in sandy situations, 
and the larvee feed upon the roots of plants underground, where 
they change to pup covered with spines. I believe it is as 
erroneous to call Asilus crabroniformis a blood-sucker as it is to 
eall an Avschna a horse-stinger, as is done in various parts of 
England.—C. W. Date; Glanvilles Wootton, Sherborne, Dorset, 
March 11, 1883. 
Earty Bees.—The present month not only came in like a 
lamb, but brought with it also a few bright and very warm 
spring-like days, causing the country to put on quite a vernal 
appearance. On the 4th inst. I saw two specimens of Bombus 
virginalis disporting themselves along the hedge-banks in the 
morning sun, and on the 5th, an equally bright and pleasant 
day, I saw several specimens of this same Bombus, as well 
as a B. pratorum. The same afternoon six or seven males of 
Anthophora acervorum were seen darting in and out among a 
