H0LME8DALE NATURAL HfSTORY CLUB. 



short series of observations) gave an average of 30-21 inches; whilst 

 that at Hillfield for 14 years gave an average of 3016 inches per 

 annum. During the past year rain or snow fell on 216 days as 

 against 229 in 1874, 227 in 1873, and 222 in 1872. The heaviest 

 rainfall recorded at Redhill was on July 15, when it amounted to 

 1-36 inch. The following are the monthly totals ; — 



The President exhibited a selection of Solitary and Social Bees, 

 explaining the habits and economy of several species, in continuation 

 of his remarks on those of the Solitary Wasps at the previous meet- 

 ing. Commencing with the Andrenidse or Short-tongued Bees, he 

 mentioned the recent discovery in France of a new species of Sitaris, 

 a coleopterous parasite on Colletes succincta, differing essentially in 

 its habits from the British species (Sitaris humeralis) found in the 

 cells of Anthophora. The Colletes egg being attached to the interior 

 wall of the cell, the Sitaris larvae are thus exposed to a number of 

 competitors of their own race, involving many vicissitudes ; whereas 

 in the cells of Anthophora the bee deposits her egg on the honey- 

 store itself, the parasitic Sitaris larva being therefore compelled 

 to obtain access thereto at the moment of oviposition. In 

 either case, after feeding on the egg of the bee in the first instance, 

 the Sitaris larva changes its form from the active hexapod condition 

 to that of a fleshy grub furnished with spoon-shaped mandibles, 

 those of the previous stage being very acute, and it now feeds upon 

 the honey provided by the bee for its own larva in the closed cell. 

 He pointed out several other Short-tongued Bees liable to be attacked 

 by different Stylopidae, and called attention to the peculiarity of the 

 legs in Dasypoda, Nomia, and some of the Halicti. Passing thence 

 to the true Apidse, or Long-tongued Bees, he explained the sectional 

 groups into which these are divisible, viz. 1st, The Andrenoides, 

 forming a connecting link between the Andrenidae and the Apidse, of 

 which section the only British representative is Panurgus; 2nd, The 

 Dasygastres, comprising many British species; the females are fur- 

 nished with a dense brush under the abdomen, whereby they collect 

 pollen for their young; 3rd, The Denudatse.or parasitic races having 

 no pollinigerous organs, and subsisting in their larval state on the 



