8 Proceedings 
the members of this family are parasitic. Mutilla europea, 
our largest British species, has frequently been found in 
the nests of Bomdbus, no fewer than 76 individuals of this 
species having been found in a single nest of Bombus 
Schrimshiranus at Copenhagen by Herr Drewsen. How- 
ever, it seems that it must sometimes find another host, as 
many species of Muéi//a are found in Australia, where 
Bombus is unknown, and also in tropical Africa, where also 
Bombus is not known to occur. 
We pass now to the only British genus of the next family, 
Sapyga, of which we have two species. It is generally 
found flying about old posts and palings, in which it ex- 
cavates its burrows, and provisions its cells with small 
green caterpillars. 
The genus, Pompilus and its allies are all extremely 
active creatures and are by no means easy to catch. They 
run rapidly, with short intervals of flight, and are very 
quick to take advantage of any sheltering twig or leaf. 
Most of them burrow in the ground, though some will 
use a hole in a wall or wooden post. Some of them make 
little clay cells, similar to those of some of the Solitary 
Wasps. Most of the Pompilide provision their nests with 
spiders, though crickets, and even cockroaches, are some- 
times used. 
Another active and interesting Fossorial genus is Astatza, 
of which we have two species. They are to be found in 
sandy places, only in the very hottest sunshine, and are, I 
think about the most active of all the Hymenoptera. 
Astata stigma is the liveliest little creature I have ever met 
with. It is a rare species, and I have only met with it at 
St. Helens, in the Isle of Wight. In the Entomologists 
Monthly Magazine of Sept., 1898, Mr. E. Saunders records 
that he met with it in larger numbers than usual at Little- 
hampton, in June. He says “they used to sit and bask on 
the sand, and the males could easily be detected by the 
ivory-white spot on the face, which was distinctly visible, 
even at some distance.” 
A small fly, Scopolia carbonaria, with a silvery face, was 
abundant over the same ground, flying and moving almost 
