58 Mr. W. E. Shuckard on the Habits 



I have only further to remark, that the seemingly most trifling 

 observation may become of paramount importance in teaching us the 

 function of an organ, or by its intercalation with other observations 

 may, like a link in a chain of circumstantial evidence, convey the 

 strongest conviction, and give corroboration to what was previously 

 built upon presumption alone. 



I will conclude, but I must first apologize for having wasted so 

 much of your time, and I fear entirely exhausted your patience ; but 

 I beg this may be imputed solely to my zeal for our science : and these 

 cursory remai'ks will have attained their purpose should they stimu- 

 late our practical entomologists to record all, — even their most mi- 

 nute observations, and impart them to the Society, whether individu- 

 ally or, if so fortunate in their collection of these fugitive emissions, 

 in a body. They will speedily accumulate, and enrich us with a 

 series of facts which must in themselves give an importance to our 

 proceedings, and add a stability to our lucubrations by fixing them 

 upon the explicit confession of Nature herself. 



NOTES. 



Note 1. page 54. — The genera of British bees supposed to be parasitic are Hylceus, 

 Sphecodes, Nomada, Epeolus, Stelis, CocUoxys, Melecta, and Psitltyrus (first separated 

 from Bomhus, but not named, by Mr. Kirby ; kept separated as Divisio 2. by Dahlbom 

 in his Monograph of the Scandinavian Bombi, but raised into a genus with the pre- 

 ceding name by St. Fargeau in the fourth Number of the ' Annales de la Societe 

 Entomologique de France'). All that is known of the habits of the parasitic bees 

 (and that is but very little,) rests upon mere conjecture, and to which I now con- 

 tribute my mite. I have the strongest possible reason for supposing that Nomada 

 Schcefferella is parasitic upon Eucera longicornis, for I have taken it several times 

 this year entering the burrows of that bee, and nowhere else ; but I hope to confirm 

 this supposition next year by breeding it from the store laid up by the Eucera: and 

 Nomada fcrruginata is, I suspect, a parasite oi Andrena fulvescens, for I have con- 

 stantly taken it entering the cell of that insect. The Nomada ruficornis flies chiefly 

 about hedge-rows, and is probably parasitic upon Andrena Trimmerana ox A. nitida, 

 which both burrow in hedge-banks as well as A. cingtilata, thus differing from 

 those which nidificate in bare sandy situations. I would throw out the suggestion 

 that as some of the Andrence are distinguished from the rest by the greater density 

 and length of their scopa and flocculus, it is probable that these latter chiefly may 

 nourish parasites. I suspect we may have more than one species of the genus 

 Melecta, for I have taken specimens differing widely in the colour of their hirsuties, 

 infesting the nests oi Anthophora retusa, A. Haworthana, and Eucera longicornis. 



Note 2. page 55. — Mr. Bakewell of Nottingham has recently informed me that 

 he has captured this insect while thrusting its abdomen into the cells of Osmia 

 coerulescens. I have taken Melandria Carahoides repeatedly doing so, this year, 

 into the cell of Chelostoma maxillosa, and with the ovipositor exserted to its utmost 

 length. I am not aware of this circumstance having been previously noticed. It 



