" Pediculus Melittce " of Kirhy. 113 



covery is, that these " PedicuW were "found in com- 

 pany with the perfect bees" within their closed cells ; 

 upon which circumstance he comments as follows : — "It 

 is certain (he says) that, as the AnthophorcE had never 

 quitted their cells, the Pediculi must either have made 

 their own way into the nest, or have been conveyed 

 thither by the parent bee of the previous season. As- 

 suming the latter to be the case, we find a creature in 

 every respect similar to those deposited, after twelve 

 months have elapsed, neither changed in form or colour- 

 ing "; whereas, as Newport has shown, " it is reasonable 

 to suppose that the larva of Meloe, conveyed into the 

 bees' cells, arrives at the perfect condition in the follow- 

 ing spring." Hence Smith is " inclined to regard the 

 Pediculus as being a perfect insect, which resides in the 

 nests of bees, feeding on the pollen, depositing its egg, 

 and undergoing its metamorphosis in the cells of bees ; 

 of similar habits to the Acari which infest Humble-bees, 

 feeding on the honey and wax, and to be observed there 

 during summer in various stages of development." 



In the .Museum Catalogues of 1855 and 2nd edit. 

 1876, already referred to. Smith summarizes his obser- 

 vations upon this subject ; remarking, in the first in- 

 stance, that "what these Pediculi really are is at present 

 involved in complete obscurity " ; reiterating that " Mr. 

 Kirby regarded them as insects in their perfect condition, 

 naming them Pediculi Melittce." It does not however 

 appear that any such opinion was expressed by the latter ; 

 and, in fact. Smith in a subsequent page, when treating 

 of Andrena fuscata in the second edition aforesaid, 

 retracts this assertion, when he states that " Kirby, 

 relying upon the figure and description of De Geer, 

 concluded that it was the larva of a species of Meloe " 

 (p. 71) ! Smith then refers to the incident of " Bishop's 

 Wood," having, as he states, frequently observed these 

 creatures in considerable numbers in the flowers of Ra- 

 nunculus acris, as many as twenty or more in a single 

 flower, about the month of April ; and I think always 

 before the usual time for meeting with the larvae of 

 Meloe. Here indeed he follows Newport, in attributing 

 these "considerable numbers" to the P. Mclittcs; un- 

 mindful of his original detinition thereof as the larvae of 

 Meloe. As regards the living specimens found "in the 

 same cell as the perfect bee," he cites this circumstance as 

 inducing him " to hesitate in adopting an opinion of the 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1884. — PART I. (APRIL.) I 



