PARASITES OF WILD BEES. 



49 



of which lives like Tachina and Phora within the bee s body, 

 while the latter devours the brood. *The young (Plate 1, Figs. 

 5, 5 a) of another fly allied to Anthomyia, of which the Onion 

 fly (Fig. 42) is an example, is also not ^infrequently met with. 

 A small beetle (Plate 1, Fig. 4, Antherophagus ochraceus) is a 

 common inmate of Humble bees nests, and probably feeds upon 

 the wax and pollen. We have also found several larvae (Fig. 

 43) of*a beetle of which we do not know the adult form. Of 

 similar habits is probably a small moth (Nephopteryx Edmandsii, 

 Plate 1, Figs. 2; 2 a, larva; Fig. 2b, chrysalis, or pupa) which 

 undoubtedly feeds upon the waxen walls of the bee cells, and 

 thus, like the attacks of the common bee moth (Galleria cere- 

 ana), whose habits are so well known as not to detain us, must 

 prove very prejudicial to the well being of the colony. This moth 

 is in turn infested by an Ichneumon fly (Microgaster nephopter- 

 icis, Plate 1, Figs. 3, 3 a) which must prove quite destructive. 



42. Onion Fly and Maggot. 43. Larva of Beetle. 



The figures of the early stages of a minute ichneumon repre 

 sented on the same plate (Fig. 7, larva, and 7 a, pupa, of An- 

 thophorabia megachilis) which is parasitic on Megachile, the 

 Leaf-cutter bee, illustrates the transformations of the Ichneumon 

 flies, the smallest species of which yet known (and we believe 

 the smallest insect known at all) is the Pteratomus Putnami 

 (PI. 1, Fig. 8, wanting the hind leg), or &quot;winged atom,&quot; which 

 is only one-ninetieth of an inch in length, and is parasitic on 

 Anthophorabia, itself a parasite. A species of mite (Plate 1, 

 Figs. 9 ; 9 a, the same seen from beneath) is always to be found 

 in humble bees nests, but it is not thought to be specially ob 

 noxious to the bees themselves, though several species of mites 

 (Gamasus, etc.) are known to be parasitic on insects. 

 5 



