Stylops Spencii. 



CHAPTER VII. 

 STREPSIPTERA, OR BEE-PARASITES. 



"I HAD more tiffin once observed/' says the Rev. 

 William Kirby in his admirable Monograph of the 

 British Bees, " upon species [of Bees] something that 

 I took to be a kind of Acarus, which appeared to be 

 immoveably fixed just at the inosculations of the 

 dorsal segments of the abdomen : at length finding 

 three or four upon a specimen of Melitta nigro-cenea*, 

 I determined not to lose that opportunity of taking 

 one off to examine and describe ; but what was my 

 astonishment when, upon attempting to disengage it 

 with a pin, I drew forth from the body of the bee a 

 white fleshy larva a quarter of an inch long, the head 



* An abundant species of Bee, which makes its appearance 

 in April. 



H2 



