41 



better than quote the observations of MR. Km- 

 BY, who first discovered it in England, and says, 

 " I had previously more than once observed 

 upon other species (of Bees) something that I 

 took to be an acarus, which appeared to be im- 

 movably fixed, just at the inosculations of the 

 dorsal segments af the abdomen ; at length, 

 finding three or four upon a specimen of Melitta 

 nigro-cenea, I determined not to lose that op- 

 portunity of taking one off to examine and de- 

 scribe; but what was my astonishment when, 

 upon my attempting to disengage it with a pin, 

 I drew forth from the body of the Melitta a 

 white fleshy larva, a quarter of an inch in length, 

 the head of which I had mistaken for an 

 acarus ! After I had examined one specimen, I 

 attempted to extract a second ; and the reader 

 may imagine how greatly my astonishment was 

 increased, when, after I had drawn it out but a 

 little way, I saw its skin burst, and a head as 

 black as ink, with large staring eyes, and an ten- 

 rise consisting of two branches, break forth, 

 and move itself briskly from side to side. It 

 looked like a little imp of darkness just emerg- 

 ing from the infernal regions. My eagerness to 

 set free from its confinement this extraordinary 

 D2 



