134 PACKAKD, HUMBLE BEES, ETC. 



coons when about to pupate. The imago appears about 

 the last of June, perforating the cell of the bee. Jhe lar- 

 va is an " external feeding parasite" consuming the pupa 

 as well as the larva of Anthophora. Very full information 

 is given concerning the habits and structure of two spe- 

 cies of a new genus of these minute parasites, which he 

 calls Anthophorabia. The- males differ remarkably from 

 the females, especially in having simple eyes instead of 

 compound organs of sight, besides the usual three ocelli. 



We were fortunate enough in cutting open the cells 

 of Megachile centuncularis, brought by Mr. Putnam from 

 Briclport, Vt., to find that nearly a dozen were ichneu- 

 mo'ned by these parasites. There were counted in one cell 

 upwards of one hundred and fifty of the larvae ; whereas 

 Mr. Newport only found thirty to fifty in a cell of Antho- 

 phora. A few perfect females had hatched out, it being 

 the middle of October, and there were besides a few pupae, 

 but the large majority were larvae which have survived 

 the winter as such, so that a new and much larger spring 

 brood of the Chalcids must appear, when it is to be hoped 

 we shall have an opportunity of describing the male. 

 The larvae were all clustered upon the outside of the 

 dead and dry Megachile larva. 



Upon one of the female Anthophorabia I accidentally 

 discovered an exceedingly minute Proctotrupid, one-nin- 

 tieth of an inch in length, which I am unable to refer to 

 any known genus, and which will be found partially 

 described on a following page ; it is highly probable that 

 it is an egg-parasite, as are most of the MymaridaB, to 

 which section it properly belongs ; and it is not too large 

 to live in the eggs of the Anthophorabia, small as the last 

 named insect is. 



ANTHOPHORABIA. MEGACHILIS nov. sp. 



Female. The head is very stout, broad and flattened 

 posteriorly ; the front is rounded ovate, narrowing a little 

 anteriorly ; the occiput is very distinct^ and its vertex is 

 very considerably elevated and slightly angulated ; above 

 the ocelli-bearing piece it is linear, but towards the eyes 

 widens out into a linear triangular portion ; in front, is a 



