The Bembex 269 



Syrphus corollce, Onesia viarum, Callifhora 

 vomitoria} Echinomyia intermedia, Sarcophaga 

 agricola and Musca domestica.^ The usual fare 

 consists of Stomoxys calcitrans, of which I have 

 many a time found fifty or sixty in a single 

 burrow. 



3. Bembex tarsata, Lat. This one also lays 

 her e^g on Sphcerophoria scripta. She next 

 hunts : Anthrax flava, Bombylius nitidulus, Eris- 

 talis ceneus, E. sepulchralis, Merodon spinipes, 

 Syrphus corollce, Helophilus trivittatus and Zodion 

 notatum. Her favourite game consists of Bom- 

 bylii, or Bee-flies, and Anthrax-flies.^ 



4. Bembex Julii [sp. nov.). The egg is laid 

 on a Sphaerophoria or on a Pollenia floralis. 

 The provisions are a hotchpotch of Syrphus 

 corollcB, Echinomyia rubescens, E. intermedia, 

 Gonia atra, Pollenia floralis, P. ruficollis, Clytia 

 pellucens, Lucilia CcBsar, Dexia rtistica and Bom- 

 bylius. 



5. Bembex rostrata, Fab. This is pre- 

 eminently a consumer of Gad-flies. She lays 

 her egg on a Syrphus corollce or a Lucilia CcBsar, 

 after which she feeds her larva exclusively on 

 big game belonging to the various species of the 

 genus Tabanus. 



^ The Bluebottle. — Translator'' s Note. 



^ The Common House-fly. — Translator's Note. 



^ Cf. The Life of the Fly : chaps, ii. and iv. — Translator'' s Note. 



