Cerocomae, Mylabres and Zonites 



ping open and drinking the contents of the 

 Anthophora's egg, the Meloid, now the sole 

 possessor of the victuals, doffs its battle ar- 

 ray and becomes the pot-bellied grub, the 

 consumer of the property so brutally ac- 

 quired. These are merely suspicions on my 

 part, nothing more. Direct observation will, 

 I believe, confirm them, so close is their con- 

 nection with the known facts. 



Two Zonites, both visitors of the eryngo- 

 heads during the heats of summer, are among 

 the Meloidae of my part of the country. 

 They are Zonitis mutica and Z. prausta. I 

 have spoken of the first in another volume ; l 

 I have mentioned its pseudochrysalis found 

 in the cells of two Osmiae, namely, the 

 Three-pronged Osmia, which piles its cells in 

 a dry bramble-stem, and the Three-horned 

 Osmia and also Latreille's Osmia, both of 

 which exploit the nests of the Chalicodoma of 

 the Sheds. The second Zonitis is to-day add- 

 ing its quota of evidence to a story which is 

 still very incomplete. I have obtained the 

 Burnt Zonitis, in the first place, from the cot- 

 ton pouches of Anthidium scapulare, who, like 

 the Three-toothed Osmia, makes her nests in 

 the brambles; in the second place, from the 



1 Cf. Bramble-bees and Others: chaps, i., iii. and x. 

 Translator's Note. 



179 



