﻿70 HYMENOPTERA 



with great ferocity when they disturb its nest. Notwithstand- 

 ing its inclination and power to defend its societies this Insect 

 appears to be destroyed wholesale. Colonel Ramsay failed to 

 establish hives of it, because the Insects were eaten up by lizards. 

 The crested honey-buzzard carries off large portions of the comb, 

 and devours it on a branch of some tree near by, quite regardless 

 of the stings of the bees ; while the fondness of bears for the 

 honey of the " Dingar," as this species is called, is well known. 



Note to P. 33 : It lias just been discovered that a most remarkable 

 symbiosis, with structural modification of the bee, exists between the females 

 of Xylocopa, of the Oriental sub-genus Koptorthosoma, and certain Acarids. 

 A special chamber, with a small orifice for entry, exists in the abdomen of 

 the bee, and in this the Acari are lodged. — See Perkins, Ent. May. xxxv. 

 1899, p. 37. 



Note to P. 80 : referring to the habits of social wasps in warm countries. 

 The anticipation we ventured to indulge in is shown to be correct by the 

 recent observations of Von Ihering. 1 He states that social wasps in Brazil 

 may lie divided into two great groups by their habits, viz. 1. Summer com- 

 munities, lasting for one year, and founded annually by fertilised females 

 that have hibernated — example, Polistes ; 2. Perennial communities, founded 

 by swarms after the fashion of bee colonies — examples, Pohjbia, Chartergus. 

 1 Ami. Nat. Hist. (6), xix. 1897, p. 136. 



Note to Vol. V Pp. 545, 546 : The development of Encyrtus fuscicollis 

 has now been studied by Marchal, who has discovered the existence of 

 embryonic dissociation. The chain of embryos and the epithelial tube in 

 which they are placed, are formed as follows : the Encyrtus deposits an egg 

 in the interior of the egg of the Hyponorneuta. This does not kill the egg 

 of the Lepidopteron, but becomes included in the resulting caterpillar. The 

 amnion of the Chalcid egg lengthens, and forms the epithelial tube ; while 

 the cells within it become dissociated in such a way as to give rise to a 

 chain of embryos, instead of a single embryo. — C.R. Ac. Paris, exxvi. 1898j 

 p. 662, and translation in Ann. Nat. Hist. (7), ii. 1898, p. 28. 



