Notices of New Books. 



7873 



Mr. Smith's paper on Hymenoptera possesses all the excellencies 

 of that accomplished entomologist ; the instances of parasitism which 

 Mr. Smith has established from actual observation are extremely inte- 

 resting, especially to an entomologist who thirty years ago associated 

 these parasites under the name of cuckoo-bees.* 



Epeolus variegatus, parasitic on CoUetes Daviesana 



* " Apathiles, cuckoo-bees. Larva hatched from an egrg deposited by its parent 

 in the nests of all the preceding Apina at the time when their own egg's are laid : 

 when it hatches, being stronger and larger than the rightful possessor of the cell, it 

 consumes the food provided for its companion, and starves it to death ; and in those 

 instances in which fresh supplies of food are daily provided it continues to receive and 

 appropriate them as its own. Pupa changes in the same situation, in a silken cocoon 

 spun by the larva. Imiigo has no apparatus either on the body or legs for collecting 

 honey ; in other respects it resembles in structure each of the orders of Apina before 

 described ; it enters their nest with perfect familiarity, and seems to be quite unsus- 

 pected of intrusion; it collects no pollen or honey, never builds a nest of any kind or 

 takes any care of its young, but spends its tiine among flowers, or hovering about 

 sand-banks in which other bees have fixed their habitations. Apathus, Coelioxys, 

 Melecta, Stelis, Epeolus, Nomada, Hylaeus ?"—-£'»!<. Mag. ii. 404. 



XX. 



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