12 THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S RECORD. ~ 
the end I got out the net to sample the insect guests of the Marjoram. 
Nothing very wonderful rewarded my efforts, for what I took were just 
what one would see any sunny day in summer in Middlesbrough Park. 
However, just as I was about to leave collecting bees, and to begin 
beating for Arachnida, I caught sight of a pair of bees in cop. which, 
as they rose, struck me as being excessively minute for Bambi. I 
therefore captured them and was amazed to find that the pairing was 
between species of different genera—a male of Psithyrus vestalis paired 
with a worker of Bombus hortorum. This is an important capture for, 
laying aside the fact that the insects were of different genera and 
species, we have two other noteworthy features: (1) a parasite or 
inquiline paired with its host, (2) a worker paired with a male. 
Both of these peculiarities appear to be of some considerable importance, 
and I hope to discuss the matter in full elsewhere. 
- Next day, I continued my botanical work, but on this occasion my 
labours carried me across the Radnorshire border into a little secluded 
valley near Knighton, where I neither took nor saw anything out of 
the ordinary (¢.e. to one accustomed to work in the north-eastern 
counties) save Campanula patula which grew in considerable abundance 
out of the hedges and the neighbouring whins. In plucking a fine 
example of this plant I accidentally laid my hand upon and disturbed - 
the mossy nest of a colony of Bombus derhamellus, which was betrayed 
by the angry buzz inside. ‘Being desirous of watching the journeying 
to and fro of the bees, I sat down to do so, and work continued 
uninterruptedly in spite of my presence. Shortly after I commenced 
my notes, a female crawled out of the nest followed by a group of half- 
a-dozen males, which, after circling round fora few moments, swooped 
down upon her. With one of these she paired, and immediately after 
both crept away amongst the moss and soft grass. Having noticed 
where they went, I turned the grass aside to continue my observations 
and found them still paired, although directly afterwards the female 
shook the male off two or three times. He, however, recovered 
himself, and they settled down quietly. 
The female was tightly held both by the legs and jaws of the male, 
the latter being buried deeply in the fur of the hinder parts of ‘the 
thorax. The first pair of legs likewise grasped the thoracic fur, but 
the second pair were interlocked with the female’s third pair thus 
constricting her wings at the base and forcing them upright, thereby 
rendering flight impossible. The third pair were tightly clasped round 
-her abdomen. All the while the male kept his antenne briskly 
vibrating. : 
When nothing further seemed to occur I boxed the pair, and soon 
after they separated. 
Of course I have not seen enough instances of pairing in the 
Bombi to generalise, but the difference in pairing habits between the 
burrowing Bombus terrestris and the surface-building B. derhamellus 
seems very significant. 
JOTES ON COLLECTING, Ete. 
Fiery Norges rrom Bate anp tHe Ner@HrourHoop.—On September 
1st Hnnomos quercinaria occurred at Bathampton, and other specimens 
were seen later in the month. At Bathford a larva of Triaena (Acro- 
t 
