THE PAIRING HABITS OF CERTAIN BEES. 18 
Aphantopus (Enodia) hyperantus.—Abundant generally, the only 
aberration noticed here is ab. obsoleta, Tutt. 
Coenonympha tiphon.—This occurs in two-widely separated districts, 
viz. the bogs to the South of Lough Neagh, which are only from fifty 
to sixty feet above sea level; and on the numerous boggy flats in the 
mountains at an elevation of seven hundred to one thousand feet; in 
the former locality, tiphon, Rott. is the almost universal form; on the 
other hand, on the mountains both téphon, and the northern form laidion 
are found, 
Callophrys rubii—The only representative of the Hairstreaks, found 
in the district , is very common on the bogs at Lough Neagh ; the 
larva feeding upon the flowers of the heath ; the var. immaculata is 
not rare. 
Polyommatus icarus.—This species has only one emergence here and 
is very local, being confined to sandy districts on Lough Neagh, and 
_to light soils. The males generally are of a large size; about forty per 
cent. being ab. celina, Obt. and varying in colour from a pale lavender 
to a bright blue like Ayriades thetis (bellargus) ab. clara, Tutt. The 
female is also a very fine insect, the following aberrations being taken, 
caerulea, caerulea-cuneata, pallida, angulata, and clara. 
A fine eynandrous specimen was captured in July, 1917, on the 
high sandy banks near the village of Coalisland; the right side being 
male ab. celina, left female ab. caerulea. But the most brillant 
examples of all were met with on the precipitous slopes of a lonely glen 
in the mountains surrounded by miles of bare moorland; the males 
here being larger and finer than any taken on the coast-line; the ab. 
melanotoxa (arcuata) also occurs in this wild spot. 
The Pairing Habits of certain Bees. 
By J. W. HESLOP HARRISON, D. Sc. 
One often notices accounts in the various entomological magazines 
of the pairing of Lepidoptera and, more rarely, of Coleoptera, but such 
notes on other orders one sees but once in a lifetime ; consequently 
Mr. Donisthorpe’s article in the November Record on wasps, is 
more than usually interesting. Further, as I can supplement it by 
similar notes on the genus Bombus, the present seems a suitable 
opportunity of doing so. 
My first experience was with the type form of Bombus terrestris— 
a very common insect indeed on the Cleveland moors. I had been 
tramping for some time over the thick heather on Eston Moor collect- 
ing spiders and anything in the way of the obscurer orders of insects 
that was swept up or netted. Amongst the latter, the Hymenoptera 
formed a considerable portion of my ‘bag in spite of the fact that the 
season was late September. Soon after boxing a fine Bombus 
smithianus, 1 caught sight of a pair of bees just rising from the 
herbage. All that I had perceived was that the female carried the 
male when they suddenly rose to a great height and vanished across 
the open moor. 
A year later, whilst botanising in Shropshire in August, I came 
across a lovely nook in some rocks all overgrown with Origanum, and 
what interested me more then, a fine growth of Cotyledon umbilicus and 
Sedum rupestre. These occupied my attention for some time, but in 
