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JUL V I4t/i, 1887. 

 R. Adkin, Esq., F.E.S,, President^ in the Chair. 



Mr. T. R. Billups exhibited three species of Exotic 

 Hymenoptera ; Xylocopa violacea, L., X. latipes, Drury, and 

 Taiscolia JicBmorrhoidalis^ Fab., and read the following notes : — 



''Xylocopa violacea, L. (Europe), and X. latipes, Drury, 

 from Darjeeling. — The Xylocopa, or, as they are commonly 

 and most deservedly styled, " Carpenter Bees," have very 

 powerful jaws, very much like wire-nippers in appearance, 

 with which they are able to excavate tunnels of from one to 

 two feet in length into solid wood, tearing out the material, 

 chip by chip, very rapidly. Having completed a burrow, the 

 female places at the extreme end a mass of pollen about the 

 size of a large kidney-bean, upon which she deposits an egg. 

 She then covers it with a thin layer of the chips which she 

 originally cleared from the tunnel, repeating the operation 

 until the whole of the burrow is filled with its cells. This 

 genus is spread over all the warmer portions of the earth ; 

 but no species has yet been found inhabiting Britain. 



" Taiscolia JicBniovrJioidalis, Fab. (Hungary). — This fine 

 insect belongs to the group of Aculeate Hymenoptera, called 

 ScoliidcB. They are chiefly found in the torrid parts of the 

 world ; and the higher the temperature, the more plentiful the 

 Scoliida^. In some of the genera which belong to this group, 

 the females are apterous, like the MutillidcB. As the habits 

 of these insects are well known, a short description of the 

 economy of this species will answer for the whole. When 

 the female is about to prepare for her future progeny, she 

 seeks a dry sandy spot, and there makes a hole of some 16 

 or 18 inches deep ; she then goes in search of prey, which is 

 generally the larvae of some large lamellicorn beetle, such as 

 Oryctes nasicornis (or, in some cases, locusts or grasshoppers). 

 Having deposited them at the bottom of the hole, she lays an 

 egg in close proximity. The egg is soon hatched, and the 

 young larvae at once begin to devour the beetle grub which 

 the mother had placed there for food. The grub is always 



