﻿1869] 89 



enough, he refers to B. fuscipes as either very recently published or as about to be 

 published : it appears in the Catalogues of De Marseul, and Gemminger and v. 

 Harold ; in the latter with date and place of publication, E. M. M., 1865. — Id. 



Leptinus in bees-nests. — I am able to corroborate Herr Eichhoff 's observations 

 on the habits of Leptinus testaceus, quoted at p. 139 of the 3rd vol. of this maga- 

 zine. On 29th June last, having found a nest of Bombus pratorum at Needwood, 

 Staffordshire, the entrance of which I was searching, in the hope of seeing 

 Anther ophagus, or other parasites, to my surprise, I saw Leptinus, and was soon 

 acquainted with its extreme activity in my endeavours to secure it. The following 

 day I obtained a second specimen, while a third retreated into the hole. A lad, 

 whom I had set on the look-out, brought me one more, and two from a nest of the 

 humble-bee a mile from the first locality. 



On the 5th of July, being about to leave home, I dug out the nest first above 

 mentioned. It was in a cavity about a foot deep, and perhaps nine inches in 

 diameter ; and in the rubbish collected by the bees surrounding the cells were found 

 between 40 and 50 of this strange little rarity. In the midst of the cells themselves 

 were two Antherophagus pollens, together with some Cryptophagi. I may remark 

 that a nest of B. hortorum, which was a few yards from tho other, did not appear 

 to contain Leptinus; this nest, however, was not disturbed, — Henry S. Gokham, 

 Needwood, July, 1869. 



A new locality for Astinomus cedilis. — Mr. John Young, of the Hunterian 

 Museum, showed me a fine live 6* of the above Longicorn to-day, which he had 

 just received from a surgeon at Coatbridge, with tho following words written in the 

 box : " Found embedded in a seam of coal in No. 9, Eosehall pit, 147 fathoms from 

 the surface." 



I suppose it had emerged from some of the timber used in the mine, as I do 

 not know of any wood near Coatbridge in which this insect is likely to occur. — 

 Thos. Chapman, Glasgow, August IWi, 1869. 



Henestaris laticeps, Curt. — I have just taken this species here among Thrift 

 (Statice armeria). The locality is not new, as Mr. Eye once took many specimens 

 here, but I am not aware that the insect has been identified with the plant. This 

 I think I have now done, for not only can I not find the imago away from the 

 thrift, but I find the larvse and pupaa in it. — J. W. Douglas, Seaford, 7th August, 1869. 



Discovery of the larva of Sesia ichneumoniformis. — During three weeks' stay in 

 the Isle of Wight, I was fortunate enough to secure a fino series of this local species, 

 after which I set to work to discover, if possible, its pupa, by splitting open stems 

 and grubbing up roots of all plants, in tho neighbourhood in which my captures 

 were made, that were capable of containing such a larva, but without success. 



Finding myself thus foiled, I watched tho females in the hope of detecting 

 them in the act of ovipositing, but in this, again, I failed, for their colours being 

 inconspicuous they were soon lost to sight. 



The third chance was to search for the ova (with the appearance of which I 

 was already acquainted, thanks to my fair captives), and a few hours' search re- 



