108 PACKARD, HUMBLE BEES 



service to me in distinguishing our species. I have also 

 followed his synonymy of the species therein given.. 



We have in this country nothing published concerning 

 the economy of our Bombi previous to the present year. 

 For two years past Mr. F. \V. Putnam has paid consid- 

 erable attention to observing the habits of several species 

 of wild bees, the results of which* he has embodied in the 

 interesting articles preceding. I am indebted to him for 

 nearly all the material upon which these notices are based. 

 I have also been much aided in identifying the species 

 by a labelled series of most of our species received from 

 Mr. E. Norton several years since, and more recently by 

 a small collection of species from different parts of the 

 country sent by him to the Museum of Comparative Zool- 

 ogy at Cambridge, Mass ; the Museum also contains over 

 twelve hundred specimens, of four species, in all stages of 

 growth, being the collection made by Mr Putnam. I 

 have also had access to the small collection of this genus 

 in the Harris Cabinet now belonging to the Boston 

 Society of Natural History. 



Among the numerous parasites upon the Humble Bee 

 we have insects belonging to the Hymenoptera, the 

 Lepidoptera, Diptera and Coleoptera. Each have a dis- 

 tinct mode of attack. The Stylops and Conops live within 

 the abdomen of the bee upon the fatty tissues of its body. 

 The Meloe clings to the outside of its body and sucks in the 

 juices of its victim through the joints of its corneous 

 harness ; and after it assumes the pupa stage, passes a period 

 of inactivity safely lodged among the cells of the bee's 

 nest. The Byturus is less intimate in its friendship 

 and probably troubles the bee only as it consumes the 

 stores of food laid up for the bee grub, while it may also 

 prove to be serviceable in acting as a scavenger in 

 clearing the nests of the cadavers of those bees which 

 have perished within their enclosure The unknown 

 dipterous larva noticed below, is undoubtedly, from the 

 structure of its mouth, a carnivorous animal, and lives by 

 sucking in, like a leach, the juices of the young bees. 

 The species of Xephopteryx, which differs so much from 

 its allied species in its habits, feeds largely upon the 

 waxen walls of the bee cells. As to the habits of Apathus, 



