7018 Insects. 



nidification. On the I6th of April, 1856, I observed a female issuing 

 from a bank of the Basingstoke Canal, Aldershott, and the next day and 

 for several following days I saw the bee return to the nest, and, on its 

 going out, it remained generally from twenty minutes to half an hour. 

 No workers made their appearance for six weeks. The males of this 

 species may be found frequenting the blossoms of Salvia, Veronica, 

 &c., from the middle of July until the beginning of September. 



I have heard from a friend who lives in Lower Canada that the 

 Bombi in that country are numerous and much more irascible than in 

 England, probably owing to the high temperature in summer, the 

 thermometer in June, July and August, being often at 95° in the shade 

 for weeks together at mid-day. 



The strong instinct in all these interesting insects in choosing a 

 place for nidification is displayed in always pitching on a spot which 

 has a natural drainage from the wet. Many of their nests are to be 

 found on the banks of canals, rivers, dry banks in hedge rows, and 

 even those in meadows or pastures have generally a hole or drain near 

 the combs which prevents their nests being inundated by any sudden 

 gush of water, or they are situated in an extremely dry and elevated 

 spot. 



H. W. Newman. 



Hillside, Cheltenbam. 

 March 29, 1860. 



[It is greatly to be wished lliat our correspondent, who appears to have so much 

 leisure for studying the habits of these most interesting insects, had turned his 

 attention to making out the exact connexion between the Bombi and Apathi which 

 reside in the same nests. In October, 1834, then a child iu Entomology, I 

 thus defined this connexion, hoping my observations would lead others to a more 

 ininule investigation; but alas! how small is the increase of our knowledge in the 

 twenty-six years that have passed away. " Larva hauhed from an egg deposited by 

 its parent in the nests of other bees at the time when their own eggs are laid ; when 

 it hatches, being larjier and stronger than the rightful possessor of the cell, it con- 

 sumes the food provided for its companion, and starves it to death; and in those 

 instances in which fresh supplies of food are daily provided, it continues to receive 

 and appropriate ihem as its own. Pupa changes in the same situation, in a silken 

 cocoon, spun by the larva. The imago has no apparatus, either on the body or legs, 

 for collecting honey : it enters the nests of other bees with perfect fiimiliarity, and 

 seems to be quite unsuspected of intrusion ; it collects no pollen or honey ; never 

 buibis a nest of any kind, or lakes any care of its young ; but spends its time among 

 flowers, or hovering about sand-banks in which other bees have fixed their habita- 

 tions.'' Mr, Smith, in his valuable work, has objected to my assertion, that the larva 

 of Apathus is larger and stronger than its victim, but looking at the relative size of 



