6. HALICTUS. 79 



come forth, and by the end of the month abounded ; the females 

 succeeded the males in their appearance about ten or twelve days. 

 These industrious creatures immediately began the tasks assigned to 

 them, burrowing and forming their nests ; one of their little tunnels 

 had usually others running into it, so that a single common entrance 

 served as a passage to several cells, in each of which a little ball of 

 pollen was formed and a single egg deposited thereon. The larvse 

 were ten or twelve days consuming it, by which time they were fully 

 fed; in this state they lay until they changed to the pupa state, 

 when they very shortly became matured." I have reared individuals 

 of H. rubicundus from the egg to the perfect insect : on the 15th of 

 July I procured cells containing the pollen -balls with an egg on each ; 

 in twelve days the larvse were full-fed ; the change to the pupa state 

 took place about the 25th of August ; and during the first week of 

 September the perfect state was acquired. The history of Halictus, 

 therefore, is as follows : the males and females appear in the autumn ; 

 the latter being impregnated pass the winter in the perfect state, 

 appearing during the following season to perform their economy, as 

 detailed above in the case of H. morio. This is the result of my 

 present observations ; and I believe it to be the true history of 

 Halictus, as well as of Sphecodes. Humble-bees and wasps pass the 

 winter months in a torpid state, having been impregnated during the 

 previous autumn ; but amongst solitary bees I know of no other genera 

 besides Halictus and Sphecodes which resemble them in this respect. 



Some of the species of Halictus are found later in the season than 

 any other of the solitary bees. I have taken them as late as the 

 14th of October. 



The Halicti have a wide geographical range : they are found in 

 all parts - of Europe, and plentiful in North Africa, some species 

 being found even at the Cape of Good Hope ; they are also found in 

 India, China, the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, Australia and 

 New Zealand ; and both in North and South America the species are 

 numerous. 



The Halicti are subject to the attacks of various parasites ; species 

 of Stylopidae, belonging to the genera Elenchus and Halictophagus, 

 infest the bodies of the living bee. The bees are also preyed upon by 

 fossorial insects belonging to the genera Philanthus and Cerceris, 

 whilst species of Nomada? and of Chrysididse feed upon their larvse. 



Div. I. The abdomen of the females having ivhite abdominal fascia?, 

 usually more or less interrupted. 



1. Halictus rubicundus. 



H. ater, rufescenti pubescens, abdomine segmentis margine albis, 

 tarsis tibiisque posticis fulvis. 



Halictus rubicundus, Nyland. Notis. ur Sallsk. pro Faun, et Flo. 

 Fenn. i. 189. 



Smith, Zool vi. 2041 ; Bees Great Brit. 23. 



