848 Insects. 



interesting to find a corner in ' The Zoologist.' Tachytes pompiliformis is a well- 

 known insect, belonging to the family Larridae. It is abundant in many sandy situa- 

 tions, particularly on Hampstead-heath. Mr. Shuckard records his having captured 

 it frequently, conveying a small sandy-coloured caterpillar, a circumstance which I 

 have frequently noticed. Last summer I found the species abundant at Weybridge ; 

 here its prey was a small species of grasshopper ; I captured several with the same 

 prey. Cerceris arenaria; this is an abundant species, belonging to the family Crabro- 

 nidee ; it provisions its nest with different species of Curculionides. Mr. Shuckard 

 says, " on a small Curculio of the genus Strophosomus ;" probably he had not observed 

 it with any other species, but in different situations its prey will be found to differ ; 

 its usual prey is Strophosomus pilosellus : in Hampshire I found it conveying Otio- 

 rhynchus sulcatus ; at Charlton I found it select Balaninus nucum ; I have also cap- 

 tured it with Otiorhynchus ovatus. Thus, observation proves that its economy is very 

 varied, in respect to the species selected for the food of its young. St. Fargeau is 

 quite in error, in stating that the insect possesses the instinct to select the beetles which 

 have been recently disclosed, and have their elytra, &c. soft. I found Otiorhynchus 

 ovatus and 0. sulcatus somewhat difficult to pierce with a pin, and observation has 

 proved, that the insects are selected without any regard to their recent development ; 

 the moisture of the earth would, in eight or ten clays, render them soft, and suitable 

 for the young larva?, which would be hatched about that time. Crabro brevis : this 

 is one of the small black species. I discovered some numbers forming their nests in 

 a perpendicular sand bank ; and what I was pleased to observe was, that they were 

 provisioning their nests with different species of Haltica : this is, I believe, only the 

 second British fossorial insect hitherto discovered to prey upon Coleoptera. Crabro 

 exiguus : a small black species ; provisions its nest with minute Diptera. Crabro 

 subpunctatus : a yellow-banded species, I captured conveying gnats. All the species 

 of the genus Crabro, which I had previously detected with their prey, selected Dip- 

 tera ; thus we find here a diversity of habit analogous to that observed in the genus 

 Cerceris, — Frederick Smith; Newington, December, 1844. 



Apathus Barbutellus bred in a nest of Bombus pratorum. On the 14th of June 

 last, a boy brought me a nest of Bombus pratorum, containing about thirty neuters, 

 and a quantity of comb. On placing it under a bell-glass, I was surprised by seeing 

 a bee, with a white tail, apparently busily employed in releasing others from their 

 cells, and on more closely examining, I found three males and seven females of 

 Apathus Barbutellus, all, excepting the one at work, having so lately left their cells, 

 that their hair was still of a dirty white, having scarcely a tinge of black or yellow 

 showing ; the female, which had arrived at maturity, is a very fine specimen, and is 

 in my cabinet. It appears to me that they are not able, of themselves, to open their 

 cells, as after letting the neuters fly, and killing the specimens of Apathi, no more 

 came out, although some of the cells appeared as forward as those did from which the 

 others came out. — W. H. L. Walcott ; 8, Buckingham-place, Clifton, Bristol, 

 January 10, 1845. 



On the habits of some Chalcidites. The species of Callimome destroy the gall- 

 forming insects belonging to the genera Cynips and Cecidomyia, and De Geer made 

 the following observations on C. aflinis (Ent. Mag. i. 133), while introducing its ovi- 

 positor into an oak-gall. It began by extricating the ovipositor from between its 

 sheaths, placed it then in a position perpendicular to the body, and to the surface of 

 the gall, so that its point touched the exterior part of the gall, into the interior of 



