5030 Entomological Society. 



" 9. Pelopseus chalybeus, Smith, Cat. Foss. Hi/m. Part 2. The nest of this insect 

 is especially interesting. The species of the genus Pelopseus are popularly known as 

 mud -daubers in America. They differ in the mode of constructing their nests ; some 

 species appear to place single cells in different situations ; others construct a number 

 close together, and even one cell upon another. P. chalybeus differs from all the spe- 

 cies whose habits have been recorded ; it constructs single cells of cow-dung, attach- 

 ing them to stems of grass. From one of the nests I extracted a perfect specimen of 

 the insect. 



" 10. Chalicodoma coelocera. This is the Megachile caelocera of my * Catalogue 

 of Apidae,' published by the British Museum. The genus Chalicodoma of St. Far- 

 geau cannot be maintained upon structural differences : the habit of the species alone 

 entitles it to the rank of a subgenus. These insects construct nests of clay or sandy 

 loam, attaching them usually to walls ; a number of cells are formed, and when the 

 whole are furnished with the requisite supply of pollen and honey the cells are closed, 

 and the whole then covered over with a mass of sandy loam. The nest of C. caelo- 

 cera, which I exhibit to the Society, is of an elongate form, being seven inches in 

 length, two and a half in width, and one and a half in elevation at its greatest con- 

 vexity ; there are seven outlets, from which the bees have escaped : probably there are 

 others which have perished in the cells. The mixture of red earth and small pebbles, 

 of which the nest is composed, is excessively hard, aud it must be a task of great 

 labour to the bee before it can perforate so hard a substance ; both sexes are therefore 

 furnished with short, exceedingly stout, toothed mandibles for that purpose. 



"11. This is the nest of a species of Ceratina, formed in the stem of a shrub which 

 has a large pith in the middle, similar to the common elder of Europe. The channel 

 formed by the bee is three inches in length, exactly similar to that formed by Cera- 

 tina caerulea. 



" 12. Nest of a small species of Anthidium, — A. cordatum, Smith. This nest is 

 interesting, as showing a reverse of the habit of the British species of the genus, A. 

 manicalum, which usually selects ready-formed holes in posts or rails; its nests 

 have also been found in the locks of out-houses, &c, always, I believe, in some ready- 

 formed place of security ; A. cordatum, on the contrary, attaches its cells to the stems 

 of plants; that which I exhibit consists of two; these are formed apparently of 

 a resinous substance, which melts when heated ; outside, the cells are covered with the 

 woolly down of plants. 



" 13. This is a portion of a dead branch, probably having formed part of some 

 railing or fence, into which Xylocopa trepida has burrowed, the entrance being large 

 enough to admit of the little finger; the diameter of the tube inside is exactly three- 

 fourths of an inch." 



Mr. Lubbock read a paper intituled ' On some Entoinostraca collected by Dr. 

 Sutherland in the Atlantic Ocean.' 



Mr. Westwood read a paper on Cryptodus from New Holland. 



Mr. Stainton read a paper on three Indian species of Micro-Lepidoptera bred by 

 Mr. Atkinson. 



Mr. Janson communicated some notes on Hygrotus bisulcatus, Curt., and Apion 

 Curtisii, Kirby, MSS., of which insects drawings were exhibited at the December 

 meeting, contending, on the authority of Dr. Erichson aud subsequent writers, that 



