62 



Insects. 



could conjure up to his imagination. I will mention some of the spe- 

 cies which I have captured there. 



Mutilla europaea 

 Myrmosa melanocepliala 

 Pompilus niger 



affinis 



petiolatus 



cinctellus 



fasciatellus 

 Ceropales maculatus 

 Ammophila sabulosa 



hirsiita 

 Miscus campestris 

 Tachytes pompiliformis 



Tachytes unicolor 

 Astata boops 

 Nysson spinosus 



bimaculatus 

 Arpactus tumidus 

 Psen ater 

 Mimesa equestris 



bicolor 

 Cerceris arenaria 



ornata 



labiata 

 Eiimenes atricoruis 



Panurgus ursinus 

 Megachile circumciucta 

 Nomada cornigeia 



Jacobaea 



picta 



Sheppardana 

 Andrena Rosae 



thoracica 

 CoUetes, new species 

 Osmia leucomelana 

 Saropoda biraaculata 



rotundata 



Saropoda bimaculata and rotundata I consider to be the same in- 

 sect in different states, the specimens of rotundata being fine and re- 

 cently developed. I have compared my specimens with those in Mr. 

 Kirby's collection, from which he drew up the descriptions for his 

 * Monographia Apum Anglia?,' and am satisfied that they are one and 

 the same insect. 



The Saropodae are on the wing in July, but having visited this lo- 

 cality on the 4th of June last, I dug up a portion of the bank where 

 their burrows were numerous, and met with some cocoons, all exactly 

 resembling each other, which I had no doubt were those of Saropodae, 

 as they proved to be, for during the first week in July three specimens 

 were developed, and from one of the cocoons a Coelioxys. The lat- 

 ter is a male, and as I consider it a new species, I send you a minute 

 description of it. It is certainly not the male of either C. conica or 

 C. rufescens, nor is it the C. vectis of Curtis.* 



I had observed the Coelioxys entering the burrows of Saropoda, 

 and had little doubt of its being a parasite. I have also seen it enter 

 the buiTows of Osmia bicornis and of Megachile circumcincta. Mr. 

 Shuckard, in the Introduction to his admirable work on the Fossorial 

 Hymenoptera, has remarked on " the apparent anomaly of parasites 

 being of the same order ; " and suggests that probably " a greater re- 

 semblance was necessary between the individuals, than in the case of 

 internal parasites," — destroyers of eggs and larvae, — since " where the 

 food stored up is the object of attack, it required all the sagacity of 



* On close inspection of the original specimen of C. inennis of Kirby, it proves to 

 have the usual teeth on the thorax ; but this part having been crushed the spines are 

 forced under a portion of it : one spine may, however, be detected on a careful ex- 

 amination. The insect is, in fact, a male of C. conica. 



