336 Insects. 



ed, I believe but few have witnessed their combats. I have observed ants for many 

 years, but, with this exception, never saw anything like hostility among them. Some 

 of your readers may be pleased with this account from an eye-witness. — O. July 10. 

 1830." — ^Magazine of Natural History ^^ iv. 149. 



Note on the singular situation of a Bee'^s Nest. Whilst entomologizing on the cliffs 

 at Teignmouth in the month of June, I was rather struck by seeing a bee fly out of a 

 snail-shell. First capturing the bee, as the most likely of the two to escape, I pro- 

 ceeded to examine the shell which he had chosen for his residence. A little below the 

 mouth there was a thin partition made of the leaves of plants, very finely masticated 

 and fastened together by some glutinous substance, leaving however a round hole in 

 the middle large enough to allow the occupier ingress and egress. The interior of the 

 nest was not examined, thinking it a pity to destroy the specimen. The predominat- 

 ing colour of the bee is brownish orange, barred with black or deep brown, the wings 

 dark and small. I have however enclosed a sketch of the bee and nest, which will give 

 a better idea of both than any description. — Robert C. R. Jordan ; Teignmouth, Sep- 

 tember, 1843. 



Bee and its Nest in a Snail-shell. 



Notes on Bees^ Nests in Snail-shells. " Their nests are hidden in the ground, cre- 

 vices of old walls, old wood, and even occasionally in the deserted shells of garden 

 snails. Of the latter some particulars are given by M. Robineau Desvoidy, who has 

 obtained two species — Osmia bicolor, and a new species which he names O. helicicola, 

 — from nests respectively formed in the deserted shells of Helix nemoralis and H. po- 

 matia. O. bicolor lays two eggs in each shell, the female egg being always upper- 

 most: above these are constructed three or four cells of sand, separated from each other 

 by a membranous partition. O. helicicola deposits ten or twelve eggs, separated from 

 each other by distinct partitions, each being provided with a magazine of honey ; but 

 they do not wall in the different strata with sand, or any earthy matter placed above 

 the domicile of their progeny." — British Cyclopoedia : Nat. Hist. iii. 360. The draw- 

 ing sent by our correspondent does not represent Osmia bicolor, and may therefore 

 prove to be O. helicicola, a new an/" most interesting addition to our British Fauna ; 

 it is also probably identical with Ruber's Trachusa aurulenta, the habits of which are 

 detailed by that author in the second volume of the ' Memoires de la Physique et d* 

 Histoire Naturelle de Geneve.' We should feel much obliged by a sight of the spe- 

 cimen. — Ed. 



Enquiries respecting the Humble Bee. I have several times within the last few days 

 found large humble bees crawling on the foot-paths, with their wings withered up, or 

 apparently gnawed close off, so that nothing but a stump was left. How is this to be 

 explained ?—F. Holme ; C. C. C. Oxford. 



Note on the sudden appearance and disappearance of Insects. In the summer of 1836 

 great ravages were committed among the field turnips in several districts, by a black 



