Insects. 405 



Notes on various Hymenopterous Insects, and Descriptions of two 

 new British Bees. By Frederick Smith, Esq. 



Correction of a previous error. I perceive that an unfortunate 

 error has been printed in my communication of captures in Hamp- 

 shire (Zool. 262 and 265), Osmia atricapilla should have been Osmia 

 leucomelana. I am particularly sorry this should have occurred at p. 

 265, as some details of economy are given. Please to add a note in 

 your next number, pointing out the error : I am sorry I did not ob- 

 serve it before, and cannot think how I could have made it. 



Osmia bicolor and O. tunensis. I have received a communication 

 from Mr. Walcott of Clifton, Bristol, who remarks, — " Osmia bicolor 

 and O. tunensis breed numerously in the empty snail-shells on the 

 slopes of our downs ; as many as four specimens of O. tunensis have 

 come from one shell of Helix nemoralis, two were males and two fe- 

 males." As you figured a bee in your last number (Zool. 336), this, 

 I thought, might be worth recording. Mr. Curtis tells me that he has 

 captured Osmia bicolor in snail-shells. Should you not get sight 

 of the bee figured in the last number, pray write for a more detailed 

 description, particularly whether the bee is furnished with the pollen- 

 brush on the underside of its abdomen, and what is the colour of the 

 hairs. The figure looks like a male in the form of its abdomen, and 

 the six segments defined admit of an additional segment being hid by 

 the usual convexity of the abdomen of the genus Osmia. 



• 



Economic habits of Ants. I am much pleased to find in your No- 

 vember number (Zool. 335), some notes on Hymenopterous insects, 

 and beg to make a few observations on them, which may perhaps 

 tend to throw some light upon the enquiries of your correspondents. 

 Mr. Wakefield's account of the ants collecting the seeds of the violet, 

 might incline some to think modern naturalists incorrect in stating 

 that they lay up no store for the winter. Gould, a century ago, ob- 

 served, " In warmer regions the weather is more favourable, and sea- 

 sons less severe ; therefore ants may not undergo that chill which they 

 do in England, nor consequently pass the winter in a state of numb 

 ness." "And it will appear from a repeated series of observations and 

 experiments, that our ants do not lay up corn or other food against 

 winter, and have no magazines peculiar to this purpose ; but that, in 

 reality, their unwearied diligence in collecting provisions is chiefly 

 carried on for the noble design of maintaining posterity." Huber 



