392 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



posed. On the opposite side of the Mersey it 

 occurs freely along the Lancashire coast, e.g., near 

 the Waterloo Coursing grounds, among the sand- 

 hills at Crosby, and at Southport, B.C., while 

 it has been taken as far north as Blackpool by 

 Mr. C. E. Stott. South of its " metropolis " at 

 Wallasey, its range extends along the sandhills 

 in Cheshire as far as Hoylake, where there is a 

 large colony, and West Kirby, while inland a 

 specimen has been taken near Rock Ferry, J. T. 

 G., and another fifteen miles away from the 

 coast, near Chester, E. C. T. Whether the two 

 last-named captures represent distant wanderers 

 from their seaside homes or belong to as yet un- 

 discovered colonies located at these inland sta- 

 tions, has not yet been determined. On the Con- 

 tinent, however, the insect has a wide range in- 

 land as well as along the coast line. C. cunicu- 

 laria is a large, handsome species, the female 

 about the size of, and much resembling, a honey 

 bee when on the wing ; even when hovering over 

 the sallow bloom which it loves, however, it may 

 easily be distinguished from the latter species by 

 its thinner legs ; in the honey bee the broad flat 

 hind legs hang conspicuously below the abdomen 

 in flight, identifying it at once ; if our Colletes 

 be captured and examined, moreover, it will be 

 found to have a broad, short, double-lobed, flat 

 tongue, like that of a wasp, instead of the long 

 pointed tongue of the honey bee ; C. cunicularia 

 is, in fact, the only British bee of large size which 

 has a tongue of this description. Sphecodes 

 pilifrons has been observed frequenting its 

 burrows, R.N., and is possibly inquiline upon it. 



