8552 



Notices of New Books. 



emerald (TJmlurania furcatd) and the large falcate-winged Campy- 

 lopterus obscurus." — (P. 179). 



At page 40 of the second volume is a very graphic account of the 

 mode in which a Brazilian wasp of the genus Pelopaeus builds its nest ; 

 there is nothing perhaps very novel in the narrative, but it is certainly 

 very interesting. The nest was made of clay, and the little creature 

 flew straight to the pit with a loud hum, settled at once, and, losing 

 not a moment in any unnecessary survey, proceeded at once to knead 

 the clay into little round pellets, one of which it carried off at each 

 journey to its pouch-like nest. This was two inches in length, and 

 generally attached longitudinally to a twig. One of these little masons 

 began to build on the handle of a chest in our traveller's canoe when 

 stationary in the river. Every pellet was brought to the new edifice 

 with a song of triumph, which subsided into a cheerful hum as soon as 

 the creature alighted and began to work. The little ball of moist clay 

 was laid on the edge of the cell, — the nest contains but one, — and 

 then spread out around the circular rim by means of the lower lip 

 guided by the mandibles. The insect placed itself astride over the 

 rim to work, and on finishing each addition to the building walked 

 round it and patted the sides with its feet before flying away for another 

 pellet. These nests generally occupy one week in building, but in 

 this instance the canoe moved away before the architect had finished, 

 and the wasp declined to follow. These nests are stocked with small 

 spiders of the genus Gastracantha, in that semi-animate state we so 

 often observe in the nests of our British fossorial Hymenoptera.- 



A species of Melipona, a genus of bees which seems to represent 

 the hive-bee of Europe, has the same habit of collecting clay. The 

 rapidity and precision of their movements while thus engaged is truly 

 wonderful. They first scrape the clay with their mandibles ; the small 

 particles thus obtained are then cleared from the mandibles by the 

 anterior paws and passed to the middle pair of feet, which in their turn 

 transfer the clay to the dilated posterior tibiae, just where our honey- 

 bee stores its collected pollen ; the middle feet pat the growing pellets 

 on the hind legs, thus keeping them in shape. As soon as a bee is 

 well loaded off she flies to the nest where the clay is used, not in the 

 construction of cells, but to wall up the exterior of the nest or the rent 

 in the bark of a tree in which the nest is constructed, a small hole 

 only being left, just sufficient for the entry and exit of the bees. 



The sloth is another most tempting subject, and one perhaps rather 

 perilous to introduce; but I feel it would be a bit of inexcusable 

 cowardice to suppress the information Mr. Bates has given us. We 



