116 
FORAMINIFERA OF OBAN. 
May, 1889. 
these creatures were more than usually abundant, so that I 
was able to fully realise the extent of their attacks on several 
colonies of a species of Halictus (H. rubicundus, Chr.). These 
bees emerge in August, and the females hibernate, laying their 
eggs in spring and early summer. In August I examined 
hundreds of burrows of H. rubicundus , which at this time 
should have contained pupae and freshly-emerged bees, but 
not one was to be seen. There were still a few old and 
battered specimens of the previous year, and many more dead 
and attacked by mould. This much was due to the weather, 
but in all such cells as had been stored, instead of pupae or 
bees, there were Forficulcc, and here and there a fragment of 
pollen not as yet quite devoured. Larvae, pupae, young bees, 
and pollen all disappear before these destroyers, while the 
burrows afford them a secure retreat; and when they have 
demolished the contents of one cell thev crawl on to the next 
•/ 
and do the same. 
Spiders, too, devour large numbers of bees. Most entomo¬ 
logists must have noticed the species which lurk in or on 
flowers, and how beautifully many of them assimilate with 
the colour of the part on which they remain motionless : 
daisies, buttercups, mallows, and Hieracium, &c., are much 
frequented by them. When a bee (or in fact any insect) 
alights the spider springs on it, and either devours it on the 
flower or drops to the ground and carries it off. Species as 
large as the larger Andrence are captured in this way by 
spiders of comparatively small size. The Fossor Pkilanthus 
also carries off bees bodily to provision its cells, while ants 
will carry off the smaller species as they alight at their 
burrows. Other Fossores also occasionally carry them off for 
a similar purpose. Parasitic Diptera may often be seen 
cautiously entering when the bee is abroad, in order that 
they may deposit their eggs, and the larvae proceeding from 
these devour the larvae of the bee. The same is true of 
various species of Coleoptera. 
(To be continued.) 
FORAMINIFERA OF OBAN, SCOTLAND. 
BY E. W. BURGESS. 
(Continued from page 81 .) 
21. Textularia gramen. D’Orbigny, 1846. 
Balkwill and Wright (I. F.), 1885, p. 832, pi. xiii., 
figs. 13-4. 
