ANDRENA. 
209 
admits of their passing through the very constricted 
tube which connects the abdomen with the thorax. 
Having now escaped into the air they alight upon the 
flowers which the bee frequents, and thence they affix 
themselves to other bees which may visit these plants, 
and thus perpetuate the activity of the function it is 
their instinct to fulfil. That many may be lost there 
can be no question; but Nature is very prodigal of life, 
for by life it endows life, and thus its activity is en¬ 
larged to a wider circle. Although the matured Stylops 
has preyed upon all the internal organs of the bee its 
attack is not immediately fatal, although the life of the 
creature may be thus considerably abridged, but it seems 
to live sufficiently long afterwards to disseminate the 
distribution of the Stylops. A small blackish Pediculus, 
which Mr. Kirby called Pediculus Melittce, is found also 
both upon the flowers the bees frequent and also upon 
the bees themselves, especially the pubescent ones; but 
this insect is not limited to the genus Andrena, as I 
shall have occasion to notice. The flower I have 
chiefly found them upon is the Dandelion ( Leontodon ). 
Their peculiar economy and connection with the bees is 
unknown; it may be merely an accidental and tempo¬ 
rary attachment, but they even accompany them to their 
burrows. 
Another and more curious case of attack upon the 
young of the Andrena , is instanced in the reputed para¬ 
sitism of the Coleopterous genus Meloe. The perfect in¬ 
sect is a large apterous, fleshy, heteromerous beetle, ten 
times as big as the bee. Its vermicle, having issued from 
the egg, has the appearance of a very small pediculus, of 
an orange colour. They are often seen upon flowers, and, 
like the former pediculus, attach themselves to such suit- 
p 
