Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/293

Rh don's 'Magazine of Natural History,' but I did not then know with what it provisioned its nest; this year I have made the discovery: it stores up a number of small green caterpillars, which it coils round with the most beautiful regularity, within the excavated bramble stick, placing them alternately right and left.

Osmia atricapilla. The first specimen which I took of this rare little bee, I observed enter a bramble stick which Epipone laevipes had previously excavated; this was three or four years ago. I have never been successful in finding its nest until this season, although 1 have occasionally taken specimens, all at the same spot,- for it is very local as well as rare. I this year observed one excavating a dead bramble stick; this bee I captured, and after diligent search I saw another enter an excavated stick, which I found on examination contained two masses of pollen and honey, and upon each mass was an oblong egg, tapering a little towards either end; it was about a line in length, and quite transparent. I shall make careful notes of the development of the bees, if I am fortunate enough to rear them.

Rhinobatus planus. I took a single specimen in June four years ago, about half a mile from the spot where I captured so many this season. I found the first on the common thistle, which grows on every bank, and in every lane and field. I have visited the same field in which I found it every year since, without success. I now find that it frequents a different species of thistle, in marshy ground: I do not know the name, but the thistle grows as high as five feet, in some instances, a number of stalks springing from the same root; the leaves are merely rudimental on the stalks, not longer than two inches or so, and the stems covered with fine prickles quite clothed with them; the flower is purple; one or two plants had white flowers, but the same stalks and leaves. I generally found them in pairs; I think in no instance more than one pair on a plant, and generally on the smaller plants. I had eight hours of uninterrupted bog-trotting, and only got up to my knees once before I captured the twenty-one specimens. I could not find a specimen on any thistle which did not grow in the marshy ground.

Note on the Economy of a Fossorial Hymenopterous Insect. As you invite the communication of facts relative to Natural History, I will give you an anecdote of an insect that came under my notice whilst residing in Staffordshire some years ago; at the