are two females, judging from the size and shape of the abdomen; in other respects they resemble the males. I may add that at the same time and place I caught Acosmetia rufula in tolerable abundance, and a few specimens of Pyralis cribralis.—Henry F. Farr; Lower Close, Norwich, July 24, 1843.
Description of a New British Bee. By Fredk. Smith, Esq.
I have much pleasure in recording in 'The Zoologist' the capture of a new species of the genus Stelis of Panzer,—the Apis punctulatissima and A. phæoptera of Kirby being the only species previously noticed as British. Two specimens of this new species were captured in a garden at Blackwater, in Hampshire, in company with the rare Osmia leucomelana, upon which they are probably parasitical. I have observed the Stelis phaeoptera three or four successive seasons, in the month of June, entering the nests of Osmia hirta, in an old post in the Battersea fields; on one occasion I observed a female Osmia busily engaged in excavating her cylindrical burrow; I left her undisturbed, and, on returning to the spot an hour or two afterwards, I saw a female Stelis running about the post, much after the manner in which ichneumons may be observed; at length she stopped at the entrance of the new burrow commenced by the Osmia; she entered, but quickly retreated and flew off. I then inserted a straw, expecting to find the Osmia still engaged at her laborious task, but that was not the case; she had, however, excavated to the depth of about two inches: subsequently the Stelis returned, entered the burrow, and passed in and out three or four times, as if to satisfy herself whether a proper nidus was prepared for her eggs or not. I captured the insect, which proved to be a female. I cannot of course be certain that this was identical with the bee which I first observed.
I have searched diligently amongst foreign collections, as well as throughworks, but can find neither description nor specimen agreeing with the new species. I therefore propose describing it as new.
Stelis octomaculata (female, length 3 lines). Head black, deeply punctured, face with scattered silvery hairs: thorax black, more coarsely punctured than the head: the tegulæ and nervures of the wings black: wings clouded with a broad dark margin on the outer edge: all the legs black, with short, scattered, silvery hairs, more dense on the coxæ and femora; all the tarsi ferruginous: abdomen black, coarsely punctured above, finely so beneath; the first segment has two ovate cream-coloured spots, placed laterally; the second, third and fourth have oblong streaks of the same colour (acute at the
