( 179 ) XXII. Notes o?i the Habits of Australian Hymenoptera. By F. Smith, Esq. [Read May 5th, 1851.] On the Habits of Lestis Bombylans. (New Holland.) Mr. Ker, a gentleman who resided some years in Australia, informed me that this insect is very common in all parts of the country. He found it inhabiting the hollow stem of a Zamia. It was at that time in a dormant state, it being the winter season. The entrance to the tube was rounded like the mouth of a flute. The stem of the Zamia or grass tree is straight and pithy, and easily excavated. The cells, about a dozen in number, were placed one above the other, separated by slight partitions. I will embrace this opportunity to correct an error which has crept into all the works in which this genus is described or alluded to. Fabricius, in his Entomologia Systematica, describes under the genus Apis two bees from New Holland — Apis bombylans and Apis muscaria — both in the cabinet of Sir Joseph Banks. St. Fargeau, in the 10th vol. Encycl. Meth., and also in his later work, the Histoire Naturelle des Insectes, has described the Apis muscaria as the female of his genus Lestis, and A. bombylans as the male. Now on examining the original specimens in the Banksian Cabinet, I find the Apis muscaria is a male, of the genus Xylocopa ; and A. bombylans a female, of the genus Lestis. St. Fargeau has also committed another error by reversing the characteristics of the sexes ; those given as the male belong to the female, and (vice versa) both are however too general to aid much in discrimi-nating the species. I will endeavour to remedy this insufficiency by giving more tangible characters, and by describing a second species of this genus. N 2
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