her species of bees and moths, flies and beetles. Insect
parasites often imitate their host: Apathus (Plate I, Fig. 1, A.
Ashtoni) can scarcely be distinguished from its host, and yet it lives
cuckoo-like in the cells of the Humble bee, though we know not yet how
injurious it really is. Then there are Conops and Volucella, the
former of which lives like Tachina and Phora within the bee's body,
while the latter devours the brood. The young (Plate I, Figs. 5, 5_a_)
of another fly allied to Anthomyia, of which the Onion fly (Fig. 42) is
an example, is also not unfrequently met with. A small beetle (Plate 1.
Fig. 4, Antherophagus ochraceus) is a common inmate of Humble bees'
nests, and probably feeds upon the wax and pollen. We have also found
several larvae (Fig. 43) of a beetle of which we do not know the adult
form. Of similar habits is probably a small moth (Nephopteryx Edmandsii,
Plate I, Figs. 2; 2_a_, larva; Fig. 2_b_, chrysalis, or pupa) which
undoubtedly feeds upon the waxen walls of the bee cells, and thus, like
the attacks of the common bee moth (Galleria cereana, whose habits are
so well known as not to detain us, must prove very prejudicial to the
well being of the colony. This moth is in turn infested by an Ichneumon
fly (Microgaster nephoptericis, Plate I, Figs. 3, 3_a_) which must prove
quite destructive.

[Illustration: 42. Onion Fly and Maggot.]

[Illustration: 43. Larva of Beetle.]

The figures of the early stages of a minute ichneumon represented on the
same plate (Fig. 7, larva, and 7_a_, pupa, of Anthophorabia megachilis)
which is parasitic on Megachile, the Leaf-cutter bee, illustrates the
transformations of the Ichneumon flies, the smallest species of which
yet known (and we believe the smallest insect known at all) is the
Pteratomus Putnami (Pl. I, Fig. 8, wanting the hind leg), or "winged
atom," which is only one-ninetieth of an inch in length, and is
parasitic on Anthophorabia, itself a parasite. A species of mite (Plate
I, Figs. 9; 9_a_, the same seen from beneath) is always to be found In
humble bees' nests, but it is not thought to be specially obnoxious to
the bees themselves, though several species of mites (Gamasus, etc.) are
known to be parasitic on insects.

CHAPTER IV.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT MOTHS.

The butterflies and moths from their beauty and grace, have always been
the favorites among amateur entomologists, and rare and costly works
have been published in which their forms