218/ HTMENOPTEEA. 



9. Pepsis sommeri. 



Pepsis sommeri, Dahlbom, Hymen. Eur. i. p. 465 1 ; Cresson, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. i. p. 146 2 ; 

 Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. xii. p. 379 3 . 



Hah. Mexico \ Vera Cruz (Sartorius 2 3 ) ; Guatemala 3 . 



I have no doubt that P. montezuma is a synonym of this. Among the large number 

 of specimens in my possession, it is the only one with, as described by Cresson, the 

 basal third of the fore wings and the basal half of the hind wings black. They agree 

 also in size, and Cresson remarks 3 that P. sommeri is quite abundant in Guatemala. 



Smith in his Catalogue Hymen. Ins. iii. omits P. sommeri entirely. 



^ io. Pepsis occidentalis. (Tab. xii. fig. 5.) 



Long. 17 millim. 



Hah. Mexico, Xucumanatlan in Guerrero 7000 feet (H. H. Smith) ; Guatemala, 

 Purula and Senahu in Vera Paz, Cerro Zunil 4000 to 5000 feet (Champion) ; Panama, 

 Volcan de Chiriqui 4000 to 6000 feet (Champion). 



Brilliant sericeous-blue ; the antennse black ; the wings fuscous-black to the basal 

 nervure, the apex the same colour from the second recurrent and the third transverse 

 cubital nervures. The antennae nearly as long as the body, covered with a dull micro- 

 scopic pile; the basal joints very closely amalgamated; the apical joints dilated on the 

 lower side. The head covered with long black hair, distinctly narrowed behind 

 the eyes ; the frontal furrow indistinct ; the apex of the clypeus moderately arcuate ; 

 the labrum closely punctured. Thorax covered with long black hair. The median 

 segment with a gradually rounded slope to the apex; the apex broadly depressed 

 in the middle, where it is indistinctly transversely striated ; the sides indistinctly tuber- 

 culate at the base and apex ; the apical transverse keel very prominent and raised at 

 the sides. Abdomen as long as the thorax ; the apex above thickly covered with 

 black hairs ; the fourth segment with a tuft of long black hair on either side. The 

 third transverse cubital nervure is bluntly elbowed in the middle ; the second recurrent 

 nervure is received almost in the middle of the cellule. 



This is a much more slenderly built species than P. montezuma ; the entire body and 

 head are of a brilliant sericeous-blue ; the apex of the median segment is distinctly 

 depressed in the centre, and the slope is much more gradual, the hair also is longer and 

 thinner. The fore wings in the middle vary in colour from bright orange to dark 

 fuscous-orange ; and the hind wings may be entirely fuscous, or fuscous from the middle 

 only. Sometimes there is only a broad yellow band on the middle of the fore wings. 



11. Pepsis rubra. (Tab. XII. fig. 7.) 



Sphex rubra, Drury, Illustr. Exot. Ins. ii. p. 75, t. 39.. fig. 6 (1773) \ 

 Pepsis rubra, Mocsary, Termes. Fiizetek, ix. p. 245 2 . 



