WALSH DESCRIPTIONS OF N. AM. HYMENOPTERA. 91 



densely punctured, slightly shining, the terminal -I of each yellow. The 

 remaining joints, so far as visible, less punctured. Venter stained with 

 yellow. Legs with the 6 trochanters o* yellow, $ stained with yellow; 

 c?$ with the 4 front tibiae, the 4 front tarsi except their extreme tips, the 

 basal f of the hind tibize and the tips of all 6 femora, all yellow. Wings 

 hyaline, with a brown-black cloud along the costa fading out half way 

 across the wing and darkest towards the tip; veins black; stigma dark 

 rufous, subhyaline only at its extreme base, and thrice as long as wide. 

 Areolet almost rhomboido-triangular. the 2d recurrent vein entering it \ 

 of the way to its tip. Length c?2 -30 inch. Wing d"? .27 inch. 



One % , two 2 , taken on umbelliferous flowers in August. May 

 be l-eadily mistaken for a small Philanthus or Cerceris. 



Genus METOPIUS, Grav. (=Peltastes, Illig.) 

 But three bullae exist in this genus, B, CD, & E, and they are 

 all smaller than usual, though very distinct. Their location is nor- 

 mal. Most of the yellow markings seem to be here very variable 

 in their extent, and some of them to be occasionally obsolete. In 

 the European AT. necatorius, for example, we are told that the 

 yellow band at the tip of the ist abdominal joint sometimes almost 

 entirely covers that joint, and in Bridle's description of his M. 

 pinatorius that the 7th abdominal joint has sometimes no termi- 

 nal yellow border. (Brulle Hym. p. 120.) 



MetOpiUS (peltastes) pollinctOrillS, Say (= M. pinatorius, Bru lle,= 

 M. cordiger, Brulle). 



From Bridle's slovenly descriptions of his M. pinatorius and 

 J\I. cordiger, and of their distinctive characters, I have compiled 

 with some labor the following Table, omitting those points which 

 he quotes as distinctive characters, but in which, according to 

 his own descriptions, the two insects are not distinguishable. 

 For example, he first says that the two yellow spots on the meta- 

 thorax of pinatorius " are sometimes absent," and then he adds, 

 only five lines afterwards, that it "has no yellow spots there at 

 all" ! ! And, after such a blunder as this, he quotes the presence of 

 two large yellow spots on the metathorax as one of the characters 

 which separate cordiger from pinatorius III For the sake of 

 comparison I have also included in the same Table Say's M. pol- 

 linctorius, 1st. from his description, and 2d. from a single 2 spe- 

 cimen in my Cabinet. 



