NO. 2173. A REVISION OF THE BEMBWINE WASPS— PARKER. 93 



Female. — Black: Spot on mandibles not always present, very small 

 lateral spots on scutellum, fasciae on tergites 1-4 interrupted medially, 

 the first broad and a trifle more widely interrupted than the others, 

 second and third broad laterally and on anterior border abruptly nar- 

 rowed or emarginated on either side the midline, fourth narrower but 

 similar in design to the third, small posterior lateral spots on stemites 

 2 or 2-4, only the border of the femora, tibiae, and tarsi more or less, 

 or distal ends of the femora and the tibiae and tarsi almost entirely, 

 yellow or greenish yellow. The dorsal surface of the ultimate tergite 

 is strongly wrinkled longitudinally. 



Length. — 16-18 nun. 



The females from Wisconsin have the antennae and the front of the 

 head, except spot on mandibles, entirely black. In both specimens 

 there are yellow spots on the mesopleurae, lateral spots on the scutel- 

 lum, also on metanotum and median segment dorsally, and on stem- 

 ites 2-3. On one the spots are better developed than on the other, 

 the first and second tergal fasciae are very broad, the second dorsally 

 enclosing a pair of black spots, a character peculiar to Handlirsch's 

 insignis. The females from Kansas have the antennae, the head, 

 except the much-reduced posterior orbits, and the thorax, except 

 small lateral spots on scutellum, wholly black. The legs also, includ- 

 ing the tibiae and tarsi, are almost entirely black, and the yellow on 

 the venter of the abdomen is reduced to small lateral spots on ster- 

 nites 2 or 2-3. The characteristic wrinkling of the sixth tergite is 

 constant on all the specimens. 



In both sexes the labiTim when viewed from the side shows a dis- 

 tinct transverse impression. The scape is short and stout; the flagel- 

 lum is black and the apical segment is longer but slightly narrower 

 than the preceding segment. The wings are very slightly infumated, 

 the veins brown. The head, thorax, median segment and base of 

 abdomen are covered with relatively short, moderately dense pubes- 

 cence, dark on dorsum of thorax, white elsewhere. The punctation 

 of the dorsum of the thorax is regular, close, and moderately fine. 

 The eyes are widely separated and are slightly divergent at the vertex. 



Handlirsch arrived at the conviction that Cresson, in liis description 

 of ieJfmgci, included two distinct species and being unable to deter- 

 mine to which the name helfragei should be applied, discarded that 

 name entirely and substituted the names cressonis and insignis 

 instead. Fox in his Synopsis of the Bembicini of Boreal America 

 restored the original name by making cressonis Handlirsch a synonym 

 of helfragei Cresson and retained insignis Handlh'sch as a good species. 

 A careful study of the specimens at hand and also of those in the col- 

 lection of the American Entomological Society of Philadelphia raises 

 the question of the validity of Handlirsch's insignis. Structurally it 

 is, as Handlirsch himself points out, essentially like cressonis and in 



