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604. 

 AMMOPHILA CAMPESTRIS. 



Order Hymenoptera. Fam, Sphaegidae. 



Type of the Genus, Sphex vulgaris Linn. 

 Ammophila Kirb., Lat., VandL., Curt. — Miscus/wr. — Sphex ifwH. 

 Antennce inserted in the middle of the face, approximating, not 

 longer than the thorax, generally curved at the apex, slender 

 and filiform ; 13-jointed in the males (1 (J), basal joint stout, 

 ovate, hairy beneath, 2nd small, globose, 3rd the longest, the 

 remainder elongated, slightly decreasing in length, attenuated 

 at the apex, which is truncated and hollow; r2-jointed in the 

 females ( $ , the 2 terminal joints). 



Labrum incurved, semiorbicular, ciliated with short bristles, the 

 front emarginate, with a few long straight hairs (2) . 

 Mandibles long, slender and crossing, arcuated and dilated in the 

 middle and subtridentate, having an ovate tooth at the centre 

 and a small one beneath, with a portion more or less produced 

 above, the remainder forming a long tooth, often acute (3). 

 Maxillce elongated, terminating in a very long horny linear lobe, 

 attenuated towards the apex, which is rounded and ciliated, 

 with an incurved spine. Palpi attached near the middle and 

 extending a little beyond the lobe, 6-jointed, first 3 joints the 

 stoutest, clavate, basal one the shortest, 2nd and 3rd the longest, 

 3 following slender, decreasing in length, the apical one spatu- 

 liform and scarcely longer than the first (4). 

 Mentum elongated, narrow, a little dilated at the middle (5). 

 Lip very long, nearly linear, hollow, transversely striated and 

 pubescent beyond the middle, cleft at the apex. Paraglosste 

 long and lanceolate (d) . Palpi long, but much shorter than the 

 lip, attached to 2 membranous scapes, arising from the apex of 

 the mentum, slender and 4 -jointed, first 3 joints very long, 2nd 

 a little the longest, 4th shorter subelhptic. 

 Trophi inflected, rostriform. Head as broad as the thorax : faces of 

 the males clothed with silvery hairs : eyes lateral and elliptic : 

 ocelli 3 in triangle. Thorax ovate, the collar narrowed, sometimes 

 forming a thickened ring : scutellum sublunate : metathorax large, 

 cylindric-ovate . Abdomen 8-jointed in the male, with a slender 

 petiole longest in that sex, the 2nd joint sometimes slender, the apex 

 somewhat bilobed (6 (J) ; 7 -jointed in the female ( ? ), the apex armed 

 with a sting inclosed between 2 lobes. Wings with one short mar- 

 ginal and 3 submarginal cells (9*), the 2nd receiving 2 recurrent 

 nervures, the Srd rarely peduncled. Legs, especially the anterior, 

 which are the shortest, most spiny in the females, the others long : 

 tibiae spiny, hinder the longest, the apex armed with strong spines, 

 the anterior with one curved dilated and notched internally, 2nd pair 

 with the spines serrated internally, hinder with one long spine, pecti- 

 nated on the inside (8 f, apex of tibia and base of tarsus) : tarsi long, 

 very spiny and 5-jointed, basal joint of the 1st and Srd pair of tarsi 

 notched beneath at the base, especially the \st, and ciliated. 

 Camfestris Lat. — pubescens Curt. Guide, Gen. 672. 5. 



Natural as this group is, there are many variations in the 

 structure of the species: the trophi are less elongated in the 

 female of A. hirsiita than in A. sabulosa, and the mandibles are 



