Eumenes may probably, at a future period, be separated into two 

 frenera; but as I cannot detect any important differences in the tro- 

 phi, after tlie most careful examination, I shall only propose to make 

 two divisions of them : the 1st (which appears to be the tropical type) 

 may contain the species with a slender petiole as long or longer than 

 the abdomen ; the 2nd (which is the European form), those with the 

 petiole stout and shorter than the body, in which the trophi, agree- 

 ino- with the habit of the insects, are also shorter and more robust 

 than in the other division. 



Fabricius, in his Sijstema Piezatorum, described 23 species, four 

 of which only were European, and Panzer has figured 4 more; but 

 the o-enus was not known to inhabit Britain until my friend the Rev. 

 W. Kirby (equally celebrated for his invaluable works and for his 

 acute observations) discovered it in an entomological excursion with 

 Mr. Dale on the borders of Hampshire and Dorset, July 3rd, 1821. 

 It has since been taken the beginning of June, on a bank in the New- 

 Forest; and Mr. Bentley found it, the middle of the same month, 

 settling upon different species of the Ericae on Parley Heath. Mr. 

 Dale has met with it there in July, and the end of August 1822 I 

 captured two on the same heath upon gravelly and dry banks, and 

 at the same period met with the female flying about the heath at 

 Ramsdown, a beautiful spot near Heron Court, Hampshire, be- 

 longing to the Earl of Malmesbury. 



1. E. atricornis Fah. Syst. Piez. v. 289- 17.— Curt. Brit. Ent. pi. 13 ? . 

 Black, shining, very pubescent. 



Male ; head and thorax rather coarsely punctured ; basal joint of antennce 

 beneath yellow, 2 or 3 of the apical joints beneath and the claw ochreous ; 

 labrum and clypeus nearly to the antennae, and a spot between them yel- 

 low ; anterior margin of thorax, a lunular mark on the scapulars and the 

 posterior margin of the scutellum yellow : peduncle short and bell-shaped, 

 very deeply punctured with the hinder margin yellow : abdomen more 

 minutely punctured except at the base, the large segment with an ovate 

 spot on each as well as its posterior margin and those of the 2 following 

 segments yellow ; wings fuscous, the costa subferruginous : legs yellow, 

 thighs black except at their tips, and a black spot on the under side of 

 the anterior tibia;. 



Female. Antennae entirely black, a yellow spot below and another be- 

 tween them : thorax as in the male with a yellow spot also under each 

 Aving and one on each side the postscutellum ; there are sometimes 2 mi- 

 nute yellow spots on the peduncle, the spots on the side of the abdomen 

 are longer, and the yellow margin of the large segment deeper and sinu- 

 ated. 



The Plant figured is the beautiful Erica Tetralix (Cross-leaved 

 Heath). ^ 



