HALICTUS. 



Type of the Genus, Melitta rubicunda Kirby. 

 Halictus Lat., Curt. Guide, Gen. 704. — Andrena Panz. — Hylaeus, 

 Megilla, & Anthophora Fab. — Melitta Kirby. 

 Antennee inserted near the middle of the face, long filiform and 

 13-jointed in the males (1 S) 5 basal joint the longest and clothed 

 with long feathery hairs, 2nd cup-shaped, 3rd semiovate, 4th 

 stouter and oblong, the remainder slightly decreasing in length 

 and becoming very ovate or convex on the underside, terminal 

 joint rounded at the apex : shorter and geniculated in the fe- 

 males (19), pubescent and 12-jointed, basal joint very long, 

 clavate and pilose externally towards the base, 2nd small obo- 

 vate, 3rd a little broader, the remainder stouter and subquadrate, 

 terminal joint subovate. 



Labruni short, transverse and convex in the males (2), the sides 

 rounded, ciUated before with long flat hairs : producing a sub- 

 lanceolate lobe in front, ciliated with long hairs dilated at the 

 base in xhe females (2). 



Mandibles rather slender in the males (3), sublanceolate, curved 

 and crossing, produced inside at the base, externally pilose : 

 sublinear in the females (3), hollowed inside, truncated obliquely 

 at the apex and notched, externally pilose. 

 Maxillee alike in both sexes (4), very long, terminated by a 

 small bent lobe, subovate with a notch on the inside and ciliated 

 with longish hairs. Palpi (b) twice as long as the lobe, slender 

 and slightly attenuated, 6-jointed, the 3 basal joints shorter 

 than the following. 



Mentum ahke in both sexes, long and linear (5). Lip short ovate- 

 conic, being pointed and pubescent at the apex (c). Paraglossee 

 as long as the lip, subeUiptical, rounded at the apex and ciliated 

 {d). Palpi nearly twice as long as the lip, slender, attenuated 

 and 4 -jointed, basal joint the longest and stoutest, 3 following 

 short and of equal length {b) . 

 Males smaller and slenderer than the females. Head orbicular, depressed: 

 eyes long and ovate: ocelli 3. Thorax globose. Abdomen ellip- 

 tical in the males (6(5); ovate conic in the females, with a groove on 

 the back at the apex (6$). Wings; superior with one marginal 

 and 3 submarginal cells, the central cell the smallest. Tibiae, with 

 long spines or spurs, posterior robust in the female : tarsi 5 -jointed, 

 basal joint long and stout in the females, the others minute. Claws 

 bifid in both sexes. 



The remarkable elliptical impression on the back of the penul- 

 timate segment of the abdomen distinguishes the female Halicti 

 from all other Bees, and the head of the male is narrower and 

 more elongated than in Andrena, and the 3rd joint of the an- 

 tennae is not much larger than the 2nd. The Paraglossae were 

 entire at the apex in the Halicti that I dissected, but Mr. 

 Kirby has represented them as lacerated at the apex. 



This genus contains 29 British species, for the names of 

 which the student is referred to the ' Guide'. It is singular that 

 not one of them appears to have been described by Linnaeus. 



The Plant is Plantago lanceolata {Rlhwon Plantain). 



