A. Haworthana was first described by Mr. Kirby from a 

 specimen taken by the gentleman whose name it bears, in Ash- 

 down Forest, Sussex, he believes : and about the same time 

 Major General Davies captured one in a wood near Charlton 

 in Kent. The male here represented was fomid in Epping 

 Forest the first week in June, and for the loan of it I am in- 

 debted to Mr. S. Hanson. The female is unknown. Our other 

 species I shall describe. 



A. retusa Linn, female. Harris. Exp. tab. 38,/, 7.— acervorum Fab. Don, 

 V. 3. p/. 108./. 2. Panz. 78, 18. — Male, pennipes Linn. MS. Don, 13. 

 j,l 434.— pilipes Pz. 55. 8.— Hispanica Pz. 55. 6, Harris, pi. 40./. 14. 



Male rather more robust than A. Hatuorthana, thickly and minutely 

 punctured and clothed with fulvous or yellowish hairs, more or less black 

 at the apex of the abdomen: labrum, face, and underside of basal joint of 

 antennas yellow, the first margined with black, with two black spots at the 

 base, the second with two oblique black lines approaching the insertion 

 of the antennae : mandibles sometimes with a yellow spot at the base : 

 wings pale yellowish fuscous, nervures piceous : legs variegated with black 

 and silvery pubescence and hair; spines of tibiae black: tarsi, middle, and 

 posterior ferruginous or piceous, the basal and apical joints black, all the 

 joints of the former plumose, producing very long hairs (fig. 8* ; <^,the thigh ; 

 r, the tibia; (/, the tarsus) : claws ferruginous at the base. Female h\nck, 

 very pilose ; labrum, middle and posterior tibiae externally, and the basal 

 joint of the tarsi entirely clothed with bright ferruginous hairs. 



This species builds its nest in banks and old walls, and is 

 seen flying about sunny and sandy banks in March, April, 

 May, and the beginning of June: the male in its flight very 

 much resembles a Helophilus. " When I first set out in my 

 entomological career," says Mr. Kirby, " I began to notice 

 the motions of this Apis, and have continued to do so occa- 

 sionally ever since. Early in the spring the male may gene- 

 rally be seen attendant upon his swarthy bride, fluttering round 

 her, or hovering over her, while she with great coolness col- 

 lects the honey from flower to flower, without bestowing any 

 attention upon him ; if she departs he departs, and if she re- 

 turns he returns likewise. During the season of courtship, 

 his whole employment seems to be to attend upon her; but 

 when die halcyon days of love are over, like many other hus- 

 bands, he goes about his business, and leaves her to take her 

 flights in solitude." 



Mr. Mathews, who is now engaged in collecting subjects of 

 natural history in South America, found a nest of this insect 

 in a wall at Chiswick, where they destroyed the grapes in the 

 garden in September; and having caught a male and confined 

 it in an open bo.K, he was enabled to take many specimens of 

 the female, which came and settled there. This led him to 

 diink the first was a female ; he also observed a considerable 

 number o\^ Mdcda punctata {pi. 125.) entering and coming out 

 of this nest as if they lived together, which renders Mr. Kirby's 

 supposition very probable that they deposit their eggs in the 

 nest of A. retusa. 



The plant is Aira cristata (Crested Hair-grass), communi- 

 cated by Prolessor Henslow. 



