[March, 



52 



wrong with its determination till the other day, when I was pleased 

 to find among Mr. E. B. Nevinson's captures in North Wales (of 

 which a list is given further on), what I thought was a new species to our 

 list, viz., angustula, Zett. Before bringing it forward as new, I referred 

 to Curtis's original figure of parietina, and to my surprise found it 

 represented not our well-known species, but the supposed novelty. 

 The continental authors, Schmiedeknecht, Dalla Torre, Friese, &c., 

 have always considered the two identical, but knowing only one in 

 England, which was quite distinct from the continental angustula, I 

 am afraid 1 jumped to the conclusion that our continental friends 

 were wrong ; a glance, however, at Curtis's figure with the knowledge 

 that both species occur in this country, removes all doubt as to the 

 identity of parietina, and practically adds a new species to our list. 

 Our two species will stand thus: 



OsMiA iNEEMis, Zett., lus. Lapp., i, 406. 



= parietina, Smith, Saunders, &c. {nee Curt.). 

 OsMiA PARIETINA, Curt., Brit. Ent., v (1828), pi. 222. 

 = angustula, Zett., Ins. Lapp., i, 4G6 (183S). 

 Of this second species, of which so little is known in this country, 

 the following are the principal characteristics : — 



S rather dark greenish- or steel-blue, vertex of head and thorax above clotlied 

 with' pale fulvous hairs, face and sides of the thorax with paler, somewhat whitish, 

 hairs, head and thorax very closely punctured, rather duller than in ccsrulescens, 

 propodeal area dull, not shining as in that species, wings slightly smoky, abdomen 

 rather less strongly punctured than in ccerulescens ; 6th segment with rather a wider 

 emargination at the apex, 7th rather more deeply and squarely excavated between 

 the teeth, 2nd ventral segment less largely rounded at the apex ; posterior meta- 

 tarsi very slightly dilated from about the middle, which bears on the under-side a 

 very distinct tooth, that projects, and is distinctly visible, beyond the hairs of the 

 surface ; this character and tlie dull propodeal area at once distinguish it from the 

 $ of ccBTuIescens, the dull area and the much more developed metatarsal tooth 

 separate it (vom fulinventr is, $ . 



? rather narrow and at first sight suggestive of a small fulmventris, from 

 which the black ventral scopa distinguishes it at once ; head and thorax black, nearly 

 dull, very closely and finely punctured, clothed with short reddish-brown, not very 

 conspicuous, hairs on the upper surface, face and sides of the thorax with paler 

 hairs, those of the clypeus black-brown ; clypeus truncate at the apex ; mesonotum 

 with a raised central line in front, wings smoky, especially along the costa, propodeal 

 area dull ; abdomen shining dark bluish-black, rugosely punctured, basal segment 

 smooth at the apex, and sparsely clothed with pale hairs at the base, the rest finely 

 shagreened at the apex, and clothed with a few pale hairs at the sides, the 4th and 

 5th more or less clothed with dark brown hairs on the disc, 6th with golden-grey 

 hairs, beneath with a dense black scopa, legs black, clothed with brownish hairs. 



