LARRID^. 165 



cealed, with a single spine at the apex of the intermediate 

 tibiie ; tlie abdomen is ovoid-conical." 



The genus Asfata is a large hairy form, with long antenna' 

 and palpi and an elongated prothorax. Its spiny legs show its 

 near rehitionship to the >S'p k eg idee. Astata unicolor Say repre- 

 sents the genus in this country. 



Tachytes is also of larger size than the following genus. 

 It is covered with long dense golden short hairs, with a trap- 

 ezoidal front. Tachytes auruJentus Fabr. is rare; it frequents 

 the flowers of the Asclepias, as we have found pollen masses at- 

 tached to the spines of its legs. ' We figure 

 (89) a tarsus of a wasp belonging probabl}^ to 

 this genus, received from Mr. V. T. Chambers, 

 showing the pollen masses of Asclepias at- 

 tached to the spines. 



The genus in rrada "contains those species 

 which have the marginal cell truncated at the 

 apex and appendiculated, and three submarginal 

 cells, the first as long as the two following ; 

 .... the metathorax [propodeum] truncated 

 posteriorly, elongate, the sides being generally 

 parallel ; the mandibles are large and arcuate, t^:- 89. 



with a tooth on their exterior towards the base ; abdomen 

 ovate-conical, acuminate at the apex." Larrada nrgentata 

 Beauv. is covered with silvery- pile. It is a slender form, Avitli 

 short, nearly unarmed legs. 



A Brazilian species of Larrada, according to Mr. H. "\V. 

 Bates, builds a nest composed apparenth' of the scrapings of 

 the woolly texture of plants ; it is attached to a leaf, having :i 

 close resemblance to a piece of German tinder, or a piece of 

 sponge. The cocoons Avere dark brown, and of a brittle consist- 

 ency. The reporter, Mr. F. Smith, adds : "I am not aware of 

 any similar habit of building an external nest having been pre- 

 viously recorded ; our British species of the closely allied 

 genus Tachytes, are burrowers in the ground, particularly in 

 sandy situations ; their anterior tarsi are strongly ciliated, tlu^ 

 claws bifid and admirably adapted for burrowing. On examin- 

 ing the insect which constructed the nest now exhibited, I find 

 the legs differently armed; the anterior pair are not ciliated. 



