LARRID.E. 



16.J 



C3aled, with a single spine at the apex of the intermediate 

 tibiae ; the abdomen is ovoid-conieal." 



The genus Astata is a large hair}' form, with long antennjt 

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

 neiir rehitionship to the Sphegidce. 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 aunilentus Fabr. is rare ; it frequents 

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

 tac'.ied to the spines of its legs. We figure 

 (89) a tarsus of a wasp belonging probably to 

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

 showing the pollen masses of Asclepias at- 

 tached to the spines. 



The genus Xarrar^a "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 [])ropodeum] truncated 

 posteriorly, elongate, the sides being generally 

 parallel ; the mandibles are large and arcuate, 

 with a tooth on their exterior towards the base ; abdomen 

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

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

 short, nearly unarmed legs. 



A Brazilian species of Larrada^ according to Mr. H. W. 

 Bates, builds a nest composed apparently of the scrapings of 

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

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

 sponge. The cocoons were 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, the 

 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, 



