i«9(;.] ■ 275 



BOMB US SMITEIANUS, White. 

 BT EDWARD SAUNDERS, F.L.S. 



There can be little doubt that the species which we know in 

 Britain under this name is a form of that known on the Continent as 

 cognatus. In this Magazine (2nd ser., vol. v, p. 198) and in my 

 " Hymenoptera Aculeata," I expressed a doubt as to this synonymy, 

 because the figures given by Schmiedeknecht and Hoffer of the arma- 

 ture of the male represented the lacinia as being much longer than it 

 is in the specimens I have examined ; during the current year, however, 

 I have received from Prof. Friese of Innsbruck examples of cognatus 

 (which species he considers to be identical with muscorum, Fab.), and 

 the armatures of his males agree exactly with those of mine. No 

 doubt, therefore, of their identity is probable, and it can only be pre- 

 sumed that the artists have exaggerated the length of the lacinia in 

 the figures. JB. Smithianus as it used to be known {i. e., from Shetland 

 specimens only) appeared to be a well defined species, the bright 

 orange of the hairs of the up[)er parts of the thorax, the more shaggy, 

 paler, more lemon-coloured hairs of the abdomen, and the black hairs 

 of the whole of the under-side, giving it a most characteristic ap- 

 pearance. 



The first specimens which came under my notice differing from 

 the typical forms were a series taken by the Eev. F. D. Morice in 

 Orkney {cf. Ent. Mo. Mag,, 2nd ser., vol. v, p. 2l)9), where curiously 

 enough the typical form did not put in an appearance, and I regarded 

 them as a curious variety probably peculiar to that island. This year, 

 however, the Eev. W. F. Johnson has taken a number of examples 

 in his own garden at Poyntzpass, Ireland (as recorded by him at 

 p. 232), which are clearly referable to Smithianus, but which, with 

 the exception of the characters presented by the armature, and 

 the comparative length of the 3rd and 4th antennal joints in the (J, 

 present no structural difference whereby to distinguish them from 

 venustus. The colour of the pubescence on the thorax above is brighter 

 and the black hairs on the tibiae are perhaps more numerous, but 

 otherwise the two species seem to be undistinguishable. I have a ^ 

 exactly like the Irish ones taken by myself on the chalk downs at 

 Seaford in August this year, and bottled on account of its unusually 

 bright colouring for a venustus as I then presumed it to be ; I extracted 

 its armature and put it away, and it was not until I received Mr. 

 Johnson's specimens that I re-examined it, and found it also to be 

 Smithianus. I have little doubt that the species is far more widely 



