144 [June, 



ANDRENA MIXTA, Schenck : A SPECIES HITHERTO UNRECORDED 

 FROM BRITAIN. 



BY R. C. L. PERKINS, ?D.Sa, M.A., F.E.S. 



Some time since I forwarded to Herr Alfken authentic British 

 examples of the species, which I described at first under the name of 

 A. ambigua (prxocc.) and have since re-named A. synadelpha. Sub- 

 sequently he wrote to me that the specimen, sent to him by Edward 

 Saunders as ambigua, was not that species, but a closely allied form, 

 A. mixta, Schenck. As I had long been aware that we had an un- 

 recorded British species of the helvola group, which I had taken on 

 Shotover Common, near Oxford,* many years ago, I wrote to Mr. Hugh 

 Scott of Cambridge for the loan of some of the Oxford examples of the 

 helvola group contained in my old collection. As I had surmised, the 

 form, which at the time of capture I had supposed to be a distinct 

 species, proved to be typical mixta. The Eev. F. D. Morice sent me a 

 very fresh ? captured last year in his garden at Woking for inspection, 

 and there are two or three females, without special locality, mixed with 

 helvola in F. Smith's collection. The $ , so far as I am aware, is not 

 at present known. If any entomologists have taken mixta $ freely, I 

 should be very pleased if they would allow me to examine any S taken 

 in the same locality. So far as the species, which have some super- 

 ficial resemblance to one another, are concerned, the British forms of 

 the helvola group may be readily distinguished as follows : — 



? ?• 



1 (4) Hairs of the hind coxse, and the floccus of the trochanters more or 



less sordid, not clear white. 



2 (3) 1st and 2nd abdominal segments densely hairy and copiously or 



closely punctured ; abdomen duller . : varians, Rossi. 



3 (2) 1st and 2nd abdominal segments with long but not dense clothing, 



the punctures sparse or remote, the surface of the abdomen less 

 dull lapponica, Zett. 



4 (1) Hairs of hind coxeb and the floccus snow-white or nearly so. 



5 (6) Abdomen thinly and for the most part inconspicuously pubescent. 



with the long pale hairs on the 1st and basal part of the second 

 segment not dense. 



(Clypeus for the most part distinctly, closely, and nearly 

 evenly punctate on each side of the middle line)... 



fucata, Sin. 



6 (5) Abdomen densely pubescent. 



* Two days after the ahove was written, 1 received a verv fresh ? taken this vear at Oxford 

 by Mr. A. H. Hanim on April 16th, an early date for the species. 



