Ogg [December, 



the specimen is male or female. The better plan therefore is to note 

 the relative proportions of the abdominal segments, the 2nd and 6th 

 being distinctly lengthened in the male, and of much the same size 

 as the others in the female. 



Domestica. Altogether nine males have been met with — eight of 

 them on windows of my own house, and one under like conditions at 

 Ledbury, the dates ranging from June 18th to July 22nd. It bears 

 so striking a resemblance to hergenstammi, that the question at first 

 arose, could it be the male of that species ? But the presence of 

 two pairs of dorso-central bristles on the thorax in the one case and 

 of only one pair in the other was a character too important to be 

 disregarded. Another equally good distinction lies in the proportions 

 of the frons. In my female bergenstammi it is at least half as broad 

 again as high, whereas in these male domestica it is scarcely one-third 

 broader; reversing what otherwise is I think a universal rule, that 

 where there is a difference in this respect between the sexes, the 

 male has the broader or lower frons. Becker also says that the 

 abdomen of male hergenstammi is dusted with grey, which is certainly 

 VLoi the Qdi^Q m domestica ; neither does he make any allusion to the 

 glossiness of the 6th segment and its broad whitish margin, which 

 are so conspicuous in the new species. 



Fennica is an early summer insect (May and June). I possess 

 five males, and the only female I have seen came from Mr. Malloch, 

 who took it at Bonhill 28.5.06. Its condition, however, was poor, 

 which was disappointing, as its completely yellow legs were so 

 different to the dark brown ones of the male. The bristles on the 

 2nd thick vein, however, showed conclusively that it belonged to the 

 thoracica section, whilst the presence of two spines only on the hind 

 tibise, one in the upper third and the other close to the tip, pointed 

 almost as conclusively to its being fennica. 



Of femorata I have seen only two females, both from Scotland : 

 one, kindly lent by Mr. Verrall, was found under seaweed at Nairn 

 by Col. Yerbury 5.7.04 ; the other was taken by Mr. Malloch 12.5.06 

 at Bonhill. 



The males of citreiformis and vitripennis frequent the umbels of 

 Her.-icleum spondylium and Anc/elica sylvestris in the autumn. The 

 former is fairly common with me, but local ; the latter, on the other 

 hand, is scarce. The female of neither have I ever taken myself, but 

 Mr. Collin kindly gave me a female of vitripennis, which he had bred 

 with others from a humble bee's nest. 



