370 APIS. (**. e. 2) 



nigrae, subcoriacese. Pedes atri, lilrti. Tibicg 

 posticaR supra pilosae, ncc corbicula ncque 

 pcctine instructac. Spinuhc castanca?. Plant^e 

 posteriores absque auricula. Scopul^ ferru- 

 g'mex. Digiti nigri, tainen, ccrto situ, e to- 

 mento fulvescunt. 

 Abdomen ex ovato oblongum, atrum, utrinque 

 hirsutum disco glabriori, segmcnto antepe- 

 nultimo et penultimo hirsutie longiori fulvo^ 

 rufA, ultimo subacuminato, tomentoso-ferru- 

 gineo. Venter scgmento ultimo lateribils 

 marginatis margine deflexo rectangulo. Acu- 

 leus vagina validA. 

 Obs. Omnium fere nostratum ha:c Apis maxima. 

 This gigantic Apis is often confounded with the 

 female of ^. lapidaria, and Fabricius, who has de- 

 scribed it under the name of A. rupestris, seems to 

 doubt whether it ought to be regarded as distinct : 

 but its black wings, longer than the body, and of 

 a substance intermediate between corium and 

 membrane, would sufficiently establish its claim to 

 the rank of a species, without the aid of other cha- 

 racters; it possesses others, however, which esta- 

 blish its identity beyond all doubt, for, with A. cam- 

 pestris, Barhutella, and vestalis, before described, it 

 is without the instruments for preparing and car- 

 rying masses of pollen upon its posterior tibiae. I 

 ^m not clear that A. snhterranea of Christius is 

 synonymous with it, as his figure gives a yellow 

 band at the base of the tliorax, it comes, however, 

 ' very 



