FAMILItE. (Jpis. *.h.) i4f 



/ ovato-lanceolato, glaberrimo, variegato, segmeft-» 

 to ultimo minuto et fere retracto, ano setoso. 



Maris Abdomen lanceolatuiTij segmento ultimo 

 exerto. 



Imago in aggeribus viarum et floribils frequenS 

 obvia, non pollinilega, Tenthredinum tacito volatii 

 notanda. 



The gay colours which 'variegate the indivl- 

 viduals of this family, in this respect so dissimilar 

 to other Apes, and the want of hirsuties upon 

 their abdomen, has occasioned them to be mis- 

 taken by some authors for Vespce. That they do 

 not belong to the genus Vespa their proboscis and 

 elongate tongue sufficiently evince, and the same 

 circumstances clearly prove that, after Fabricius, 

 who has arranged them with his Nomadce, w6 

 Ought not to separate this family from ApiSi A 

 vast number of the species that compose it have^ 

 by many authors, been considered as nothing more 

 than varieties of the Apis ruficornis of Linneus, who 

 himself has led the way to this error by confound- 

 ing, at least two distinct species, in the description 

 he has given of that insect. It has happened here^ 

 as often in other instances, that the distinctive 

 marks of a family have been mistaken for indica-* 

 cations of a single species; and the red antentiasi 

 and ferruginous legs, which Linneus selected for 

 the diagnostics of Aph rvficornis^ are common to 

 a great number of the individuals which this 

 division includes: he has, however^ considered 

 L 1 A> Fabric 



