326 HYMENOPTERA ACULEATA. 



tributed. It sometimes burrows in the ground, but gener- 

 ally in wood. Smith says he has also seen it entering holes 

 in walls ; it occasionally lines its burrows with the petals of 

 Scarlet Geraniums. 



M, versicolor, Smith. Closely resembling centuncu- 

 laris in the ^ and slightly in the ? ; it is, however, per- 

 fectly distinct by the following characters : 



cJ with less distinct lateral abdominal bands, the second 

 and third ventral segments with much less dense apical 

 fringes, truncature of the apex of the fourth much wider, 

 fifth shorter, the semicircular area reaching to its base, 

 armature with the sagittae less attenuated and less conver- 

 gent, their apices not nearly touching. 



? with the abdomen blunt posteriorly as in the earlier 

 species, not subcordate as in centuncularis , sixth dorsal 

 segment without erect black hairs, the others with scarcely 

 any indications of lateral bands ; scopa bright orange, with 

 the hairs of the fifth and sixth segments black. 



L. 10-13 mm. 



I am very glad to reinstate this species as I ought never 

 to have omitted it from our list. The specimen I had 

 (named versicolor by Smith) was only a worn Willugh- 

 hiella or circumcincta, this fact, I am afraid, led me to 

 jump to the conclusion that his versicolor was nothing but 

 a var. of one of these, especially as the ^ was unknown ; 

 a few years ago the Eev. F. D. Morice caught a ? at 

 Woking, which we made out to be quite distinct from any 

 other of our species, and finally referred it with certainty 

 to versicolor. Smith; several similar females were found here, 

 but still no males, and I felt disinclined to reinstate it on 

 the one sex only. This spring, however, I had the great 

 satisfaction of finding both males and females on the flowers 

 of Lotus cornicul<ttziH in the same locality where the females 

 had occurred previously. I can find no mention of this 

 species as occurring on the Continent. The species has also 

 occurred at Bury St. Edmund's, where Mr. Tuck captured a 



