THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 267 



20. Halictus NITIDIUSCULUS. 



Melitta nilidiuscula, Kirby, Mon. Ap. Angl. ii. male. 



Halictus nilidiusculus, Smith, Brit. Bees, p. 43, male, fe- 

 male. ; Nyland. Revis. Apum Boreal, p. 246. 



Hylaeus nitidiusculus, Schenck, Bees Nassau, p. 276. 



The female of this species is very like the same sex of H. 

 minutus, but may be distinguished by the pale testaceous 

 tegulae of the wings ; the thorax, is more finely punctured, 

 and has a faint aeneous tinge ; the nervures of the wings are 

 paler. The male is readily distinguished by the flocculus of 

 hairs on each side of the ventral segments. 



21. Halictus subfasciatus. 



Halictus subfasciatus, Nyland. Ap. Boreal, p. 200 ; Smithy 

 Brit. Bees, p. 41. 



This species has only, to my knowledge, been taken in 

 Yorkshire, by myself, in 1842. The male has not been cap- 

 tured : the description of that sex. in my work on the Bees of 

 Great Britain is from Nylander's work : that eminent hyme- 

 nopterist thought that H. fulvicornis was the male, but 1 do 

 not agree in thinking so ; I consider that insect, in all pror 

 bability, to be the male of laevigata : my reason for thinking 

 so is the fact of H. fulvicornis having been taken more than 

 once, in the same locality as H. lavigatus, in the neighbour- 

 bourhood of London, where H. subfasciatus has not occurred, 



22. Halictus minutus. 



Melitta minuta, Kirby, Mon. Ap. Angl. ii. 61, male, female. 



Halictus minutus, St. Farg. Hym. ii. 277 ; Smith, Brit, 

 Bees, p. 42 ; Nyland. Ap. Boreal, p. 202. 



Hylaeus minutus, Schenck, Bees Nassau, p. 269. 



This species and the following are difficult to separate : 

 the descriptions in the * Monographia ' will not suffice for 

 that purpose : the antennae of H. minuta are described as 

 being fulvous beneath, while those of H. minutissima are 

 said to be black : this is an oversight, as an examination of 

 the type-specimen shows. 1 have never seen a specimen of 

 either species with antennae black beneath. H. minutissima 

 may be known by its uniformly smaller size, and by the com- 

 paratively longer basal segment of the abdomen. The males 

 of H. minuta have the antennae longer than the thorax ; those 

 of H. minutissima are shorter. 



