British Hymenoptera. 197 



punctured and coloured as in the 3' , but with only the 

 extreme base of the 1st segment and the three apical 

 segments black ; 5th segment clothed with a dense 

 fringe of thick, black, curved hairs at the apex ; 6th 

 segment with the central naked portion linear and nar- 

 row ; beneath shining, punctured, sparsely clothed with 

 brown hairs ; 6th segment rather raised at the apex, and 

 with an apical bristly tuft of brown hairs ; legs some- 

 what piceous, clothed with brown hairs, and those at the 

 base of the posterior tibiae whitish. Length 8 — 10 mm. 



Hah. Common in summer ; the 3 appears in July 

 and August. 



2. Sphecodes suhqiuidratus, Smith. 



Smith, ZooL, vol. iii., p. 1014, fig. 5; Cat. Brit. Hym., 

 2nd ed., p. 19. 



Very like the preceding, of the same size, and 

 with the same sparse puncturation of the thorax, but 

 as a rule with the vertex of the head in both sexes 

 incrassate. 



The 3 differs further from gihhiis in having the wings 

 clearer, and the genitalia of quite a different form ; (see 

 pi. viii., fig. 2). The ? in having the wings clearer, the 

 apex of the 5tli segment with paler brown hairs, not curved 

 as in gibhus, and the apical dorsal valve with the central 

 glabrous portion wide and flat ; apical ventral valve 

 simply hairy, without the bristly tuft of hairs observable 

 in the preceding. 



Hah. Not quite so common as gihhiis, but often occur- 

 ring with it, and the incrassate vertex of the head gene- 

 rally giving it a very distinct appearance. 



3. Sphecodes pilifrons, Thoms. 



Thorns., Opusc. Ent., i., p. 99 = rufiventris, Smith (nee 

 Wesm.), Cat. Brit. Hym., 2nd ed., p. 18. 



Black. Abdomen with the apex of the 1st segment, 

 the 2nd, and the base of the 3rd in the <? , red ; in 

 the ? with the 4th and 5th. Thorax closely punctured. 

 Wings slightly dusky ; posterior wings with five to six 

 hooks. Like the two preceding in colour, but easily 

 distinguished by the closely punctured dull mesothorax, 



