British Hymenoptera. 267 



34. Andrena alhicrus, Kirby. 



Kirby, Mon. Ap. AngL, ii., p. 156 ; Smith, Cat. Brit. 

 Hym., 2nd ed., p. 61. 



Black ; face, under side, and legs in the ^ clothed with 

 silvery hairs. Thorax above with very pale fulvous 

 hairs, darker on the scutellum and the i^osterior portion 

 of the mesothorax. ? with the face and thorax clothed 

 with fulvous hairs, paler beneath. Abdomen in both 

 sexes shining, rather flat, elliptic in <? , ovate in ? , 

 without definite punctures, and clothed with long pale 

 hairs ; each segment with an interrupted apical band of 

 pale hairs. Scopae of ? pale brown. Wings nearly clear. 



^ . Face densely clothed with long silvery white 

 hairs. Antennae reaching to the scutellum. Mesothorax 

 dull, clothed in front and on the sides with whitish hairs, 

 posteriorly with fulvous. Scutellum with fulvous hairs. 

 Metathorax finely rugose, clothed with fulvous hairs ; 

 the thorax beneath clothed with silvery hairs. Abdomen 

 elliptic, shining, clothed with long scattered white hairs ; 

 each segment with an apical band of silvery hairs, 

 narrowly interrupted in the centre ; 6th and 7th seg- 

 ments clothed with white hairs with a slight golden 

 tinge ; beneath, apex of each segment piceous, and 

 fringed thickly with short silvery hairs ; apical ventral 

 segment rounded at the apex. Legs densely clothed 

 with silvery hairs ; tarsi piceous. 



? . Head and thorax clothed with fulvous -brown 

 hairs ; mesothorax dull, punctured ; metathorax finely 

 rugose. Abdomen rather flat, ovate, shining, without 

 definite puncturation ; 2nd and following segments 

 widely impressed along the apical margin ; all the 

 segments clothed sparingly with pale hairs ; those on 

 the 1st and 2nd longer than those on the following ; 

 1st to 4th segments each with a narrow apical band of 

 pubescence, that on the 1st fulvous, on the others white, 

 and interrupted narrowly in the centre ; 5th and 6th 

 segments clothed with brown hairs ; apical dorsal valve 

 shining, triangularly raised in the centre ; beneath finely 

 and rugosely punctured, the apex of each segment 

 narrowly pale, and thickly fringed with silvery hairs. 

 Legs clothed with fulvous-brown hairs, those on the 

 inner margin of the posterior tibiae paler ; floccus white ; 

 tarsi dark piceous. Length 9 — 11 mm. 



Hah. Common ; appears about the end of April, and 

 is generally distributed. 



