190 Mr. E. Saunders' Synopsis of 



(2) 1. Pubescence of head and thorax ashy grey ; lateral 

 spots of the 3rd and 4th abdominal segments large 

 and quadrate . . . . . . . . . . luctuosa. 



(1) 2, Pubescence of head and thorax brownish or greenish 

 grey ; spots of 3rd and 4th segments small and 

 punctiform . . . . . . . . . . . . armata. 



1. Melecta luctuosa, Scop. (PI. VIII., figs. 2—2 h). 



Scop., Ann. Hist. Nat., iv., p. 9 ; Smith, Cat. Brit. 

 Hym., 2nd ed., p. 136. 



Black, shining. Thorax in front densely clothed with grey 

 hairs ; segments of the abdomen with transverse lateral spots of 

 white pubescence ; tibiae with a white basal spot. 



(^ . Head rugosely punctured ; vertex clothed with grey and 

 black hairs intermixed ; face in front of the antenna clothed with 

 white hairs, bordered with black hairs at the side ; labrum clothed 

 with black hairs ; scape of the antennae with long white hairs 

 beneath. Thorax covered with greyish white hairs in front as far 

 as the scutellum ; scutellum with black hairs ; metathorax with 

 black hairs in the centre, and with a tuft of silvery white hairs on 

 each side ; wings rather smoky, with darker spots in some of the 

 cells ; mesopleurae with a dense white pubescence. Abdomen 

 shining, very finely punctured ; basal segment clothed, except at 

 the apex, with silvery grey hairs ; 2nd to 5th segments clothed with 

 very short black hairs, and each with a lateral apical spot of silvery 

 white hairs, — these spots on all the segments of a more or less 

 transverse form ; 7th segment shining and emarginate at the apex ; 

 beneath entirely black, clothed with short black hairs ; 6th segment 

 slightly foveated in the middle ; 7th produced at the apex, and 

 deeply cleft, each point with a few bristly hairs ; 8th with a very 

 short wide apical process, which is truncate at its extremity (for 

 genitalia see PI. VIII., figs. 2 — 2 b). Legs black ; a spot on each 

 tibia at the base, and all the tarsi in front, clothed with white 

 hafrs. 



$ . Like the ^ , but has the hairs on the face below the antennae 

 black, except those on the base of the clypeus ; the basal segment 

 of the abdomen with only a few scattered white hairs at the base, 

 and a tuft of white hairs on each side at the apex ; 2nd, 3rd, and 

 4th segments each with a transverse lateral spot near the apical 

 margin ; dorsal valve of the 6th segment narrow and rounded at 

 the apex. Length, 13 mm. 



Hab. Not rare ; parasitic on Anthophora retusa. 



