1. colletes. :; 



punctata, feeds upon the lame. This Dipterous insect is very nume- 

 rous in some colonies of these hees, and must greatly reduce their 

 numbers ; another parasite is a species of cuckoo-bee, Epeolus varie- 

 c/atus. whose larvae feed upon the food stored up by the t 'olletes for 

 her own offspring. Probably the destruction of the food, as well as 

 of the larvae, is greatest by the omnivorous insect Forficula ; these 

 I have found in the burrows in considerable numbers ; and in 

 some colonies I suspect more than half of the brood is devoured by 

 these destructive insects. 



1. Colletes succincta. 



ft nigra, albido villosa, thorace fidvo ; abdomine ovato, segmeutis 

 margine albis. 



Colletes succincta, Smith, Zool. iv. 127t'>: Bees Great Brit. 3 <3 2- 



Nyland. Notts, ur Stilish, pro Faun, et Flo. Fain. i. 206. 



Schenck, Nass. Bien. -'iOO. 



Thorns. Opine. Fnt. 14 ; Hym. Sound, ii. 1G:J. 

 Apis succincta, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 955. 



Christ. Hym. 185, tab. 15. %. 7. 

 Melitta succincta, Kirby, Man. Apum Angl. ii. 32 J J. 

 Apis calendarum, Panz. Faun. Germ. 83. 19 rf . 

 Megilla calendarum, Fair. Syst. Piez. 335. 



Spin. Ins. IAgvr. ii. 197. 

 Colletes fodiens, Curtis, Brit. Fnt. ii. 85. fig. 85. 



St.-Farg. Hym. ii. 298. 



Female. Length f)-5.J liues. — Black; the clypeus roughly punctured, 

 the punctures uniting and forming stria? at its apex ; the vertex 

 and the thorax above clothed with fulvous pubescence ; beneath it 

 is griseous ; the pubescence on the tibia? and tarsi pale fulvous, the 

 claws ferruginous, the calcaria rufo-testaceous ; the wings hyaline, 

 their nervures and the tegula ferruginous. Abdomen shining, 

 closely and finely punctured, the punctures strongest on the basal 

 segment ; its apical margin rufo-piceous, and with a little pale 

 fulvous pubescence at its base ; the apical margin of all the segments 

 with a fascia of pale pubescence, usually widely interrupted ou the 

 basal segment. 



Male. Length 3|— 4 lines. — Black ; the face densely clothed with 

 pale fulvous pubescence ; on the vertex and thorax above it is 

 fulvous ; on the cheeks, thorax beneath, and on the legs it is 

 griseous ; the antenna? about the length of the thorax. Abdomen 

 elongate-ovate, closely and more strongly punctured than in the 

 female ; the apical margins of the segments with pale pubescent 

 fascia? ; beneath, the segments have a fringe of white pubescence. 



This species is generally distributed, and frequently found on the 

 heath on open commons during July and August. 



b 2 



