6. HALICIFS. 81 



Hylfeus quadricinctus, Fair. Eat. Syst. ii. 308 $ ? 



Sc/ienck, Nass. Bien. 264. 

 Melitta quadricincta, Kirby, Mon. Apum Angl. ii. 51 c? ?., 



/•' male. Length 4| lines. — Black ; the face thinly clothed with 

 pale yellow pubescence, the labrum has a beard of the same colour, 

 the flagellum piceous beneath. Thorax thickly punctured, a thinly 

 scattered ochraceous pubescence on the disk ; the sides, the meta- 

 thorax and beneath, more thickly clothed with pubescence of a 

 lighter colour ; the tegulae piceous ; the wings subhyaline, the 

 nervures testaceous ; the legs nigro-piceous, their pubescence pale 

 ochraceous, the tarsi pale ferruginous. Abdomen fuscous, convex, 

 ovate, and shining, finely and closely punctured ; the apical mar- 

 gins of all the segments have a narrow white fascia, the first usually 

 interrupted ; at the apex a little pale ochraceous pubescence, the 

 anal rima slightly ferruginous. B.M. 



Male. Length 4 lines. — The face clothed with white pubescence, 

 the apex of the clypeus yellow. The mandibles very much dilated 

 at their base ; the cheeks concave ; the antennae fulvous, as long 

 as the head and thorax, slightly fuscous towards their base above, 

 the apical joints pellucid. Thorax, the tegulae testaceous ; the 

 wings hyaline : the posterior femora, except at their apex, the 

 intermediate and anterior pairs behind, nigro-piceous, otherwise 

 pale fulvo-testaceous. Abdomen elongate, shining and closely 

 punctured ; all the apical margins of the segments have narrow 

 white marginal fascia?, the first two sometimes interrupted ; the 

 two apical segments concave beneath. B.M. 



It admits of considerable doubt whether this insect is synonymous 

 with that of Fabricius, who makes no mention of the yellow nasus 

 or dilated mandibles ; in fact his description would suit three or 

 four European species. Mr. Kirby, on the authority of Dr. Latham, 

 quotes this bee as a species of the London district ; but no one has 

 met with it since to my knowledge. Mr. Dale took the female in tho 

 Isle of Portland some years ago, with the exception of which not 

 a single specimen of either sex has been taken for many years. In 

 Mr. Kirby's interleaved copy of the ' Monographia ' is a note, 

 " Mas : lectus a me in fioribus Agerati apud Blakenham Parvum. 

 (September 7th.)" 



The species occurs in Xorth America : there are two examples of 

 the male in the British Museum, which appear to be identical with 

 the British species. The sexes have been received from Sicily and 

 Dalmatia. 



3. Halictus xanthopus. 



11. niger, rufo pubescens, thorace ferrugineo, abdomine scgmentis 

 utrinque basi pallidis, pedibus posticis fulvis. 



Halictus xanthopus, Bridle", F.vptd. Morce, iii. 849. 

 St.-Furg. Hym. ii. 273. 



