180 apid^;. 



This species I have received from France, and also its close ally 

 M. lagopoda, although Dours does not include the latter in his Hy- 

 nienoptera of Prance. The male of M. lagopoda has not the dilated 

 apical joint in the antennas, the basal joint of the posterior tarsi is 

 much longer, and the fringe of the anterior tarsi is black beneath ; 

 the female is very like that of 31. maritima, but its pollen-brush is 

 bright ferruginous. 



I have found this species most abundant at the sea-side ; it swarms 

 in Sandown Bay, Isle of Wight, in July, and is also very plentiful at 

 Littlebampton ; it has occurred at Hampstead, but rarely, and is 

 found at Southend, Deal, Dover, and Folkestone ; I have taken it in 

 North Wales, at Barmouth, and also in Anglesea. 



Genus 12. CERATINA. 



Apis (-pt^Rossi, Mantis. Ins. i. 139 (1702). 

 Hyla?us (pt.), Fabr. Ent. Syst. ii. 302 (1793). 

 Prosopis (pt.), Fabr. Syst. Piez. 293 (1801). 

 Ceratina, Lair. Hist. Nat. Ins. xiv. 50 (1805). 



Head transverse ; ocdli in a triangle on the vertex ; antenna' short 

 and subclavate ; mandibles stout and tridentate ; labial -palpi 4-jointed, 

 the two basal joints elongate, the third and fourth minute, arti- 

 culated near the apex of the second joint ; the maxillary palpi 6- 

 jointed, the three basal joints about equal in length, the three apical 

 ones minute, each gradually decreasing in length. Thorax ovate; 

 the anterior icings with three submarginal cells, the second forming 

 a truncated triangle, the second and third cells each receiving a re- 

 current nervure a little beyond the middle. Abdomen subclavate, 

 convex, with the two basal segments constricted. 



This genus of bees is widely distributed ; at present about forty 

 species are known ; six are European, four African, and sixteen 

 Asiatic. Of New-World species fourteen are known ; it has not as 

 yet been found in Australia, but a closely allied genus, Thaumaiosoma, 

 appears to take its place in West Australia. The genus Ceratina was 

 formerly classed among the parasitic bees ; St.-Pargeau considered 

 them to be parasitic from the circumstance of their being destitute 

 of the usual pollinigerous appendages. Spinola was the first to cor- 

 rect this error in a memoir in the Annales du Museum d'Hist. Nat. 

 1807, where a correct history of their economy is given. I have 

 observed them making their tunnels in dead bramble-sticks. Two 

 species are described as British ; the second, C. cucurbitina, is be- 

 lieved to have been found in South Devonshire many years ago ; it 

 requires confirmation by subsequent capture to establish the species 

 as really belonging to our fauna. 



1. Ceratina cyanea. 



C. cyanea, glabrinscula, clypeo callisque humeralibus nigris, abdo- 

 mine clavato. Mas clypeo labroque albis. 



