98 NYSSON INTERRUPTUS. 



Nysson spinosus, Latr. Hist. Nat. xiii. 305; Gen. Crust. et /»«.iv.91. 



Oliv. Enci/cl. Meth. viii. 804. 



Van d. Lind. Obs. ii. 30. 1. 



Shuck. Foss. Hym. 100. 1. 



Dahlb. Hym. Eur op. i. 109. 100. & 484. 1. 



Wesm. Hym. Foss. Bely. 74. 1. 

 Sphex spinosa, Utters, iii. 246. 71. 

 Nysson geniculates, St. Farg. Hym. iii. 47. 3. 



Female. Length 5', lines. — Black ; the head coarsely punctured 

 below the antennae, thinly covered with silvery pubescence ; 

 antennae reaching to the base of the scutellum ; tips of the 

 mandibles ferruginous. Thorax : the collar with an uninter- 

 rupted yellow band ; the mesothorax closely and strongly punc- 

 tured ; the scutellum longitudinally striated ; the metathorax 

 coarsely rugose ; wings fusco-hyaline, with a dark cloud round 

 their apical margins, commencing at the base of the marginal 

 cell ; the posterior femora, the apex of the intermediate and 

 anterior pairs, all the tibia?, and tarsi, ferruginous ; the anterior 

 and intermediate tibiae have sometimes a dusky ring in the 

 middle. Abdomen finely granulated, the basal segment with 

 strong longitudinal punctures which run into stria? at the extreme 

 base ; an interrupted yellow fascia on the apical margin of the 

 basal segment, and an uninterrupted one on the two following 

 segments, slightly attenuated in the middle. 



■Male. — About the same size as the female, but with a dense 

 silvery pubescence on the clypeus ; the mesothorax beneath the 

 coxae, and posterior femora beneath covered with silvery pile ; 

 the yellow band on the collar frequently more or less obsolete 

 at the sides, sometimes entirely so; the tibiae usually black, 

 excepting their base ; the yellow bands on the abdomen fre- 

 quently more or less interrupted. 



This is the most abundant species in the London district ; it 

 frequents woods and wood-sides, and is very partial to the flowers 

 of the Wood-spurge ; it usually appears in June. I have never 

 seen it burrowing, but the female I have detected entering holes 

 in banks of light earth. The species is widely distributed, and 

 has been taken in Yorkshire in the month of July. 



2. Nysson interruptus. 



A', niger ; antennis paulo capite longioribus, abdomine fasciis 



tribus flavis. 



Mellinus interruptus, Fabr. Ent. Syst. Suppl. 266. 4-5. 

 Mellinus dissectus, Panz. Faun. Germ. 11. 18. 

 Oxybelus interruptus, Fabr. Syst. Piez. 316. 1. 



