100 NYSSON GUTTATL'S. 



tarsi rufescent. Abdomen rather finely and distantly punctured, 

 the basal segment most strongly so ; the first segment has on 

 each side a large triangular yellow spot, and the second and 

 third a transverse yellow macula, the margins obscurely rufo- 

 piceous. 

 Var. 3. The base of the abdomen red. 



Male. — This sex only differs in having the apical joint of the 

 antennae much narrower than the penultimate one, and inserted 

 somewhat obliquely; the face and clypeua thickly covered with 

 silvery pubescence ; the thorax without the yellow spots ; the 

 fourth segment of the abdomen with a transverse yellow line. 



Var.;! with a central yellow spot on the collar. 



This is a very local and rare species. It used to be taken 

 at Battersea; it occurs at Southgate, near Colney Hatch, in 

 July ; it has also been taken at Weybridge. I have most fre- 

 quently captured this insect when beating bushes for Coleoptera; 

 it mimics death in the same way as Hedychrum and Chrysis. 



4. Nysson guttatus. 



N. niger ; thorace maculato, abdomine punctis sex transversis 

 flavis, segmentoque primo rufo. 



Nvsson guttatus, Oliv. Encycl. Meth. viii. 409. 7. 

 Shuck. Foss. Hym. 103. 4. 



Male. Length \\ lines. — Black ; the head punctured and pu- 

 bescent ; the face with a little silvery pubescence. Thorax 

 coarsely punctured ; the collar, tubercles, and a line on the 

 scutellum cream-coloured ; the metathorax longitudinally stri- 

 ated at its base, and the sides of the upper surface covered with 

 silvery pubescence ; the wings slightly coloured, their apical 

 margins clouded, the nervures and tegulse piceous ; the legs 

 ferruginous, with the coxae and base of the anterior femora 

 black. Abdomen punctured, the basal segment red, with a 

 small ovate transverse spot on each side, and a transverse line 

 on each side of the two following at their apical margins cream- 

 coloured. 



After a careful examination of the typical specimen described 

 by Shuckard, I can only see a large and highly coloured example 

 of N. dimidiatus : the true " guttatus " of Olivier may be distinct ; 

 but, if so, it is probably synonymous with the Sphex maculata of 

 Fabr. {Nysson maculatus of Van d. Lind.). 



