TRYPOXYLON FIGULUS. 117 



1. Trypoxylon figulus. 



T. atrum, labio segtnentorumque raarginibus lucidis. 



Sphex figulus, Linn. Faun. Suec. 411. 1650 ; Syst. Nat. i. 942. 1, 

 jjf Cab. Mus. Linn. Soc. 



Fabr. Ent. Syst. ii. 203. 19. 



J'illers, Ent. iii. 221. 4. 



Schrank, Faun. Boic. ii. 322. 2160. 



Christ. Hym. 291. 



Rossi, Faun. Etrus. ii. 61. 810. 



Panz. Faun. Germ. 80. 16. 

 Sphex leucostoma, Schrank, Ins. Austr. 771. 

 Trypoxvlon figulus, Latr. Hist. Nat. xiii. 330. 



Fabr. Syst. Piez. 181. 2. 



Spin. Ins. Lig. i. 65. 1. 



fan d. Lind. Obs. ii. 40. 1. 



Shuck. Foss. Hym. 115. 1. 



Zett. Ins. Lapp. 445. 1. 



Vahlb. Hym. Eur op. 280. 176. 



Guer. Icon. Rry. Anim. t. 71. f. 3. 



St. Farg. Hym. iii. 228. 2. 



U'esm. Hym. Foss. Belg. 106. 1. 

 Apius figulus, Jurine, Hym. 140 t. 9. gen. 8. 



Female. Length 5-6^ lines. — Black ; the head opake, with the 

 vertex slightly shining, very closely and finely punctured; an 

 impressed longitudinal line running from the anterior stemma 

 to the base of the antenna? ; the face and cheeks with a silvery 

 pubescence. Thorax subopake, finely punctured and pubes- 

 cent ; the scutellum with a slight central depression ; the meta- 

 thorax with a central longitudinal impression, which terminates 

 before the oblique truncation of its apex ; beyond the verge it is 

 again deeply impressed, the superior surface obliquely striated 

 on each side, as well as the truncated portion ; the wings 

 slightly coloured, the nervures black, the apical margins with a 

 dark fuscous border ; the legs simple, the calcaria pale testa- 

 ceous, with a small pulvillus between the bifid claws at their 

 apex. Abdomen shining, with the posterior margins of the 

 segments, chiefly at the sides, with a fine silvery sericeous pu- 

 bescence. 



The Male is rather smaller, but scarcely differs from the female ; 

 the face is more silvery, and the terminal joint of the antennae 

 is curved and acuminate. 



This insect is extremely abundant everywhere; I have frequently 

 observed it conveying its prey — spiders. In June 1845, I met 

 with quite a colony of this insect burrowing in a bank of light 

 earth, above which was a cut hawthorn hedge ; the females were 



