436 Mr. V. Smith 07i the Synonymy of the genus Nomada. 



aLV. — Observations on the Synonymy of the genus Nomada of 

 Fab?ncius, belonging to the family of Cuckoo or Parasitic Bees, 

 By Frederick Smith. 



The revision of the European species of the genus Nomada by 

 Dr. Herrich-SchafFer, published in Germar^s ^ Zeitschrift,' is by 

 far the most elaborate and complete essay on the genus which 

 has hitherto appeared, and is probably that to which the ento- 

 mologists of the continent would refer as the most correct no- 

 menclature extant. Our author has paid particular and careful 

 attention to the descriptions of Kirby, but in many instances has 

 arrived at erroneous conclusions : my office of Curator to the 

 Entomological Society of London, in whose collection are depo- 

 sited the original specimens from which Kirby drew his descrip- 

 tions, gives me a constant opportunity of examining and deter- 

 mining the species ; and it is in the hope that my remarks and 

 emendations may prove of general utility which induces me to 

 publish a revision of Schaifer^s paper. I have published elabo- 

 rate descriptions, with remarks on all the known British species, 

 in the second volume of the ' Zoologist,^ published in London 

 1844. A further inducement, if any were w^anting, has been the 

 observations of Dr. Schaum in the ^ Entomologische Zeitung,^ 

 where he expresses a desire that English entomologists would 

 set themselves to the task of studying individual families, so as 

 to bring about in them an agreement between English nomen- 

 clature and that employed on the continent. The almost exclu- 

 sive attention which I have for some years paid to the aculeate 

 Hymenoptera, more particularly our native species, will I trust 

 enable me to follow out with some success the objects so earnestly 

 advocated in the paper referred to. I follow for the sake of 

 convenience the arrangement of Herrich-Schaffer, although it 

 separates in my opinion some closely allied species : an arrange- 

 ment founded on colour in so variable a genus as the present 

 must of necessity separate sexes of the same species in some in- 

 stances, and in others remove varieties from their legitimate 

 position. 



Genus Nomada, Fab. 



Species 1. ferruginata, Linn. 



Nomada ferruginata, SchafFer, Germ. Zeits. vol. i. p. 275. 1 ; Smith, 



Zool. vol. ii, p. 600. 14; Nylander, Men. Ap. Boreah, Acta Soc. 



Scient. Fennica, p. 183. 

 Nomada Germanica (male), Fab. Syst. Piez. p. 394. 78; Panzer, Fn. 



Ins. Germ. n. 72. tab. 17; St. Farg. Hist. Nat. Ins. tom. ii. 477 



(male and fem.). 

 Apis ferruginata. Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. 12. p. 2779. 35; Vill. 3. 28; 



