HYMENOPTEEA. 5 



10. MEGACHILE VIGILANS. 



Pemina. M. pallide pubescens ; abdomine subtus argentco-villosulo, segmentorum mar- 

 ginibus dorsalibus pallido-fasciatis. 



Black ; the face clothed with dense white pubescence ; the mandibles with four blunt 

 teeth. The pubescence on the thorax and legs whitish, that on the tarsi beneath fulvous ; 

 wings hyaline, the nervures black. Abdomen subcordate, the basal segment deeply concave, 

 the metathorax rounded and fitting into the cavity, the abdomen curving upwards, the 

 apical margins of the segments with fasciae of white pubescence ; beneath, densely clothed 

 with silvery-white pubescence. Eemale, length 4| lines. 



Hab. Dras, Kargil, and Leh, all in Ladak. (August and September.) 



This genus is perhaps the most numerous in species of all the genera of bees ; it is 

 also the most cosmopolitan ; about three hundred species are known ; they occur both in 

 temperate and tropical climates ; about fifty are known to inhabit India, China, and the islands 

 of the Eastern Archipelago ; they are abundant in Australia, also in both North and South 

 America. 



A large number are, from their habit of lining their nests with pieces of leaf, popularly 

 called leaf -cutting bees, but their habits vary ; nests of Indian species prove that some 

 species belong to the section of mason-bees, their nests being constructed of agglutinated 

 particles of sand or mud ; of the habits of the Australian species, we are at present ignorant. 



11. ANTHIDIUM VIGILANS, Fig. 7. 



Eemina. A . atrum, capite thoraceque flavo-variegatis ; abdominis maculis lateralibus 

 flavis. Mas. A. abdominis inflexi lateribus fasciculato-pilosis, ano septemdentato. 



Black; the head and thorax very closely punctured and subopaque, the abdomen 

 shining and more finely punctured. The clypeus, base of the mandibles, and a line on the 

 posterior margin of the vertex, interrupted in the middle, yellow. A stripe on each side of 

 the thorax in front, and an interrupted line on the posterior margin of the scutellum 

 yellow ; the femora at their apex beneath, and the tibiae and tarsi outside, yellow ; wings 

 sub-hyaline, the marginal cell with a fuscous stripe at its anterior margin. Abdomen ; each 

 segment with a transverse yellow lateral macula ; beneath, clothed with bright pale fulvous 

 pubescence. Eemale, length 5J lines. 



The male is considerably larger than the female and is much more pubescent, but is 

 marked with yellow in the same manner, the yellow stripes on the abdomen being broader 

 and forming interrupted bands; the segments have at their lateral margins a floccus of 

 whitish glittering pubescence ; the apical segment is tridentate, the lateral teeth yellow, the 

 central one smaller and black ; there is also a tooth at the lateral margins of the fifth and 

 sixth segments. Male, length 7 lines. 



Sab. The locality of the male is the neighbourhood of Yarkand, and although the precise 

 locality of the female is not ascertained, there is a sufficient general resemblance between 

 the sexes to justify uniting them as one species. 



The genus Anthidium has a wide geographical distribution ; species are found in Europe, 

 Arabia, Syria, Algeria, Cape of Good Hope, Sierra Leone. About six species are known from 



