346 INSECTS. HYMENOPTERA. 



M. Italica, Lat. Body hairy, brilliant black, the second segment 



of the abdomen ferruginous ; wings obscure. Inhabits Italy. 



Nouv. Diet. xxii. 98. 



FAMILY IV. FOSSORES. 



The insects of this family consist of two kinds of individuals, males and females, 

 and all provided with extended wings. The labium is never lanceolate or filiform ; 

 none of the feet are proper for collecting the pollen of flowers ; the posterior legs 

 are never very hairy, and the first joint of the tarsi is never much larger than the 

 preceding nor widened. Some have the prothorax prolonged laterally to the origin 

 of the upper Things ; while in others it is very short, and separated from the origin 

 of the wings by a perceptible interval. 



TRIBE I. SCOLIET.E. 



Anterior segment of the trunk prolonged laterally to the ori- 

 gin of the wings ; antennae in the females composed of short 

 and close joints ; feet thick, spinous, or much ciliated, with 

 the thighs arched near their extremity ; antennae straight, 

 the length of the head and thorax in the males, shorter and 

 arched in the females ; upper wings of the females with the 

 radial cell, when it exists, sometimes with a distinct nerve on 

 the exterior margin, and sometimes incomplete. 



I. Maxillary palpi long, and with joints perceptibly unequal ; the first joint of the 

 antennae obconical. 



Gen. TIPHIA, TENGYRA. 



II. Maxillary palpi short, with joints almost similar; the first joint of the antennae 

 elongated and cylindrical. 



1. Second joint of the antennae received into the first. 



Gen. MYZINE, MERIA. 



2. Second joint of the antennas discovered. 



Gen. SCOLIA. 



Gen. SCOLIA, Lat. Fab. Sphex, Lin. 



Antennae thickish, formed of short close-set joints, inserted near 

 the middle of the anterior part of the head, almost cylindri- 

 cal ; second joint discovered ; mandibles strong, arched, nar- 

 row, pointed ; palpi short, filiform ; labium divided at its 

 base into three filaments, diverging like a trident ; body elon- 

 gated, hairy ; eyes notched ; feet short ; legs very spinous 5 

 abdomen oval, terminated by three spines in the malts ; ra- 

 dial areola small ; and two or three cubital areolae ; one or 

 two recurrent nerves. 



The insects of this genus are generally of large size, and inhabit warm and tem- 

 perate situations in both hemispheres. The body of the male is much narrower and 

 longer than that of the female. The sting is a corneous, setaceous, pointed body, 

 composed of two laminae, with a furrow between for the passage of the poisonous fluid. 



S. interrupta, Lat. (Elis, Fab.) Black, with a gray down ; yel- 

 low bands on the abdomen, of which the first is interrupted in 

 the middle ; nerves of the wings reddish ; spurs on the posterior 

 limbs of the females elongated and widened at the extremity. The 



