24 BEES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



2. Halictus xanthopus. 



H. niger, rufo-pubescens ; thorace ferrugineo ; abdomine seg- 

 mentis utrinque basi pallidis; pedibus posticis fulvis. 



Melitta xanthopus, Kirby, Mon. Ap. Angl. ii. 78. 34 $ <j> . 

 Lasioglossum tricingulum, Cur tin, Brit. Ent. x. t. 14 $ . 

 Halictus xanthopus, Brufle, Exped. Moree, Hi. 349. 769. 



St. Farg. Hym. ii. 273. 10. 



Smith, Zool.vL 2173. 25. 



Nyland. Revis. Ap. Boreal, p. 238. 3/ 



Female. Length 5-5 lines. Black ; the clypeus produced and 

 shining, the tips of the mandibles ferruginous ; the disk of the 

 thorax sparingly clothed with rufo-fulvous pubescence, most 

 dense on the post-scutellum and in front of the wings ; the disk 

 shining, evenly punctured ; the tegulse rufo-piceous ; the wings 

 faintly fulvo -hyaline, slightly clouded at their apical margins, 

 the nervures pale ferruginous; the legs have a rufo-fulvous 

 pubescence ; the posterior tibiae and tarsi, the intermediate 

 tarsi, and the apical joints of the anterior pair, rufo-testaceous. 

 Abdomen ovate, shining and delicately punctured ; at the base 

 a little fulvous pubescence ; on the basal margins of the second, 

 third and fourth segments is a fascia of white pubescence, the 

 first and second fasciae usually much attenuated or interrupted 

 in the middle ; on the sides of the anal rima a little fulvous 

 pubescence. B.M. 



Male. Length 4^-5 lines. The nose produced as in the other 

 sex, the clypeus having occasionally an obscure yellow spot ; 

 the antennae rufo-testaceous beneath. Thorax : its pubescence 

 very thin and usually griseous, but slightly fulvous on the disk 

 in very recent specimens ; the wings as in the female ; the legs 

 also are similarly coloured ; the abdomen elongate -ovate, the 

 bands as in the other sex, but having an additional one on the 

 fifth segment ; the apex fringed with some pale yellowish pu- 

 bescence. B.M. 



This species has been quoted by Walckenaer as the H.fodiens 

 of Latreille, but the abdominal fasciae are placed on the basal 

 margins of the segments, whereas Walckenaer's insect has them 

 on the apical margins. The male is the Lasioglossum tricingu- 

 lum of Mr. Curtis ; the peculiarities in the form of the maxillary 

 lobes, in which it differs from many of the British species, can- 

 not be regarded as of generic value. An examination of a number 

 of species of exotic Halicti, shows that many, and gradual modi- 

 fications of parts, must be admitted, or this extensive genus 

 would be split into multitudinous subgenera ; at present I prefer 



