60 



BEES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



Female. Length 6-7i lines. Black; the pubescence on the 

 head and thorax black ; the flagellum nigro-piceous beneath ; 

 the wings subfuscous and having a dark cloud at their apical 

 margins, the nervures ferruginous ; the floccus on the posterior 

 trochanters of a dirty- white, the scopa silvery- white beneath, 

 above fuscous. Abdomen ovate and shining, its apical fimbria 

 sooty-black. B.M. 



Male. Length 5-6 lines. Very closely resembles the other 

 sex, the pubescence on the thorax inclining to griseous ; the 

 abdomen ovate-lanceolate, shining, and having a little sooty 

 pubescence at the apex ; legs black ; the claws ferruginous. 



B.M. 



This very distinct species may be called the Kentish bee, from 

 the fact of our never having found it in any other county ; it 

 is very abundant in many parts of Kent : I have frequently met 

 with colonies constructing their burrows in perpendicular banks 

 of hard sand. This bee is very partial to thistle-heads, from 

 which it obtains a white pollen, and when loaded with this it 

 has a very strange appearance. 



Both sexes vary considerably in the intensity of the colouring 

 of the wings. Mr. Kirby's M . pratensis is a dark winged male, 

 as will be seen on examining the authentic specimen in the Ca- 

 binet at the Entomological Society. 



11. Andrena thoracica. 

 A. atra, villosa; thorace supra hirsuto-rufo. 



Apis thoracica, Fair. Syst. Ent. p. 383. 31 $ ; Spec. Ins. i. 481. 

 40 ; Mant. Ins. i. 302. 45 ; Ent. Syst. ii. 328. 63. 



Christ. Hym. p. 178. t. 14. f. 6 $ . 

 Apis bicolor, Christ. Hym. p. 178. t. 14. f . 6 ? . 

 Andrena bicolor, Rossi, Faun. Etrus. ii. 97. 896. 



Panz. Faun. Germ. 65. 19 $ . 



Melitta thoracica, Kirby, Mon. Ap. Angl. ii. 101. 49 ? . 

 Melitta melanocephala, Kirby, Mon. Ap. Angl. ii. 103. 50, var. $ . 

 Andrena thoracica, Fair. Syst. Piez. p. 322. 3. 



Spin. Ins. Lig. fasc. i. 120. 5. 



St. Farg. Hym. ii. 239. 7. 



Smith, Zool. v. 1735. 15. 



Female. Length 6-7i lines. Black ; the disk of the thorax 

 clothed with rufo-fulvous pubescence; wings fusco-hyaline, 

 their apical margins having a dark fuscous cloud; the legs 

 have a black pubescence, the claws ferruginous. Abdomen 



