BEES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 9 



fimbria pallida; abdomine fasciis tribus albis, antica inter- 

 rupta. 



Melitta dorsata, Kirby, Mon. Ap. Angl. ii. 144. 83 $ . 

 Melitta combinata, Kirby, Mon. Ap. Angl. ii. 153. 94. 

 Melitta nudiuscula, Kirby, Mon. Ap. Angl. ii. 155. 95. 

 Andrena dorsata, Smith, Zool. v. 1918. 48. 

 Andrena combinata, Smith, Zool. v. 1923. 58. 



Female. Length 4 lines. Black ; the face has a cinereous pu- 

 bescence, and on each side a line of fulvous pile as high as the 

 vertex of the eyes ; the flagellum sometimes rufo-testaceous 

 towards the apex beneath. Thorax clothed with short fulvous 

 pubescence, thinly scattered on the disk, but dense on the 

 scutellum : the sides of the metathorax have a thick curled 

 fringe of pale pubescence ; the tegula? ferruginous, the wings 

 subhyaline, the nervures pale ferruginous ; the legs rufo-testa- 

 ceous, the femora and tibiae sometimes fusco-testaceous ; the 

 floccus white ; the scopa pale fulvous, intermixed with glitter- 

 ing hairs ; the basal joint of the tarsi fulvous beneath. Abdo- 

 men subovate, very glossy and delicately punctured ; the three 

 intermediate segments have a narrow white fringe on their 

 apical margins ; the first usually interrupted ; the apical fim- 

 bria fulvous; beneath, the margins of the segments have a 

 long fringe of pale pubescence. B.M. 



Male. Length 4 lines. The clypeus and cheeks have a long, 

 dense, cinereous pubescence, on the margin of the vertex and 

 disk of the thorax it is pale fulvous, most dense on the scu- 

 tellum; the sides of the metathorax have a long cinereous 

 pubescence ; the tarsi ferruginous, much lighter in some spe- 

 cimens than in others ; the wings splendidly iridescent. Ab- 

 domen ovate-lanceolate, smooth and shining, the margins of 

 the intermediate segments have a very narrow white fringe on 

 their apical margins, which is usually interrupted. B.M. 



Amongst a series of specimens of A. dorsata, the differences 

 pointed out by Kirby as distinctive of A. dorsata, A. combinata 

 and A. nudiuscula gradually present themselves; thus, the ob- 

 scure posterior tibiae, pale only at the apex, the tegulae a little 

 darker than in A. combinata, and the pubescence a little bleached, 

 from ferruginous to fulvous, typify the M. dorsata ; the variety 

 having the thorax clothed with ferruginous pubescence, and 

 having the legs paler, constitutes the M. combinata ; and as to 

 the M. nudiuscula, no hesitation can be felt, after careful exami- 

 nation, in considering it a worn specimen of A. dorsata ; at least 

 this is the conclusion at which I have arrived, after a careful exa- 

 mination of the typical examples in the Kirbian collection. 



F 2 



