BEES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 127 



Nomada varia, Panz. Faun. Germ. 55. 20 $ . 



Spin. Ins. Lig. fasc. i. 152. 6. 



St. Farg. Hym. ii. 489. 22 <? . t. 24. f. 3 ? , 4 < . 

 Apis varia, Kirby, Mon. Ap. Angl. ii. 185. 7 ^ . 

 Apis fucata, TSfz'r^y, Mow. Ap. Angl. ii. 195. 15 $ . 



Female. Length 4-4J lines. Black; the clypeus and a spot 

 above it, the inner orbits of the eyes, the labrum, mandibles, and 

 antennae rufous. Thorax : the collar on each side, the tuber- 

 cles, tegulse and scutellum, sulphur-yellow ; sometimes a minute 

 dot on the post-scutellum ; wings testaceo-hyaline, very faintly 

 clouded at their margins, the nervures ferruginous ; legs rufous, 

 the coxae, the intermediate and posterior trochanters, and the 

 extreme base of the femora, black. Abdomen : the basal seg- 

 ment ferruginous, the following yellow : the extreme base, the 

 apical margin of the first, and the apical and basal margins of 

 the three following segments, black. B.M. 



Var. /3. The apical margin of the basal segment rufo-piceous. 



Var. y. The second segment ferruginous in the middle. 



Male. Length 4-4 lines. Head and thorax black ; the scape 

 in front, the clypeus and a spot above it, the face on each side, 

 the labrum and mandibles, yellow, the latter rufo-piceous at 

 their apex ; the flagellum ferruginous, a black dot on four or 

 five of the middle joints, and sometimes a narrow black line 

 on the scape behind. Thorax : the collar on each side, the 

 tubercles, a line on the breast in front, the tegulae, scutellum, 

 and usually a minute dot beneath it, yellow ; wings as in the 

 female; the coxae and trochanters black, the anterior pair yellow 

 in front, femora ferruginous, their extreme base black beneath ; 

 the knees, and all the tibiae and tarsi yellow, and more or less 

 stained with ferruginous. Abdomen as in the female, in rare 

 instances there is an interrupted yellow line on the first se 

 ment. B 



eg- 

 .M. 



This extremely beautiful species is very local, not found in the 

 London district : some years ago it was met with sparingly in 

 Kent, during the month of July, in a lane leading from Betson* 

 to Green Street Green, at the side of Darenth Wood ; in 1851 

 " its metropolis " was discovered in Sandown Bay, at the back 

 of the Isle of Wight ; here it abounded in the month of July ; 

 it is parasitic on Halictus rubicundus and H. leucozonius. 



