166 BEES OP GRBAT BRITAIN. 



Osmia nigriventris, Zett. Ins. Lapp. p. 465. 4 9 

 Osmia xanthomelana, Smith, Zool. ii. 745. 7. 



Steph. III. Brit. Ent. Mand. vii. Supp. 16. 2. t. 43. f. 2. 



Nyland. Ap. Boreal Supp. p. 270. 5. 



Female. Length 4-6f lines. Black ; head as wide as the 

 thorax, the face clothed with black pubescence, intermixed 

 with brown on the margin of the vertex. Thorax clothed above 

 with reddish-brown pubescence ; that on the sides beneath, and 

 also that on the legs, black ; the wings fusco-hy aline, a dark 

 cloud occupying the upper portion of the marginal cell, the 

 nervures fusco-ferruginous. Abdomen shining, subglobose ; 

 the first, and the basal margin of the second segment, with 

 reddish-brown pubescence, on the following segments it is 

 black ; beneath, densely clothed with black pubescence. B.M. 



Male. Length 4-4^ lines. The head as wide as the thorax, the 

 face clothed with white pubescence, intermixed with ochraceous 

 at the insertion of the antennae, which are shorter than the 

 thorax ; the thorax has a fulvous pubescence above, beneath it 

 is griseous; the wings rather clearer than in the other sex. 

 Abdomen shining, its pubescence fulvous; the sixth segment 

 slightly notched in the middle, the seventh bidentate ; be- 

 neath, the second ventral plate is pointed in the middle, and 

 the third deeply notched, the notch ciliated with bright yellow 

 hau*s. 



I once met with this very local species in Sandown Bay, Isle 

 of Wight, in the beginning of July, when I captured two spe- 

 cimens of the female ; they were in a faded condition, the time 

 for the appearance of the insect being April. Mr. Waterhouse 

 has given an excellent account of the habits of this insect in the 

 6 Zoologist.' In my collection are two small examples of this 

 species, which Dr. Nylander separated from 0. xanthomelana, 

 and assured me that they were the 0. fuciformis of Latreille. 

 Such may be the case, but if so, I can only regard that species 

 as synonymous with the present : indeed the description in 

 the ' Encyclopedic Methodique ' points out no distinct differ- 

 ences. The colour of the thorax changes from deep fulvous to 

 ochraceous from age and exposure ; the abdomen, when denuded 

 of pubescence, shows the base to be rather narrower than to- 

 wards the apex. 



5. Osmia parietina. 

 O. aterrima, villosa; capite, thorace, abdominisque segmento 



