BEES OF GREAT BRITAIN. / 



Apis centuncularis, Schrank, Ins. Aust. p. 404. 815. 



Schdff. Icon. t. 262. f. 6, 7. 



Rossi, Faun. Etrusc. no. 927. 



Kirby, Mon. Ap. Angl. ii. 237. 42. 



Megachile centuncularis, Latr. Hist. Nat. Crast. et Ins. iii. 383; 

 Hist. Nat.niv. 56. 10. 



Spin. Ins. Lig. fasc. i. 142. 10. 



St. Farg. Hym. ii. 337. 12. t. 21. f . 3 ? . 

 , Guerin, Icon. Reg. Anim. 449. t. 73. f. 7. 



Smith, Zool. ii. 695. 7. 



Nyland. Ap. Boreal p. 258. 4. 

 Anthophora centuncularis, Fabr. Syst. Piez. p. 378. 25 $ , nee $ . 



Zett. Ins. Lapp. p. 465. 3. 

 Reaum. Ins. vi. Mem. iv. t. 10. f. 2, 3, 4. 

 Frisch. Ins, pt. xi. t. 2. f. 1-4. 



". Ins. Par. ii. 410. 5. 



Female. Length 3-6 lines. Black ; the face has a pale ful- 

 vous pubescence, that on the vertex fuscous and sparing ; the 

 mandibles quadridentate, the two apical ones acute ; the head 

 and thorax closely and strongly punctured. Thorax : the disk 

 nearly naked, having a few scattered fuscous hairs, on the sides 

 and metathorax it is more dense and pale fulvous ; the legs 

 have a thin short cinereous pubescence, the tarsi fulvous be- 

 neath ; the calcaria and claws rufo-testaceous ; the wings sub - 

 hyaline, faintly clouded towards their apical margins. Abdo- 

 men cordate, having a scattered pale pubescence at the base, 

 the margins of the segments depressed ; the segments have a 

 narrow fringe of pale pubescence on their apical margins, that 

 on the fifth entire ; beneath densely covered with bright golden- 

 fulvous pubescence. B.M. 



Male. Length 3^-4^ lines. The head a little wider than the 

 thorax, the face clothed with bright pale fulvous pubescence, 

 nearly white on the clypeus ; antennae filiform ; mandibles bi- 

 dentate, the apical tooth acute ; the thorax above and the wings 

 as in the other sex, the anterior coxae not toothed ; the claws 

 ferruginous, their tips fuscous. Abdomen subelongate, the 

 apex obtuse ; the margin of the apical segment entire, obsoletely 

 subserrate ; the seventh segment concealed. B.M. 



This is perhaps the most widely distributed bee in the whole 

 family of Apidce ; it is not only found in all parts of the United 

 Kingdom, but is spread all over the continent of Europe, even to 

 the north of Lapland ; it is also found in Canada and at Hud- 

 son's Bay. The only British species which has similar clothing in 

 the female is M. maritima, but if the colour of the pollen-brush 

 be examined, they cannot easily be confounded ; M. centuncu- 



