BEES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 203 



months in one season. I have frequently had larvse in an artifi- 

 cial position, that is, in glass tubes, or boxes, which have not 

 changed until the second season, but am quite unable to account 

 for such an apparent anomaly -, how little, in fact, is at present 

 known of the complete history of the Aculeate Hymenoptera ! 

 for, to use the words of Kirby, " So much knowledge, even with 

 respect to a single genus, where the species are numerous, is not 

 to be expected from one man." But if each hymenopterist 

 would give faithful records of his observations, the day will come 

 when, by a combination of observations, an approach will be 

 made towards a perfect knowledge of the history, economy, and 

 uses of each individual species. 



1. Anthophora retnsa. 



A. hirsuta, atra; tibiarum posticarum scopa fulvo-aurea. Mas, 

 corpore pilis ful vis dense vestito ; ano nigricante. 



Apis retusa, Linn. Faun. Suec. p. 420. 1689 ; Syst. Nat. i. 954. 8, 



8f Cab. Mas, Linn. Soc. ? . 



Apis Haworthana, Kirby, Mon. Ap. Angl. ii. 307. 70 $ . 

 Anthophora Haworthana, Curtis, Brit. Ent. viii. t. 357 $ . 



Smith, Zool. Hi. 895. 2 $ $ . 

 Anthophora retusa, St. Farg. Hyrn. ii. 69. 38. 

 Megilla retusa, Nyland. Revis. Ap. Boreal, p. 265. 2. 



Female. Length 7 lines. Black ; the head nearly as wide as 

 the thorax, the sides of the face and the labrum have a brown 

 pubescence. Thorax : the disk clothed with short black pu- 

 bescence, the sides of the metathorax with sooty-black, the pos- 

 terior tibiae and the basal joint of the tarsi clothed with fulvo- 

 ferruginous pubescence ; all the tarsi beneath ferruginous ; the 

 calcaria pale testaceous, the claws ferruginous. Abdomen slightly 

 pubescent, the margins of the segments having a fringe of short 

 sooty-black hair. B.M. 



Male. Length 6-7 lines. Black ; the scape in front, the 

 clypeus, the face on each side, and the labrum yellow ; the 

 clypeus with two large black maculae at its base, sometimes 

 uniting ; and the labrum with two small black dots at the base ; 

 the pubescence on the vertex and on the disk of the thorax ful- 

 vous ; in the centre of the latter is a mixture of black hairs ; 

 the anterior legs thinly fringed behind with fulvous hairs, the 

 intermediate and posterior tibiee fringed with fulvous ; the basal 

 joint of the intermediate tarsi has a thick short fringe in front, 

 and a longer one behind of black pubescence ; the basal joint of 

 the tarsi black, the apical joints fulvous ; the wings subhyaline, 



