POMPILUS SPISSUS. 57 



tennae as thick as the anterior tibiae, frequently rufo-fuscous 

 beneath ; the mandibles ferruginous at their apex. Thorax 

 covered with a fine sericeous pile, which is most dense on the 

 coxae, femora and metathorax ; the wings obscure, their apical 

 margins dark fuscous ; the metathorax with a longitudinal cen- 

 tral impressed line; the anterior tarsi ciliated exteriorly, the 

 intermediate and posterior tibiae with a double row of spines. 

 Abdomen : the first, second, and base of the third segment 

 red ; the abdomen covered with a fine silky pile, which is most 

 dense at the base of the segments. 



Male. Length 3-3J lines. Covered with fine silky pile ; an- 

 tennae incrassate ; the base of the first segment of the abdomen 

 black, the remainder ferruginous, as well as the whole of the 

 second segment, and sometimes the extreme base of the third ; 

 the venter, with the apical margin of the fourth segment, 

 slightly emarginate, the fifth and sixth deeply so, the apical 

 segment subcarinate. 



This species at first sight very closely resembles P. gibbus. The 

 thickness of the antennae is a good distinctive character; but in 

 a number of examples some will have these organs less incras- 

 sate. The best character whereby to distinguish the female 

 appears to be the posterior margin of the prothorax, which is 

 arched ; in P. gibbus it is angular. The male is known imme- 

 diately by the emargination of the ventral segments of the abdo- 

 men ; in P. gibbus they are entire. 



This is a local insect, which I have not taken in the vicinity of 

 London : Shuckard found it on Hampstead Heath : it occurs 

 sparingly at Southend, but more abundantly at Deal. The female 

 provisions its nest with spiders. 



4. Pompilus spissus. 



P. niger ; abdomine ferrugineo, apice fusco ; alis anticis cellulis 

 cubitalibus, tertia subquadrata. 



Pompilus spissus, Schiodte, Kroy. Tidsskr. i. 336. 5 $ $ . 

 Dahlb. Hym. Europ. i. 70. 34. 

 Wesm. Hym. Foss. Bely. 35. 9. 



Female. Length 4-4% lines. Black, with a thin sericeous pile ; 

 the two basal segments of the abdomen and the base of the third 

 ferruginous. Very closely resembling P. gibbus ; the head how- 

 ever is more convex in front, the antennae are rather stouter, 

 the thorax more robust, with the metathorax shorter and more 

 convex, and having the faintest trace of an impressed line in 

 the middle of its base ; the anterior wings have the marginal 



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