100 NYSSON GUTTATUS. 



tarsi rufescent. Abdomen rather finely and distantly punctured, 

 the basal segment most strongly so ; the first segment has on 

 each side a large triangular yellow spot, and the second and 

 third a transverse yellow macula, the margins obscurely rufo- 

 piceous. 



Var. j8. The base of the abdomen red. 



Male. This sex only differs in having the apical joint of the 

 antennae much narrower than the penultimate one, and inserted 

 somewhat obliquely ; the face and clypeus thickly covered with 

 silvery pubescence ; the thorax without the yellow spots ; the 

 fourth segment of the abdomen with a transverse yellow line. 



Var. /3. with a central yellow spot on the collar. 



This is a very local and rare species. It used to be taken 

 at Battersea; it occurs at Southgate, near Colney Hatch, in 

 July ; it has also been taken at Wey bridge. I have most fre- 

 quently captured this insect when beating bushes for Coleoptera ; 

 it mimics death in the same way as Hedychrum and Chrysis. 



4. Nysson guttatus. 



N. niger; thorace maculato, abdomine punctis sex transversis 

 flavis, segmen toque primo rufo. 



Nysson guttatiis, Oliv. Encycl. Meth. viii. 409. 7. 

 Shuck. Foss. Hym. 103'. 4. 



Male. Length 4 lines. Black ; the head punctured and pu- 

 bescent; the face with a little silvery pubescence. Thorax 

 coarsely punctured ; the collar, tubercles, and a line on the 

 scutellum cream-coloured ; the metathorax longitudinally stri- 

 ated at its base, and the sides of the upper surface covered with 

 silvery pubescence ; the wings slightly coloured, their apical 

 margins clouded, the nervures and tegulae piceous; the legs 

 ferruginous, with the coxae and base of the anterior femora 

 black. Abdomen punctured, the basal segment red, with a 

 small ovate transverse spot on each side, and a transverse line 

 on each side of the two following at their apical margins cream- 

 coloured. 



After a careful examination of the typical specimen described 

 by Shuckard, I can only see a large and highly coloured example 

 of IV. dimidiatus : the true " guttatus" of Olivier may be distinct; 

 but, if so, it is probably synonymous with the Sphex maculata of 

 Fabr. (Nysson rnaculatus of Van d. Lind.). 



