DIDINEIS LUNICORNIS. Ill 



first joint long, the three following short, the apical one longer, 

 armed at the apex with a bifid claw ; the intermediate and pos- 

 terior tibiae armed with two spines at their apex ; the posterior 

 femora with a small dentiform process beneath at their apex. 

 The abdomen ovate, acuminate at the apex in the female, trun- 

 cated in the male, with a small spine at the angles of the 

 truncation. 



I have followed M. Wesmael in separating the species from the 

 genus Alyson, in which the neuration of the wings is different, 

 and the intermediate tibiae only armed with one calcar or spur at 

 their apex. 



1. Didineis lunicornis. 

 D. niger ; abdominis segmentis duobus primis rufis, tibiis tar- 



sisque quatuor posticis fusco-rufis, alarum superiorum fascia 



trans versali fusca. F&m. 

 D. antennarum articulo ultimo lunato. Mas. 



Pompilus lunicornis, Fabr. Ent. Syst. Suppl. 249. 21 ; Syst. Piez. 



194. 32. 

 Alyson lunicornis, Latr. Gen. Crust, et Ins. iv. 86. 



Van d. Lind. Obs. ii. 88. 1. 



Shuck. Foss. Hym. 207. 1. 



Dahlb. Hym. Europ. i. 142. 75 & 474. 



St. Farg. Hym. iii. 86. 1. 



Alyson Kenncdii, Curtis, Brit. Ent. xiii. t.584 ? . 

 Didineis lunicornis, Wesm. Hym. Foss. Belg. 97. 1. 



Female. Length 3 J lines. Black and shining; the head deli- 

 cately punctured; the scape rufescent in front, the flagellum 

 fulvous beneath ; the clypeus rufescent in front ; the mandibles 

 yellow, with their apex piceous. Thorax delicately punctured ; 

 the metathorax with an elongated triangular space at its base, 

 which is enclosed by an elevated ridge, within which it is 

 rugose; the sides obliquely striated; the wings slightly coloured, 

 with a transverse fascia crossing at the marginal cell and 

 extending halfway across the third discoidal cell ; the nervures 

 and tegulae rufo-testaceous ; the legs simple, with the knees of 

 the anterior femora, and the inside of the tibiae, as well as the 

 tarsi, of a testaceous yellow ; the intermediate and posterior 

 tibiae and tarsi rufo-piceous, the posterior tibiae rufescent 

 towards their base, their tarsi piceous, and the articulations of 

 the coxae and trochanters fulvous. Abdomen : the two basal 

 segments, and sometimes the base of the third, red, with a tri- 

 angular sericeous spot on each side towards their margin, most 

 conspicuous on the second segment, but frequently obliterated. 



