CRABRO CEPHALOTES. 147 



basal joint of the intermediate tarsi produced beneath towards 

 the apex, and having two stout spines. Abdomen : each seg- 

 ment with a yellow interrupted fascia ; the fifth fascia generally 

 entire. 



Having collected these insects upwards of twenty years, and 

 having examined hundreds of individuals without meeting with 

 any female at all likely to belong to C. sexcinctus, except C. ce- 

 phalotes, I quite agree with Shuckard that this is probably a 

 variety of the next species. I have not bred this species or va- 

 riety, but have reared C. cephalotes from decaying willow wood. 



25. Crabro cephalotes. 



C. niger, flavo-maculatus ; clypeo aurato ; mesothorace et scutello 

 longitudinaliter rugosis ; tibiis flavis, abdomineque fasciis in- 

 terruptis flavis. 



Crabro cephalotes, Panz. Faun. Germ. 62. 16. 



Fabr. Syst. Piez. 308. 5. 



Van d. Lind. Obs. ii. 55. 13. 



ShucJc. Foss. Hym. 135. 7, 



Dahlb. Hym. Europ. i. 408. 273. 



St. Farg. Hym. iii. 100. 1. 



Wesm. Hym. Foss. Belg. 151. 33. 

 Crabro vespiformis, Van d. Lind. Obs. ii. 54. 12. 



Female. Length 5- 6-J- lines. Black; head large, wider than 

 the thorax, subquadrate, closely and finely punctured, slightly 

 shining and pubescent, the vertex slightly depressed, the face 

 canaliculated ; the inner orbit of the eyes and the clypeus 

 densely covered with golden pubescence; the mandibles yellow, 

 with their apex rufo-piceous ; the scape of the antennae yellow. 

 Thorax slightly pubescent ; the mesothorax finely longitudinally 

 strigose, the scutellum, post-scutellum, and enclosed space at 

 the base of the metathorax similarly striated, the posterior por- 

 tion of the latter transversely striated ; an interrupted line on 

 the collar, the tubercles, the tibiae, and two basal joints of the 

 tarsi, yellow ; the apical joints of the tarsi rufo-piceous, the 

 claw-joint darkest ; the anterior tibiae ferruginous within and 

 black beneath ; the intermediate pair with a ferruginous line 

 beneath ; the wings slightly coloured. Abdomen : each of the 

 segments with a yellow fascia, and the sides of the apical seg- 

 ment yellow ; all the fasciae except the fifth more or less in- 

 terrupted; the apical segment canaliculated, the sides of the 

 channel with rigid golden setae. 



H2 



