182 MIMESA EQUESTRIS. 



tudinally striated, transversely so behind, with the sides deli- 

 cately striated obliquely ; the wings hyaline and iridescent ; the 

 legs pubescent ; the anterior tibiae in front and their tarsi fer- 

 ruginous, the intermediate and posterior pairs piceous ; the cal- 

 caria pale testaceous ; the tibiae slightly spinose. Abdomen 

 pubescent towards the apex ; the petiole shorter than the first 

 segment, and canaliculated above; the apex of the fifth and 

 sixth segments, sometimes the latter entirely, rufo-piceous, the 

 apex slightly produced. 



Male. Length 2J-3 lines. Differs in having the antennae con- 

 siderably longer, as long as the head and thorax ; the metatho- 

 rax more roughly sculptured ; the petiole as long as the first 

 segment, and having a ferruginous upcurved spine at the apex 

 of the abdomen. 



Occasionally abundant ; frequently availing itself of the tubes 

 of straws in thatched roofs in which to construct its cells ; these 

 it provisions with Aphides. 



Genus 12. MIMESA. 



Trypoxylon, pt., Fdbr. Syst. Piez. 182, 6 (1804). 

 Psen, Latr. Nouv. Diet. 2nd ed. 28 (1816). 

 Mimesa, Shuck. Foss. Hym. 228 (1837). 



Head transverse, wider than the thorax ; eyes ovate and late- 

 ral ; stemmata in a triangle on the vertex ; antennae clavate, in- 

 serted in the middle of the face ; the clypeus transverse ; the 

 mandibles bidentate. Thorax subglobose ; the collar transverse ; 

 the metathorax short, and rounded behind ; the anterior wings 

 with one elongate marginal cell, which is acute at its apex, arid 

 three submarginal cells, the second about half the length of the 

 first, narrowed towards the marginal, and receiving both the 

 recurrent nervures ; the third oblong -quadrate, widest towards 

 the apex of the wing ; legs short and spinose. Abdomen petio- 

 lated, oblong-ovate ; in the male armed at the apex with an 

 upcurved spine. 



1. Mimesa equestris. 



M. atra ; abdominis segmento primo et secundo rufo ; petiolo 

 basi attenuate, supra rugoso. 



Trypoxylon equestre, Fabr. Syst. Piez. 182. 6. 

 Psen rufa, Panz. Faun. Germ. 96. 17. 

 Psen equestris, Panz. Krit. Revis. ii. 110. 



