12S ; November, 



NOTES ON ACULEATE HYMENOPTERA. 

 BY E. C. L. PERKINS. 



Smith, in the first edition of his " Bees of Great Britain," gives 

 descriptions of several Andrence, closely allied to A. Afzeliella, Kir., 

 which he considered to be distinct species. They are : A. xantliura, 

 Kir., A. WilJcella, Kir., A. convexiuscula, Kir., A. fuscata, Kir., and, 

 lastly, A. similis, Sm., which was placed by him next to A. albicans, 

 Kir., to which it has some superficial resemblance, but no structural 

 affinity. 



In his second edition, he sinks WilJcella as synonymous with 

 xanthura, and in both editions he expresses doubt as to the right of 

 fuscata to specific rank. 



Mr. Saunders, in his " Synopsis," describes two species only, A. 

 Afzeliella, Kir., and A. WilJcella, Kir. ; convexiuscula, Kir., being 

 given as a stylopized form of the former, and fuscata, Kir., as merely 

 a variety with black posterior legs. Under WilJcella he describes a 

 species of which similis, Sm., is the <$ , but I have satisfied myself 

 from Kirby's descriptions — corroborated by a further examination by 

 Mr. Saunders of Kirby's types — that he was mistaken in considering 

 it as WilJcella ; it will therefore have to stand as similis, Smith. 



Thomson, in his " Hymenoptera Scandinavia?," makes several 

 species, but his xantliura apparently does not occur with us ; its chief 

 characteristic seems to be its long tongue, as he says, " lingua valde 

 lineari elongata." 



His intermedia, however, is, I believe, by no means rare ; it is 

 very like Afzeliella, and I have not been able to find any good char- 

 acter whereby to separate the females of the two, though the males 

 are not very difficult to distinguish. In this case it seems better to 

 regard it, at present, as a variety of that species ; as Afzeliella is 

 double-brooded, the variation may be due to the different length of 

 time passed in the earlier stages ; at any rate, the time so spent does 

 vary considerably, as the autumnal brood is in most cases only a 

 partial emergence. Besides, we do not know whether the offspring 

 of the second brood appear in the following spring, or wait until the 

 autumn comes again. Regarding fuscata as a variety of Afzeliella; 

 without doubt, and convexiuscula as probably only altered by the 

 attack of Stylops, we may separate three distinct species as follows : — 



1 (2). Clypeus with silvery-white hairs in both sexes. 



Abdomen of the <J without distinct pale fascine, only faint indications laterallv 



9 with the post-scutellum very densely clothed with rich brown hai* s- ;;, 



similis, £ mlth - 



