130 ' [November, 



Andrena Afzeliella, Kirby, Smith, E. Saund. 



A. xanthura, Kir., Smith, Ed. ii, $ ? , Ed. i, g = Afzeliella. 



A. similis, Smith ( (J only), = WilJcella, E. Saund., $ $ (nee Kirby). 



Further, it must be remarked that the <$ given by Smith to 

 Afzeliella is almost certainly the form intermedia, Thorns. 



It is curious that Smith, in his first edition, should have given 

 $ Afzeliella to xanthura when he states that the latter appears in 

 the middle of May ; and then, in the second edition, he gives its true 

 <$ to xanthura, and states that it appears in the middle of April. 

 Males taken in April should be carefully examined to see whether 

 they are not the brown-faced $ of Afzeliella, rather than that of 

 xanthura. Apparently Smith did not distinguish between these, but 

 as mentioned above, regarded the J of intermedia, Thorns., only as the 

 $ of Afzeliella. 



Eor the last three seasons, at Oxford and elsewhere, I have known 

 of large colonies of xanthura, and had them constantly under my eye ; 

 the first $8 have appeared about the middle of May, but were rather 

 later this season. It is strange that I have never taken a single 

 specimen, $ or ? , of Afzeliella, in the neighbourhood of Oxford. 



Through the kindness of Messrs. Bridgman, Harwood, and Saun- 

 ders, I have been enabled to examine a large number of specimens of 

 these bees and their varieties from different localities, and thereby to 

 gain a far greater knowledge of the different species than I could have 

 done from my own series alone ; I am also indebted to Mr. Saunders 

 for quotations from Thomson, and the loan of his types from which 

 he described in his " Synopsis." Einally, I should point out that the 

 distinctions between the species, which I have given above, are not 

 exhaustive, but they are the least variable, and the easiest to grasp, 

 of any that I have discovered. 



Jesus College, Oxford : 

 October, 1888. 



[The Afzeliella group has always been a puzzle to me, and I am 

 very pleased that Mr. Perkins has been able to unravel its apparent 

 mysteries. I believe he is quite right in his determinations. Kirby's 

 types are very much worn and faded, but I have little doubt from my 

 last examinations that xanthura, Kirb., and WilJcella, Kirb., are 

 synonymous, and distinct from similis, Smith ; the wonder to me is, 

 that Smith did not know the $ of his similis, as I have taken it at 

 "Wandsworth, Eeigate, Chobham, and Woking, and Mr.Enock has 

 taken it at Hampstead, one of E. Smith's favourite hunting grounds. 



