108 BEES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



Megilla labiata, Fo.br. Sysf. Piez. p. 333. 21c?. 



Leon Dufour, Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr, vii. 288. t. 9. f, 3 (? . 

 Megilla fulvipes, Fahr. Sj/sL Piez. p. 332. 20 $ , ^ Mas, Kiel 



Female. Length 4 Ihies.— Black ; the head arid thorax strongly 

 and closely punctured, the face has a thinly scattered short gri- 

 seous pubescence ; the fiagellum beneath fulvo-testaceous. 

 Thorax : a short griseous pubescence on the sides and beneath ; 

 the wings subhyahne, the tegulse rufo-piceous, the nervures 

 ferruginous; the apical joints of the tarsi ferruginous, fringed 

 with fulvous pubescence; on the basal joints as well as on 'the 

 tibial it is rufo-fuscous; the posterior tibiae densely covered ex- 

 ternally with white pubescence, sometimes tinged with yellow ; 

 that at the apex as well as that on the basal joint*^ of the 

 tarsi dark fuscous, the tarsi ferruginous beneath. Abdomen 

 shining, very dehcately punctured, the apical margins of the 

 segments rufo-piceous, the third and fourth having a narrow 

 white fascia, the first usually interrupted, the apex covered with 

 fuscous pubescence, having^a few white hairs at the sides. 



Male. Length 4 lines. — Antennae nearly as long as the head 

 and thorax, the scape having a yellow spot in front, the fiagel- 

 lum fulvo-testaceous beneath ; the face below the insertion of S 

 the antennse and a spot at the base of the mandibles vellow ; 

 the thorax shining, punctured, and having a thin pale ftilvous 

 pubescence, at the sides of the metathorax it is griseous ; that 

 on the legs is short and pale fulvous; the apical joints of the 

 tarsi rufo-testaceous, the posterior tibiae and femora incrassate, 

 the calcaria pale testaceous. Abdomen globose and shining ; the 

 apical margins of the third and of the three following segments 

 have a narrow pale marginal fringe, the first interrupted. 



B.M. 



_ Of this rare insect only three British collections possess spe- 

 cimens, and these are all males ; that in the British Museum was 

 probably the first captured in this country, and was taken by Dr. 

 Leach ; the second was met with by Mr.' T, Walton in the New 

 Forest ; and Mr. Samuel Stevens captured a third at Weybridge, 

 July 4th, 1842. The species is no doubt very rare; not only the 

 precise spot where Mr. Stevens took it, but also the surrounding 

 country has been searched every season since its capture without 

 its being again met with. 



