144 BEES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



Female. Length 3|-4 lines.— Black ; the face clothed with 

 short silvery-white pubescence, the labrum and mandibles fer- 

 ruginous, the former having usually a dark stain on each side 

 at the base ; the flagellum ferruginous at the base beneath. 

 The collar covered with yellowish-white pubescence, and two 

 abbreviated hues emanating from it in the middle ; the scutel- 

 lum, tubercles, tegulse and legs, ferruginous ; a large patch of 

 short white pubescence beneath the wings, and a spot behind 

 the tegulse ; the sides and base of the metathorax variegated 

 with white pubescence ; on each side of the scutellum a broad 

 angular tooth; the wings subhyaline, their margins faintly 

 clouded. Abdomen : an interrupted white band at the basal and 

 apical margins of the first segment, uniting at the lateral mar- 

 gins ; the second, third and fourth segments have on each side 

 a broad hne of white pubescence, that on the third and fourth 

 attenuated in the middle, or interrupted ; the fifth has a spot 

 in the middle and another on each side ; beneath, ferruginous 

 towards the base, and the margins of the three apical segments 

 with bands of w^hite pubescence. B.M. 



Var. /3. The femora more or less rufo-testaceous. 



Male, — This sex only differs from the female in having the labrum 

 usually and the scutellum always black ; the coxee, trochanters, 

 and base of the femora, are usually black. B.M. 



+ 



This pretty little bee is very abundant in many parts of Kent, 

 Surrey, and Hampshire ; it is also met with at Southend in Essex; 

 it is however local ; wherever Colletes Daviesana is found, Epeo- 

 lus, its parasite, is to be met with ; it has been found in the 

 burrows of that bee. It usually appears early in July; the males 

 pass a great portion of their time reposing in flowers, particularly 

 on the heads of the Ragwort ; they^are also partial to the Mouse- 

 ear Hawkweed, and may frequently be found enclosed in the 

 petals of the flowers ; the habit of this bee is very sluggish, they 

 are easily captured by hand, their sting is very acute. 



Genus L CffiLIOXYS. 



Apis, pt., Linn. Faun, Suec. p. 419 (1761), 

 Anthophora, pt., Fabr. Syst. Piez. p. 372 (1804). 

 MegachilC; pt., Latr, Hist. Nat. 53. sec. 3 (1805), 

 Coelioxys, Latr. Gen. Crust, et Ins. iv. 166 (1809). 



Head as wide as the thorax ; the ocelli placed in a triangle on 

 the vertex ; the eyes lateral, elongate, and covered with pubes- 

 cence. The labial palpi four-jointed, the two basal joints elon- 



f 



