146 BEES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



long again as the superior one ; this of course only applies to 

 the females — the males have no such marked distinctive differ- 

 ences, and are much more puzzling and difficult to determine ; 

 some characters will however be found in the num^ber^ [form and 

 situation of the teeth which arm the apical segments. The value 

 of the form of the ventral plates as a specific character has been 

 tested by an examination of upwards of three hundred indivi- 

 duals of C. umhrinay also of seventy examples of C. Vectis : 

 this character appears to be the best hitherto discovered. 



1, CcBlioxys qnadridentata. 



C atra; scutello utrinque dentato, margine postico obtuse sub- 



angulato ; abdomine conico, segmentis margine albidis ; ano 

 maris dentato, 



I 



Apis qnadridentata, Linn, Faun. Suec, 1703 ; S^st. Nat. i. 958. 29, 

 Sf Cab, Mus, Linn. Soc. 



Fabr, Syst, Ent, p. 386, 49 ; Ent, Syst. ii. 340. 112. 



Panz, Faun, Germ, 55. 13. 

 Apis conica, Linn, Faun, Suec, no. 1705 ; Syst, Nat, i. 958. 32, Sf 



Cab, Mus. Linn, Soc, 

 Anthophora quadridentata, Fabr, Syst. Piez. p. 379. 32. 

 Antbophora conica, Fabr, Syst. Piez, p. 380. 33 $ . 

 Megachile conica, Latr^ Hist, Nat, 53. 4. 

 Coelioxys conica, Latr, Gen. Crust, et Ins. iv. 167 ? 



Zett, Ins, Lapjj. p. 4G8. 1 ? 

 Coelioxys quadridentata, Smith, Zool. iii. 1151. 

 CoeUoxys acuta, Nyland, Ajj. Boreal, p. 250, 1. 



Female, Length 5 lines. — Black ; head and thorax roughly 

 punctured, the face with a yellowish-white pubescence, the 

 anterior margin of the clypeus having a dense pale fulvous 

 fringe ; the eyes pubescent. Thorax ; the posterior margin of 

 the scutellum obtusely angulate and armed on each side with a 

 short tooth ; the w™gs fusco-hyaline, their margins clouded. 

 Abdomen shining, having scattered deep punctures ; the apical 

 segment very closely and finely punctured, subopake, and having 

 a slight longitudinal carina, the apex of the segment lanceo- 

 late ; the ventral plate lanceolate, elongate, produced beyond 

 the superior plate, and having a lanceolate appendage at the 

 apex. B M. 



Male, Length 4| lines. — Black, punctured as in the other sex, 

 the face having a dense silvery- white pubescence; the thorax 

 as in the other sex ; the apical segment of the abdomen pro- 

 duced into two stout bifurcate appendages, having on each 

 side at their base a stout straight acute tooth. B.M. 



