PANURQUS. 229 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Uavovpjo'; signifies one excessively industrious, at 

 least as it is applied here, although it has other less 

 meritorious meaningSj but these insects can scarcely be 

 considered more energetic than any of their associates ; 

 perhaps the contrast made between the bright yellow 

 pollen and their lugiibrious vestment might give the 

 idea of very active collecting, they being usually, upon 

 returning from their foray, almost entirely disguised in 

 the produce of their excursion. They are rather re- 

 markable insects from their intensely black colour and 

 their compact active forms ; their square head and short 

 clavate antennae give them a sturdy business-like ap- 

 pearance. They also are silent on the wing, but being 

 at the very van of the present subfamily, forming as 

 it were the advanced picket of the ApidcB, it may be 

 considered suitable that they should retain, by way of 

 partial disguise, some of the characteristics of the pre- 

 ceding subfamily. In many respects, therefore, they 

 closely approach Dasijpoda : thus their legs are similarly 

 furnished with hair, relatively as long and having the 

 same spiral twist, and their whole habit is that of one of 

 the AndrenidcB, excepting that their clavate antennae, 

 and the folding of their tongue in repose, separate them 

 from that subfamily. They are local insects, but extremely 

 abundant when fallen upon. I used to find the first 

 species upon an elevated plateau, on the south side over- 

 hanging the Vale of Health and its large pond at Hamp- 

 stead. Every Dandelion, for a wide circuit in the vicinity, 

 was crowded with individuals — assiduously collecting, 

 in the case of females, but basking in sunny indolence, 

 and revelling in the attractions of the flower, in the case 



