4. AISTDREXA. 29 



pubescence; wings subhyaline, nervures rufo -testaceous ; the legs 

 have a fuscous pubescence above, beneath it is pale fulvous, that on 

 the tarsi beneath ferruginous, the apical joints of the tarsi ferrugi- 

 nous. Abdomen ovate, the three basal segments red ; the base of 

 the abdomen, the apical margin of the third segment, and a quadrate 

 spot in the middle black, the three apical segments black, the apical 

 fimbria fusco-ferruginous. B.M. 



Male. Length 5-5| lines. — Black ; the face densely clothed with 

 sooty black pubescence ; the mandibles forcipate, ferruginous at their 

 apex, close to their base on the cheek an acute spine ; the antennae 

 nearly as long as the thorax, the joints subarcuate. The thorax 

 thinly clothed with fulvo-ochraceous pubescence ; the wings hyaline, 

 the nervures rufo -testaceous, the apical margins slightly clouded ; 

 the legs fusco-ferruginous ; the posterior tibiae and tarsi ferruginous, 

 their pubescence obscure fulvous. Abdomen lanceolate, coloured 

 as in the other sex. B.M. 



Yar. a. The apical margins of the first and second segments of the 

 abdomen red. 



Yar. jS. The margins very narrowly rufo-piceous. 



Yar. y. Abdomen black. 



This species appears early in April ; it was taken in some abun- 

 dance in 1858 near Exeter ; all the varieties of the male were taken 

 at that time, the highly coloured males being the smallest specimens. 

 It has also been taken at Highgate, Bexley and Birch Wood, Kent, 

 at Esher, and at Pembury, near Tunbridge Wells, at Lewes, and at 

 Hastings, and by Mr. Kirby at Barham, who has, by an oversight, 

 described his insect as being a female ; but he has ticketed it male 

 in his collection : the female of his description of Melitta rosce and 

 also the var. y belong to this species ; the other varieties are the 

 A. florea. Yar. /3 is not in the collection. 



4. Andrena decorata. 



A. atra; abdomine nigro, segmento primo secundoque marginibus 

 rufis ; scopa fulva. 



Andrena decorata, Smith, Zool. v. 1667 <$ $ 5 B ees Great Brit. 55. 



Female. Length 6-6^ lines. — Black; the flagellum rufo-piceous 

 beneath ; the face clothed with pale fulvous pubescence. Thorax 

 coarsely punctured; the sides of the metathorax have a dense pale 

 fulvous pubescence; the tegulae rufo-piceous, the nervures pale 

 testaceous ; the legs rufo-testaceous, and having a fulvous pubes- 

 cence, the scopa fulvous. Abdomen : the second segment and the 

 apical margin of the first red, the former having a transverse fuscous 

 stain in the middle, the apical fimbria fuscous. B.M. 



Yar. /3. iThe apical margins of the first and second segments red. 



Yar. y. The apical margin of the first segment red. 



Yar. S. The abdomen entirely black. 



Male. Length 5-b\ lines.- — Black ; the head rather wider than the 



