40 



AKDKENID^. 



taceous within. Abdomen ovate-lanceolate, shining, and thinly 

 clothed with long pale fulvo-ochraceous pubescence, the extreme 

 apex pale testaceous. B.M. 



In the Catalogue of British Hymenoptera, the name bicolor of 

 Fabricius was adopted for this species, as had been done by St.- 

 Fargeau and Lucas ; but I feel great pleasure in being able to retain 

 that of clarJcella, particularly as Mr. Kirby named it in honour of 

 Mr. Bracy Clark. Dr. Nylander having seen a typical specimen of 

 the A. bicolor of Fabricius in Sehestedt's Museum, states that it is the 

 insect named A. cestiva, and which Mr. Kirby had included in M. 

 gwynana, probably considering it a mere variety. On referring to 

 the first description of A. bicolor in the ' Systema Entomologige,' 

 we find that Fabricius says, " affinis et succinctce, at abdomen im- 

 maculatum ;" in all his subsequent works, the ' Entomologia Syste- 

 matica ' excepted, he has omitted this observation ; from which it 

 appears that A. clarJcella has no relation to the species described as 

 A. bicolor. But Dr. Nylander has set the matter at rest. 



JNo bee is known which has a wider geographical range than A. 

 clarJcella : it is found in all parts of the United Kingdom, appa- 

 rently preferring elevated situations ; it occurs in France, Germany, 

 Lapland, Finland, Denmark, and Sweden ; it has also been found in 

 Algeria ; and there is a series of specimens in the British Museum 

 from Nova Scotia. 



This bee is usually the first which appears in spring — as early as 

 the 4th of March in 1849 ; but the weather that season was unusu- 

 ally mild ; the general time for its appearance is about the third 

 week of March. I have frequently dug both sexes out of the same 

 burrow, and have more than once observed the sexes in coitu, first in 

 1840. Males are sometimes captured in spring before the snow has 

 quite disappeared. 



The female is subject to vary ; the second variety is the colour of 

 most of the specimens from Nova Scotia, and appears to be the 

 common northern form of the species. 



All the specimens received from Scotland belong to this latter 

 variety. 



Div. IV. Species having a fringe of long pale pubescence on the 

 apical margins of the segments. 



18. Andrena gwynana. 



A. atra, villosa ; thorace, abdomine antice, scopaque tibiarum posti- 

 carum ferrugineis. 



Andrena gwynana, Smith, Zool. v. 1742 j Bees Great Brit. 67. 

 Nyland. Notis. ur Sallsk. pro Faun, et Flo. Fenn. i. 113. 

 Schenck, Nass. Bien. 243. 

 Melitta gwynana, Kirby, Mon. Apum Anc/l. ii. 120 S 2 • 



