20 ANDEENID^. 



Male. Length 3-3^ lines. — Coloured as the female, with the addi- 

 tion of the base of the abdomen being black. The head slightly 

 subquadrate, and, as well as the thorax, closely punctured ; wings 

 hyaline and very faintly clouded at their apex ; the antennas sub- 

 moniliform. 



This species is very local ; it has been taken at Bristol, on Lundy 

 Island, at Camberwell, Charlton in Kent, and in Yorkshire. I 

 found a colony at Birch Wood, Kent, unmixed with any other spe- 

 cies of bee, both sexes being plentiful. The form of the head readily 

 distinguishes the female : the males approach closely those of S.gibbus; 

 but their heads are proportionally narrower, and their antennas are 

 rather shorter. 



4. Sphecodes ephippius. 



8. ater ; abdomine rufo, apice pedibusque nigro-piceis ; mandibulis, 

 tarsis tibiisque rufescentibus. 



Sphecodes ephippia, Smith, Bees Great Brit. 19. 

 Sphecodes ephippius, Smith, Entomol. (1867) 337. 



Scheneh, Nass. Bien. 305. 

 Sphex ephippia, Linn. Faun. Suec. 944 ; Syst. Nat. i. 944 ; et Cab. 



Mus. Linn. Soe. 

 Melitta divisa, Kirby, Mon. Apum Angl. ii. 49 tf . 

 Melitta geoflrella, Kirby, lib. cit. ii. 45 2 • 

 Sphecodes geoifrellus, St.-Farg. Hym. ii. 544. 



Wesm. Obs. Gen. Sphec. 7. 



Nylancl. Notis. vr Stilish, pro Faun, et Flo. Fenn. i. 194. 



Thorns. Opusc. Ent. 100 ; Hym. Scand. ii. 159. 



Female. Length 2|-3 lines. — Head and thorax black, shining, de- 

 licately punctured, closely so on the head, but scattered on the disk 

 of the thorax ; the flagellum, except a few of the basal joints, ful- 

 vous beneath ; the wings subhyaline, splendidly iridescent, the 

 nervures and tegulse rufo-testaceous ; the legs fusco-ferruginous, 

 the knees and the tarsi pale ferruginous. B.M. 



Male. Length 2-2\ lines. — This sex is coloured the same as the 

 female, but is more strongly punctured on the head and thorax ; 

 the antennas submoniliform, the flagellum fulvous beneath ; the 

 abdomen more or less black at the base and apex, having some- 

 times an immaculate red space between, or one or two transverse 

 black fasciae. B.M. 



The size alone would serve to distinguish this little bee from its 

 congeners; but it is subject to very considerable variety : the female 

 has sometimes the extreme base as well as the apex of the abdo- 

 men black, and the head occasionally subquadrate ; the legs are 

 sometimes nearly black. The males vary much in the degree of 

 colouring in the legs ; specimens occur with them pale testaceous 

 red ; the abdomen also varies much in its markings. I formerly 



