1. COLLETES. 3 



punctata, feeds upon the larvae. This Dipterous insect is very nume- 

 rous in some colonies of these bees, and must greatly reduce their 

 numbers ; another parasite is a species of cuckoo-bee, Ejjeolus varie- 

 gatus, whose larvae feed upon the food stored up by the Colletes for 

 her own offspring. Probably the destruction of the food, as well as 

 of the larvae, is greatest by the omnivorous insect Forficula ; these 

 I have found in the burrows in considerable numbers ; and in 

 some colonies I suspect more than half of the brood is devoured by 

 these destructive insects. 



1. Colletes succincta. 



C. nigra, albido villosa, thorace fulvo ; abdomine ovato, segmentis 

 margine albis. 



Colletes succincta, Smith, Zool. iv. 1276 ; Bees Great Brit. 3 <$ $ • 



Nyland. Notis. ur Stilish, pro Faun, et Flo. Fenn. i. 206. 



Schenek, Nass. Bien. 300. 



Thorns. Opus. Ent. 14 ; Hym. Scand. ii. 163. 

 Apis succincta, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 955. 



Christ. Hym. 185, tab. 15. fig. 7. 

 Melitta succincta, Kirby, Mon. Apum Angl. ii. 32 <$ £ ■ 

 Apis calendarum, Panz. Faun. Germ. 83. 19 J . 

 Megilla calendarum, Fair. Syst. Piez. 335. 



Spin. Ins. Ligur. ii. 197. 

 Colletes fodiens, Curtis, Brit. Ent. ii. 85. fig. 85. 



St.- Far g. Hym. ii. 298. 



Female. Length 5-5| lines. — Black ; the clypeus roughly punctured, 

 the punctures uniting and forming striae at its apex ; the vertex 

 and the thorax above clothed with fulvous pubescence ; beneath it 

 is griseous ; the pubescence on the tibiae and tarsi pale fulvous, the 

 claws ferruginous, the calcaria rufo-testaceous ; the wings hyaline, 

 their nervures and the tegula ferruginous. Abdomen shining, 

 closely and finely punctured, the punctures strongest on the basal 

 segment ; its apical margin rufo-piceous, and with a little pale 

 fulvous pubescence at its base ; the apical margin of all the segments 

 with a fascia of pale pubescence, usually widely interrupted on the 

 basal segment. 



Male. Length 3^-4^ lines. — Black ; the face densely clothed with 

 pale fulvous pubescence ; on the vertex and thorax above it is 

 fulvous ; on the cheeks, thorax beneath, and on the legs it is 

 griseous ; the antennae about the length of the thorax. Abdomen 

 elongate-ovate, closely and more strongly punctured than in the 

 female ; the apical margins of the segments with pale pubescent 

 fasciae ; beneath, the segments have a fringe of white pubescence. 



This species is generally distributed, and frequently found on the 

 heath on open commons during July and August. 



b2 



