6. HALICTUS. 101 



ferruginous ; thorax shining, the wings hyaline and iridescent ; the 

 apical joints of the tarsi rufo- testaceous ; abdomen elongate, the 

 margins of the intermediate segments depressed. B.M. 



The female of this species most closely resembles that of H. villo- 

 sulus ; but the strongly punctured thorax will at once distinguish 

 the latter from it. The short ovate abdomen separates it from IT. 

 longulus, and the absence of fasciae on the segments from H. 

 subfasciatus ; from IT. nigricornis it differs in having the nagellum 

 fulvous beneath. It is universally distributed. 



29. Halictus nitidiusculus. 



H. niger, glabriusculus, antennis subtus f ulvis ; thorace glabro, punc- 

 tulato ; tegulis testaceis. 



Halictus nitidiusculus, Smith, Zool. vi. 2103 ; Bees Great Brit. 43 ; 

 Fntomol iv. 267 <$ $ . 



Nyland. Notis. ur Sdllsh. pro Faun, et Flo. Fenn. ii. 246. 

 Thorns. Opusc.Ent. 311 ; Hym. Scand. ii. 146. 

 Melitta nitidiuscula, Kirby, Mon. Apum Angl. ii. 64 <$ . 

 Hylseus nitidiusculus, Schenck, Nass. Bien. 290. 



Female. Length 2-3 lines. — Black ; the nagellum fulvous beneath. 

 Thorax very obscurely nigro-asneous, very finely punctured, the 

 tegulee and nervures pale testaceous, the legs more or less testaceous, 

 the tarsi rufo- testaceous. Abdomen sometimes rufo-testaceous, 

 seldom black, very delicately punctured, and shining at the base, the 

 margins of the segments slightly testaceous. B.M. 



Male. Length 2\-2\ lines. — The face has a fine short white pubes- 

 cence ; the nagellum bright fulvous beneath ; the clypeus at the 

 apex, the labrum, and mandibles yellowish white. Thorax shining, 

 the metathorax rotundate, finely roughened at the base, beyond 

 which it is smooth and shining ; the tegulas pale, the wings sub- 

 hyaline and iridescent ; the base and apex of the tibise and 

 the tarsi pale j^ellow. Abdomen elongate, shining; the three 

 intermediate segments have beneath, on each side, a floccus of pale 

 hairs. B.M. 



The colour of both sexes varies in different examples, the males 

 being most subject to it. The abdomen of the females is some- 

 times rufo-testaceous, the legs being usually so. The males are 

 frequently entirely of a rufo-testaceous colour, and are readily dis- 

 tinguished from the males of all other British species by the long 

 floccus of hair on the margins of the abdominal segments beneath. 

 This species appears to be more subject to the attack of a species of 

 Stylops than any other belonging to this genus, the parasite having 

 been found in both sexes. 



