144 



apid^:. 



cealing the teeth that arm the scutellum. In his description of the 

 female will be found, " Tibiae spinulis atris." This is a mistake, 

 the spines of the typical specimen being rufo-testaceous, which he 

 states to be characteristic of his var. /3. minor. Dr. Gerstaecker has 

 questioned whether this is Nylander's species ; but I have no doubt, 

 as I possess that species from the author. 



C. mandibulars, I believe, is only founded upon specimens that 

 have the mandibles partly opened, a circumstance that has been 

 overlooked, and the geniculated appearance of the mandibles has 

 been mistaken for a specific characteristic. (See PI. IX. fig. 2 h.) 



This is the commonest species of the genus, and has been bred 

 from nests of Megachile ligniseca, M. willughbiella, and M. circum- 

 cincta. Some small specimens were taken on the sandhills near 

 Deal, where M. argentata abounds ; it is probable that it is also 

 parasitic on that species. 



3. Ccelioxys umbrina. 



C. atra, capite thoraceque punctulatissimis ; scutello utrinque dente 

 incurvo armato, margine postico rotundato. 



Ccelioxys umbrina, Smith, Zool. iii. 1153 ; Bees Great Brit. 148. 

 Apis quadridentata, Panz. Faun. Germ. 55. 13 $ (nee Linn.). 



Female. Length 4-5 lines.— Black ; the head and thorax very 

 strongly and closely punctured ; the pubescence on the face dense 

 and pale fulvous, it is also of the same colour on the thorax but 

 rather paler ; the posterior margin of the scutellum rounded and 

 with a short curved tooth at its base laterally ; wings fusco-hya- 

 line, with a fuscous cloud at their apical margins. Abdomen shi- 

 ning, punctured, most strongly so at the base ; the valves of the 

 apical segment of nearly equal length, the ventral plate a little 

 longer than the upper one, its apex angulate. B.M. 



Male. Length 3-4 lines. — Very like the male of C. elongata ; but 

 the fifth segment is not produced laterally at its apical margin into 

 a spine ; the sixth segment has a short spine on each side, and is 

 produced between these into two bifurcate processes, the teeth at 

 their apex being short, straight, and subacute, the lower teeth pro- 

 jecting beyond the upper ones ; the latter not divergent outwardly 

 as in C. elongata. (See PL IX. figs. 2 1, 2 u, 2 n.) B.M. 



A pair of this local species were taken in Hampshire some years 

 ago ; they were recently disclosed, and their pubescence of a rich 

 umber colour, which soon fades to the colouring described. The insect 

 is parasitic on Saropoda bimaculata ; it has been subsequently found 

 in abundance entering its burrows and on the flowers of the bramble 

 in Sandown Bay, Isle of Wight, in the month of July. The apical 

 segment of the female is like that of O. rufescens ; but the apex of 

 the ventral plate is sharply oblique on each side, forming an angular 



