EUMENES. 07 



1 possess some specimens, especially males, which, without 

 exactly resembling the others, do not yet seem sufficiently different 

 to constitute another species: — 



1st. Petiole shorter and wider, with a longitudinal indistinct 

 groove ; second segment short, and all the segments bordered 

 with whitish; wing scales ferruginous; the thorax quite villose. 

 Size smaller. (Iowa.) 



2d. Wing scales black or marked with a yellow dot; wing 

 entirely bluish, as if steeped in pale ink, with some violent 

 reflections, without any reddish or brownish tint; seen by their 

 transparence, they have this same gray-violet color, while in the 

 type they appear brown. Hooks of the antennas blackish; the 

 second segment seen in profile less dilated above, smoother, and 

 less punctured. Size smaller. (New York.) 



Hab, The eastern part of the United States. Yery common. 



This insect extends from New Orleans to Canada. I have 

 more than forty specimens, which I have collected in Louisiana, 

 in South Carolina, in New York, or which have been sent me 

 from Tennessee, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania (Haldcman), Illinois 

 (B. F. Walsh), Connecticut (E. Norton). 



The species is very distinct in its appearance. Though pre- 

 senting a great similarity in form and coloration to the small 

 European Eumenes {E. coarctatus), it can easily be distinguished 

 from it by the much greater size, by the black, shining, not 

 pilose body, on which the markings are little extended, and the 

 color straw-yellow or whitish; by its black scutellum, with the 

 post-scutel always yellow and often presenting two dots at the 

 summit of the metathorax; by its smoky or violet wings; finally 

 by its body, strongly cribrose, even on the abdomen. 



These characters, as well as the but little variable markings 

 of this insect, form a peculiar appearance which enables one to 

 recognize it at first sight. It is a species really special to 

 America, and which cannot well be taken for a variety of E. 

 ooarctatus Lin. Although the males, of which the size is often 

 less and among which the characters of the species are generally 

 less well developed, resemble closely those o( the E. coarctatus, 

 one can, nevertheless, distinguish them by these characters and 

 the much stronger punctures o\' the abdomen. 



This Eumenes has habits analogous to those o( the Eumenes 

 of Europe. It constructs with argillaceous earth a oest which. 

 1 



