1146 Insects, 



Descriptions of the British Species of Bees belonging to the Genera 

 Melecta (Latreille), Epeolus (Latreille), Ccelioxys (Latreille), and 

 Stelis (Panzer). By Frederick Smith, Esq. 



The various species of which these genera are composed, belong to 

 the class termed cuckoo or parasitic bees, and are not therefore fur- 

 nished with any apparatus for collecting food for their young ; having 

 neither pollen-bush beneath the abdomen, nor pollen-plates on the 

 posterior tibiae. 



The genus Melecta contains some of the most elegant and beauti- 

 fully adorned species of bees. In England, as far as my observation 

 has enabled me to determine, we possess only two species ; they are 

 both black, more or less varied and spotted with white ; they are pa- 

 rasitic upon the two British species of Anthophora. I have observed 

 Melecta punctata entering the burrows of both species : Melecta 

 Atropos (Newman) I have hitherto found only entering the burrows 

 of Anthophora Haworthana, and that in several situations, but I by 

 no means conclude that it does not also enter those of A. retusa. The 

 females of the typical species, Melecta punctata, are subject to great 

 variation, being more or less marked and spotted with white; but 

 it is sometimes totally black, with every shade of gradual approach 

 thereto. The males appear less subject to vary in this respect. 

 These variations in colouring have led to the making of several spe- 

 cies by various authors, which I shall point out in my synonymy of 

 the species. 



Of the genus Epeolus we possess only the typical species, the Apis 

 variegata of Linnaeus, of which there is a specimen preserved in the 

 Linnean cabinet, with the name attached, in the handwriting of that 

 author. It is a male specimen, and that sex has the scutellum inva- 

 riably black ; whereas, in the opposite sex, it has two red spots. 

 This distinguishing difference, which was not known to Mr. Kirby at 

 the time he published his Monographia, accounts for the difference 

 observed by that author between his own specimens and that in the 

 Linnean cabinet. The economy of this species rested entirely upon 

 conjecture, as far as I know, until I had the good fortune to find spe- 

 cimens in the cocoons of Colletes, about three years ago. I have 

 again, this year, met with them in the same situation. It is a local 

 insect, but may usually be found about the burrows of Colletes Da- 

 viesana, wherever a colony of this bee is to be met with. 



