1 1 50 Insects. 



fifth segment of the abdomen. This sex is the Melecta Atropos of 

 Newman. 



This is an extremely beautiful species. It is very local : some 

 years ago I found the males abundant near the telegraph in Coomb- 

 wood. They were in company with Anthophora Haworthana, of 

 which insect there was a large colony. Since that time I have only 

 occasionally taken a specimen : I took one this season in Hants, in 

 June. There is a fine series in the cabinet of the Entomological Club. 

 A specimen in the collection of the Entomological Society, was re- 

 ceived from M. Passerini of Florence, and named Melecta notata, I 

 think of Tlliger, but I have not been able to find his description. 



Genus. — Epeolus, Latreille, Jurine, St. Fargeau. 

 Nomada, Fabricius, Panzer. Apis, Linnaeus, Kirby. 



Three submarginal cells. Maxillary palpi one-jointed. 



Epeolus variegatus, Latreille. 



Female. — Length, 3J — 4 lines. Black. The face clothed with 

 silvery hair. Anterior portion of the labrum and the mandibles fer- 

 ruginous. The third joint of the antennae ferruginous beneath, the 

 rest piceous. Thorax, the collar clothed with a fine yellow pubes- 

 cence, two lines on the prothorax, another from the collar to the tegu- 

 lae, and a round spot behind them, reddish yellow ; a large patch of 

 white pubescence beneath the wings, and also more or less upon the 

 metathorax laterally. The scutellum red, and on each side of it an 

 obtuse tooth, usually red at the tip. Anterior femora above, and the 

 intermediate and posterior ones black. Abdomen, at the base and 

 on the margin of the first segment an interrupted white fascia, at the 

 margins of the second, third and fourth segments two ovate maculae, 

 those on the third generally united, a single one on the fifth, and a 

 silvery spot at the apex of the sixth ; the abdomen beneath is dark 

 piceous, and the three apical segments have a thin white pubescence. 



Male. — Length, 2f — 3|- lines. This sex only differs from the fe- 

 male in having the markings more nearly pure white, the antennae 

 entirely black, the scutellum black, and the intermediate and poste- 

 rior tibiae have a dark stain within ; and in the fasciae at the base of 

 the first segment being frequently united. 



This beautiful little bee, the only one of the genus hitherto disco- 

 vered in England, is a local insect, and as far as my observation has 

 enabled me to determine, appears to be parasitic only upon the Col- 



