Insects. 2041 



Mr. Kirby has quoted the male of this species, without a doubt, as 

 the Hylaeus quadricinctus of Fabricius, but the description of that 

 author makes no mention of the yellow antennae, nose, tibiae and tarsi 

 of our insect ; and as I find that in the preceding species described 

 by Fabricius he clearly points out such peculiarities, I think the syno- 

 nyme very doubtful. Walckenaer considers this species identical 

 with his Halictus nidulans, and says that he received a specimen from 

 Latreille ticketed ' H. quadricincta;' but his description satisfies me 

 that he is in error : " pedibus anoque villosis fulvis " applies rather 

 to H. rubicunda, and will not agree at all with the present species. 

 Presuming that Mr. Kirby has correctly united the sexes, no one could 

 I think overlook the remarkably dilated mandibles of the male. The 

 female may be known from the same sex of every other species with 

 which I am acquainted, by the abdomen being fuscous, and closely 

 and rather strongly punctured from base to apex, and by its being 

 very convex. I must protest against the practice of sinking the ori- 

 ginal name given to a species by its describer ; Walckenaer has in 

 more instances than the present done so, for he regarded his own 

 species synonymous with Mr. Kirby's : such names must and ought 

 to sink. The only specimens T have seen of this species are two males 

 and one female in the Kirbyan cabinet, and one female in that of the 

 British Museum. Mr. Kirby gives the locality of the neighbourhood 

 of London, captured by Dr. Latham and Mr. Marsham, still I have 

 always searched for it in vain. 



Sp. 2. Halictus rubtcundus. 

 Melitta rubicunda, Kirby. Apis flavipes. Panzer. Apis rubicunda, 



Christ. ? 



Female. — (Length 4 — 5 lines). Black ; the face clothed with short, 

 thin, pale fulvous pubescence ; the labrum bearded with golden yel- 

 low; the antennae slightly nigro-piceous at their apex beneath. Tho- 

 rax, the disk thinly clothed with ferruginous pubescence, palest on 

 the sides and on the metathorax, which is rotundate ; the tegulae fer- 

 ruginous ; the wings subhyaline, slightly clouded at their apical mar- 

 gins, the nervures testaceous; the apical joints of the anterior tarsi, 

 the intermediate tarsi and tibiae above, and the posterior tibiae and 

 tarsi entirely, fulvous, their pubescence of a golden yellow ; the basal 

 joint of the posterior tarsi has a dark stain above. Abdomen ovate, 

 smooth and shining, having a little pale pubescence at the base ; 

 viewed laterally, the abdomen has a thin, short, black pubescence ; 



