cxxvi Mr. F. Smith's Descriptions 



Family — Crabronid.e. 

 Genus — Ceratophorus, Shk. 

 Ceratophorus anthracinus. 



Female : 3| lines. Black, head subquadrate, not narrowing towards the thorax, 

 punctured rather deeply and distantly, thinly pubescent ; in the centre of the face just 

 above the insertion of the antennae an obtuse tubercle, pear-shaped ; its base being the 

 narrowest end ; the clypeus bidentate : the labrum triangular, prominent, smooth and 

 shining, and grooved down the centre ; the mandibles bidentate : the thorax shining 

 and pubescent, with scattered punctures on the disk, the metathorax rugose, excepting 

 a broad, half-circular, shining space, which encloses a subcordiform one: the wings 

 fusco-hy aline, the nervures black : the abdomen very smooth and shining, pubescent 

 towards the apex ; the apical segment coarsely punctured and deeply grooved down 

 the centre. 



A single specimen in my own collection. 



The species of this genus, as well as those belonging to the genera Diodontus and 

 Passalcecus, are extremely difficult to determine, but the excellent descriptions of Mr. 

 Shuckard, in his ' Essay on the Fossorial Hymenoptera,' have in a great measure re- 

 moved the difficulties,'still they require very careful examination. The present species, 

 which was captured by Mr. S. Stevens, in Devonshire, I have hesitated in describ- 

 ing until I could satisfy myself of its distinctness from C. movio : the above descrip- 

 tion will, I trust, enable the student to recognize its specific differences ; which, 

 independently of its large size, preclude, T think, the possibility of its being a variety 

 of morio. The species of this genus are rare. 



Genus — Crabro, Fab. 

 Crabro interstinctus. 



Male : length 3 lines. Black, head subquadrate, minutely and closely punctured, 

 the stemmata placed in a triangle on the vertex ; a smooth, impressed line running 

 from the anterior stemma to the deep canaliculation of the face, the clypeus carinated 

 in the centre, and covered with silvery pile ; the scape of the antennae yellow towards 

 the apex, the third and fourth joints beneath deeply emarginate, and produced into 

 a tooth at their apex ; the thorax closely covered with minute, elongate punctures ; 

 the metathorax rugose, and having seven or eight short, elevated lines, running down 

 from the post-scutellum, and also a longitudinal incisure, the posterior portion is 

 transversely striated : the wings hyaline, their nervures and tegulae piceous ; the ante- 

 rior tibia in front, the posterior pair above, and the anterior and intermediate tarsi 

 yellow : the second, third, fourth and fifth segments of the abdomen have on each 

 side an ovate, yellow spot, and the basal margin of the sixth is yellow. 



In my own collection. 



This insect is extremely distinct from any hitherto described British species of the 

 genus : it was captured by W. Hewitson, Esq., at Wcybridge, and I am indebted to 

 his liberality for its possession. This season, he informs me, he again observed the 

 species in the same locality, but had not at the time the means of capturing it. 



