1736 Insects. 



Mr. Kirby's Melitta melanocephala is a variety of the male of this 

 species. This bee appears in June, or the latter part of May in some 

 seasons : it is a local insect ; I have taken it in plenty in the sand- 

 pits at Charlton Kent ; also at Hawley, Hampshire. It burrows 

 in sand-banks, and is very fond of collecting its pollen from thistle- 

 heads : the female differs in the colouring of the wings, being 

 sometimes very slightly coloured, and the marginal cloud almost 

 obsolete. 



Sp. 16. Andrena nitida, Fab.— St. Fargeau. 

 Apis nitida, Fourcroy. Melitta nitida, Kirby. 



Female.— (Length 5 J— 6 J- lines). Black ; the pubescence on the 

 face fuscous ; the antennae nigro-piceous beneath. Thorax clothed 

 above with fulvous hair ; the wings subhyaline, a cloud on their mar- 

 gins ; the femora beneath have a fringe of white hair ; the pubescence 

 on the tibiae and tarsi is fuscous ; the floccus white; the scopa black 

 above, beneath nearly white. Abdomen sub-ovate, shining, the three 

 anterior segments have a patch of white hair at their lateral margins ; 

 the anal fimbria is of a brown-black ; beneath, the margins of the 

 segments have a long fringe of whitish hair. 



Male.— (Length 5—6 lines). Black ; the face clothed with pale 

 fulvous hair, inclining to white on the clypeus ; the apical joints of 

 the antennae slightly piceous beneath. Thorax fulvous above, and 

 the femora beneath fringed with white hair. Abdomen ovate-lanceo- 

 late, with a thin scattered pale pubescence ; the extreme apex with a 

 few short fulvous hairs. 



This species is very generally distributed; it appears in April, 

 and is particularly fond of the flowers of the common dandelion, 

 in which they completely cover themselves with pollen. St. Far- 

 geau considered Mr. Kirbys Melitta pratensis to be a variety of 

 the male of this species, but in this he is mistaken, the face of M. pra- 

 tensis being clothed with black hair ; it is, as I have shown, a variety 

 of the male of A. atra. 



Sp. 17. Andrena consimilis, Smith. 



Female.— (Length 7 lines). Black ; the face clothed with a white 

 pubescence, becoming fuscous at the base of the antennae, which are 

 nigro-piccous. Thorax clothed with fulvous pubescence above, 

 that on the femora beneath is white ; all the femora and the anterior 



