1450 Insects. 



Only one species of this genus has been discovered in this country, 

 the Apis longicornis of Linnaeus. There are four enumerated in the 

 British lists ; Apis linguaria of Kirby is a small, long-disclosed spe- 

 cimen of Eucera longicornis; of this I have satisfied myself beyond a 

 doubt, having visited an extensive colony on many occasions for some 

 years. I have found the males differ considerably in size, and the 

 original colour of the pubescence, a rich fulvous brown, changes gra- 

 dually by exposure to cinereous or gray. The third Kirbyan species, 

 A. pollinaris, a female, is a well-known North- American insect; the 

 specimen which Mr. Kirby described is still in the Banksian cabinet. 

 The fourth species, A. Druriella of Kirby, is also a foreign insect; I 

 have seen it in several collections, but do not know its precise 

 locality. 



Sp. 1. Eucera longicornis. 



Female. — Length 6 J — 7 J lines. Black ; the face clothed with short 

 pale fulvous hair, and the labrum with fulvous ; antennae not so long as 

 the head and thorax ; the thorax densely clothed above with a rich 

 fulvous pubescence, on the sides and beneath it becomes a very pale 

 yellow ; the tegulae ferruginous ; the apical margins of the wings tinged 

 with brown, the nervures ferruginous ; all the legs above have a ful- 

 vous pubescence ; the posterior tibiae and first joint of the tarsi have 

 a bright fulvous pubescence ; the calcaria testaceous, tarsi beneath 

 ferruginous, the claws rufous, tipped with black ; abdomen broad, 

 closely and minutely punctured, the basal segment thinly clothed 

 with pale fulvous hair, the second and third at the extreme lateral 

 margin, and the fourth entirely clothed with a silvery white pubes- 

 cence, the fifth with fulvous, and the sixth with ferruginous hair, 

 with a bare patch in the centre ; beneath, one or two of the apical 

 segments have a marginal fringe of pale fulvous hair. 



Male. — Length 6 — 7 lines. Black ; clypeus and labrum yellow, the 

 face has a fulvous pubescence ; the antennae as long as the entire in- 

 sect ; the thorax fulvous above ; the legs have also a fulvous pubes- 

 cence, as well as the two first segments of the abdomen, the third and 

 fourth have a short thin black pubescence, the apical segments 

 fulvous. 



Eucera longicornis is a local, but extremely abundant insect in some 

 situations. It forms its burrows about six or eight inches deep in a 

 stiff clayey soil, and the larva spins a brown tough cocoon ; in some 

 cells I have found its parasite the Nomada sexfasciata ; the per- 

 fect insect appears usually about the last week in May. It is very 



