Insects. 597 



coxae in front, and the trochanters at their apex, rufous ; all the fe- 

 mora black at their base beneath ; tibiae and tarsi rufous ; abdomen 

 rufous, first segment black at the base, all the margins rufo-piceous, 

 the second segment with a large, and the third a small, acute yellow 

 macula, the fourth with an entire fascia, and the fifth with a square 

 yellow patch ; beneath rufous, margins of segments dark piceous. 



This is the description of the typical specimen in the Linnean ca- 

 binet ; it is a dark-coloured specimen altogether. To attempt to 

 describe all the shades of variety into which this Protean species 

 runs, would fill a dozen pages at least ; I shall, therefore, content 

 myself with pointing out some extreme cases between which every 

 shade of variation occurs. Head ; the rufous ring enclosing the stem- 

 mata by degrees entirely disappears, as well as the line encircling the 

 eyes, until the faintest trace remains ; in extreme cases the scape of 

 the antennae will be nearly black, where that color predominates ge- 

 nerally : thorax ; by imperceptible degrees the four parallel rufous 

 lines disappear, as well as the rufous colouring on the coxae, and the 

 patch on the breast : the wings also vary in being less deeply co- 

 loured, particularly the apical margins : the abdomen varies in the 

 interrupted bands, in rare cases all are entire, or one, two, three or 

 four interrupted, sometimes the second almost entirely disappears. 



Colour. — The general rufous colouring varies from dark rufous to pale 

 bright red ; the latter generally occurs in specimens of the largest size. 



Male. The front of the scape, clypeus, labrum and mandibles, 

 yellow, the latter rufous at their tips ; antennae rufous, stained behind ; 

 clypeus clothed with silvery hair : thorax, tubercles, tegulae, and two 

 spots on the scutellum, rufous ; legs rufous ; coxae black, rufous at 

 their apex ; the trochanters black behind ; anterior and intermediate 

 femora beneath at their base black, the posterior black, with a rufous 

 line above and at their apex : abdomen rufous, first segment black at 

 the base, all the margins rufo-piceous, second segment with slightly 

 interrupted acute maculae, the third subinterrupted, the rest entire ; 

 beneath rufous, margins piceous, three or more of the segments with 

 entire yellow fasciae, their margins piceous. 



This sex varies in the same proportion as the female ; in small spe- 

 cimens the scape is black, with the faintest yellow line at the apex : 

 the two rufous spots on the scutellum is a very important character ; 

 in small specimens all the fasciae are interrupted, whilst in the largest 

 they are all entire ; every shade of variation occurs between. 



Panzer has figured the female and male, the latter under the name 

 of Nomada flava : the Apis leucophthalma of Kirby is al .o one of the 



