SPHECODES. 
197 
first recurrent nervure in its centre, the second recurrent 
nervure springing from just beyond the centre of the 
third submarginai cell; legs slightly but rigidly spinose 
and setose; claws bifid. Abdomen ovate. 
The males differ, in having the antennae longer and 
sometimes moniliform, the lower part of the face and 
clypeus usually covered with a dense short silvery decum¬ 
bent pubescence, and they have the metathorax truncated 
at its base; in other respects they greatly resemble their 
females. 
The insects of this genus may be called glabrous, their 
pubescence being so slight and scattered, they usually 
shine brightly, and are more or less deeply punctured ; and 
the abdomen is always partially or entirely of a bright 
ferruginous red, sometimes verging into fuscous or pitchy. 
NATIVE SPECIES. 
i 
1. gibbus, Linnaeus, <$ ?. 3-4J lines. (Plate I. fig. 
3c??)- 
sphecoides. Kirby, $ . 
monilicornis , Kirby, • 
picea, Kirby, <$. 
2. Geoffroyella , Kirby, £ ? . 1-3 lines. 
divisa, Kirby, $. 
3 . fuscipennis, Germar, $ $ . 4J-6 lines. 
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
This genus is named from a wasp, from its 
apparent resemblance to some of the sand wasps. 
They are not uncommon insects, and I have found 
them abundant in sandy spots sporting in the sunshine 
upon the bare ground, where they run about with great 
activity, the females chiefly, the males the while dis- 
