216 
BRITISH BEES. 
10. Icevis, Kirby, $ . 4 lines. 
11. fulvicornis, Kirby, <£. 4 lines. 
12. minutus, Kirby, S ? • 2|-3J lines. 
13. nitidiuscuius, Kirby, $ $ . 2-3 lines. 
14. minutissimus, Kirby, $ $ . l|-2^ lines. (Plate 
IV. fig. 3 <? ?.) 
15. j ftavipes, Kirby, £ 3-4 lines. (Plate IV. fig. 
?.) 
seladonia , Kirby. 
16. Smeathmanellus , Kirby, $ $ . 2J-3J lines. 
17. ceratus , Kirby, $ . 2J-3 lines. 
18. leucopus , Kirby, J" $ . 3-3J lines. 
19. morio, Kirby, ^ $ . 2-2J lines. 
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
This genus was named by Latreille from o\l£co, to 
crowd , or collect together , from the fact of their nidifi¬ 
cating in numbers on the same spot. 
The females closely resemble in form those of the 
genus Andrena, but the males are very unlike both 
those of that genus and their own females, for they all 
have long cylindrical bodies and very long antennae, 
much longer relatively than those of the former genus. 
Although none of the species approach in size the larger 
ones of the preceding genus, their extremes of specific 
size are as distant apart as they are in that genus, the 
smallest being extremely minute. Some of even the 
commoner species are very pretty when in fine con¬ 
dition, and several of them have a rich metallic green 
or blue tint, and in the majority the wings are iridescent 
with the brightest and gayest colours of the rainbow. 
The numbers in which they associate together upon the 
same spot varies considerably, and a very few indeed 
