Plate XLIV. fig. 5.
ORDER: Hymenoptera. SECTION: Fossores. FAMILY: Scoliidæ.
GENUS. SCOLIA, _Fabr._ Sphex, _Drury_.
SCOLIA FOSSULANA. Atra, thorace flavido hirto, abdomine fasciis quatuor
flavis, intermediis dentatis. (Long. Corp. 1 unc.)
SYN. Scolia fossulana, _Fabr. Syst. Piez._ 242. _No._ 18.
Sphex plumipes, _Drury, App. vol._ 2.
HABITAT: New York.
Head pale yellow in front, black on the top and hairy. Antennæ black, and
shorter than the thorax. Neck hairy, lemon-coloured. Thorax black, and
covered with yellow hairs. Wings dark brown, almost transparent; not
folded or doubled together. Abdomen black underneath and lemon-coloured
above, where it has three black lines crossing it, two of them being
broadest in the middle. Anus and breast {99}black. Legs black and hairy;
the hinder ones being furnished with two remarkable long spines at the
tips of the tibiæ. Tarsi, particularly those of the hinder legs,
furnished with very strong hairs, or rather bristles at each of the
joints; pale yellow-coloured.
I should have retained the specific name given to this insect by Drury, on
account of its priority, but it is so inappropriate, not only being
applicable to one sex alone, the female, but the spines on the fore legs
being found throughout the genus, as well as in nearly all the burrowing
Hymenoptera. Fabricius has incorrectly referred this figure to his Scolia
radula, which has a spotted thorax.