Plate XLV. fig. 3.
ORDER: Hymenoptera. SECTION: Mellifera. FAMILY: Apidæ, _Leach_.
GENUS. CENTRIS, _Fabr._ Apis, _Linn. Drury_.
CENTRIS GROSSA. Aureo-viridis, nitida; antennis pedibusque nigris. (Magn.
Bomb. terrestr.)
SYN. Apis grossa, _Drury, App. vol._ 2.
HABITAT: Jamaica.
Head black, inclining to blue, with a mixture of green. Eyes large.
Antennæ black, and shorter than the thorax. Tongue yellow, and secured
within its brown case. Thorax shining, of a dark golden green, with a
mixture of blue, having a few black hairs on it. Wings membranaceous and
brown. Abdomen of the colour of the thorax, but underneath more of a
mazarine blue. Breast the same. Legs hairy and black; posterior tibiæ
more so than the others.
This fine species appears nearly allied to the Centris versicolor, Fabr.
(Syst. Piez. 359. 23.) which is an inhabitant of the Islands of America,
but which is described thus, "thorace hirto cinerascente, abdomine cyaneo,
ano rufescente."