I have usually caught these insects settled upon the leaves of shrubs, especially of fruit bushes, particularly that of the black currant, upon which, in a favourable locality, many bees, as well as numerous small fossorial _Hymenoptera_ may be found in genial weather. I have never caught them upon flowers, nor do I know what flowers they frequent. The end of May, if warm, and throughout June, they are usually found most abundantly.
Genus 18. CŒLIOXYS, _Latreille_. (Plate XII. fig. 1 ♂ ♀.) APIS ** _c_ 1 _α_, _Kirby_.
_Gen. Char._: BODY subglabrous. HEAD transverse, concave posteriorly to fit the anterior portion of the thorax; _ocelli_ in a triangle on the vertex; _antennæ_ filiform, short, subgeniculated, the basal joint of the flagellum globose, the second subclavate, and all from the second subequal, the terminal joint compressed laterally; _face_ flat, very pubescent; _clypeus_ ovate, concavely truncated in front, its surface convex; _labrum_ oblong, with its sides parallel, but with lateral processes at its articulation; _mandibles_ broad, quadridentate; _cibarial apparatus_ long, the _tongue_ very long, nearly three times the length of the labium, linear but slightly inflated in the centre, and thence tapering to its extremity, and slightly covered with a very short down; _paraglossæ_ wholly wanting; _labial palpi_ membranous, the two first joints long, the second slightly the longest, and both tapering to the extremity of the second, which is acute, and has the third joint, which is very short and subclavate, articulated before the extremity, with the terminal one of equal length, and rounded at the apex, appended to it; _labium_ about one-third the length of the tongue, its inosculation trifid and equal, and the central division acute; _maxillæ_ subhastate and acuminate, not quite so long as the tongue; _maxillary palpi_ very short, three-jointed, the basal joint the smallest, the second the most robust, and the terminal one ovate. THORAX subglobose; _prothorax_ inconspicuous; _mesothorax_ convex; _wing-scales_ large; _scutellum_ produced horizontally, and impending over the post-scutellum and metathorax, and having at each lateral extremity an acute, slightly-curved tooth projecting backwards; _metathorax_ abruptly truncated; _wings_ with two submarginal cells and a third commenced, the first slightly the longest, the second receiving both the recurrent nervures, the first near its commencement, and the second close to its termination; _legs_ slender, spinulose externally on the tibiæ; _claws_ rather long, slender, and simple. ABDOMEN very conical, truncated at the base, its segments slightly constricted, the apical one long, superficially carinated longitudinally in the centre, and much deflexed.