The MALE scarcely differs, excepting in the usual male characteristics, and that the apical segment of the abdomen is rounded and margined.
1. _variegatus_, Linnæus, ♂ ♀. 3-4 lines. (Plate XI. fig. 2 ♂ ♀.) _variegatus_, Kirby.
It is difficult to assign a reason for the name of this genus, or to trace an applicable derivation from _ἐπίαλος_, for the insect in no way suits, either directly or by anti-phrase, any of the significations of this word. It is one of the prettiest of our little bees, and is parasitical upon the _Colletes Daviesiana_, and it may be found in abundance wherever the metropolis of this species occurs. There is one special locality near Bexley, in Kent, a vertical sandbank within a few hundred yards of the village, where I have always found it in the spring months, and have there taken it as numerously as I wished. I have already alluded, in another part of this work, to the uniformly greater beauty of the parasitical bees, to those which they infest, and their exceedingly different appearance in every case excepting in that of the genus _Apathus_. We might have expected that they would have been disguised like these, the better to carry on their nefarious practices, but what can well be more dissimilar than _Epeolus_ and _Colletes_, or than _Nomada_ and all its supporters, and the same of _Melecta_, _Cœlioxys_, and _Stelis_. These facts puzzle investigation for a reason; nor will the perplexity be speedily solved. All that we can surmise is that there must be a motive for it, for wherever we successfully elicit her secret from the veiled goddess, we invariably find the reason founded in profound wisdom. In some cases the mystery seems devised to test our sagacity, but it cannot be so here, for the most palpable and plausible cause that would suggest itself in the supposition of its being for the guardianship and apprisal of the sitos is often contravened, as in this instance, by it and its parasite living in great harmony together, again by the desertion of its nidus by _Eucera_ in favour of the parasite, although itself is a very much more powerful insect; but in the cases of _Panurgus_, _Halictus_, and _Andrena_, they all live well reconciled to the intrusion of the stranger’s young, and this, without their enumeration, may be adopted as nearly the universal case. The hostility of _Anthophora_, previously noticed, is an almost insulated case of the contrary. The form of these insects does not promise much activity, and we accordingly find that they are slow, heavy, and indolent; yet they must be cautiously handled, for they sting acutely; but indeed it is not well ever to handle insects whose markings, as we find them in these, consist of a close nap, as evanescent as the down upon a plum, and of course the fingers carry it readily off, and disfigure the beauty of the little specimen. When their special habitat is not known they may often be found upon the blossoming Ragwort in the vicinity, or upon the Mouse-ear Hawkweed (_Hieracium murorum_) within whose flowers they are frequently observed enjoying their siesta.