Genus 8. DASYPODA, _Latreille_. MELITTA ** _c_, partly, Kirby. (Plate V. fig. 3 ♂ ♀.)
_Gen. Char._: HEAD transverse; _vertex_ glabrous; _ocelli_ placed in a curved line; _antennæ_ short, filiform, geniculated, the scape thickly bearded with long hair and scarcely half the length of the flagellum; _face_ and _clypeus_ densely pubescent, the latter slightly convex; _labrum_ transverse, linear, slightly rounded in front; _mandibles_ arcuate, bidentate, the teeth acute and robust; _cibarial apparatus_ moderately long; _tongue_ long, very acute, and fringed with delicate hair; _paraglossæ_ about one-third the length of the tongue, very slender, and acute; the _labial palpi_ inserted upon the junction of the labium, very slender, filiform, of uniform thickness, the joints subclavate, the basal joint considerably the longest, the second joint also long, the two terminal joints much shorter and decreasing in length; _labium_ about the length of the tongue, its inosculation acutely triangular; _maxillæ_ hastate, as long as the tongue; _maxillary palpi_ six-jointed, rather more than half the length of the maxillæ, slender, the basal joint the most robust, the second the longest, the rest declining both in thickness and length. THORAX oval, densely pubescent, the divisions indistinct from its density; _scutellum_ lunulate; _metathorax_ subtruncate; _wings_ with two submarginal cells and a third commenced, the second receiving both the recurrent nervures, the first close to its commencement and the second just beyond its centre; _legs_ slender, pubescent, especially the _tibiæ_ and _plantæ_, the hair upon the posterior pair being extremely dense and long, and each hair twisted minutely spirally; their _coxæ_, _trochanters_, and _femora_ also covered with long hair; _claws_ bifid, the inner tooth very short. ABDOMEN oval, the basal and fifth segments densely hairy, the superior surface glabrous and shining, excepting where the white decumbent bands broadly edge the three intermediate segments.
The MALE differs in being more densely pubescent, especially upon the abdomen, which is not glabrous, and in not having the _antennæ_ geniculated; the bands of the _abdomen_ are fulvous, and its legs are longer and more slender, and it is sexually less hairy, although still considerably so.