Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/269

Rh blue, very glossy, notwithstanding a few scattered black hairs; abdomen nearly of the same brilliant hue as the thorax; the underside with a greater mixture of blue; legs black and hairy; wings brown. A native of Jamaica; nearly allied to Centris versicolor of Fabricius, which also inhabits the west Indian Islands.

XYLOCOPA VIOLACEA. XX. Fig. 3. Fab. Reaumur, Donov. Indian Insects.

genus contains a very conspicuous group of insects, somewhat resembling humble-bees, but their colours are much darker, and never distributed in bands; the body much flatter, and the whole contour different. The wings are usually very dark, and reflect brilliant tints of violet and copper; and although the body is in most cases black, it often presents a fine play of purple or green. The eyes are large, and sometimes approximating behind, but always rather distant from each other; head narrower than the thorax, broad and depressed; proboscis rather short; exterior palpi six-jointed; interior two-jointed; antennæ strongly geniculated; upper wings with three complete cubital cells, the first intersected by a slender transparent line, the second triangular, the third largest, and receiving the two recurrent nervures. Nearly all of them are extra-European and inhabiting the very warmest regions. Among the few exceptions to this, is the species referred to above which occurs in various parts of Europe, and naturalists accordingly have often