_Πανοῦργος_ signifies _one excessively industrious_, at least as it is applied here, although it has other less meritorious meanings, but these insects can scarcely be considered more energetic than any of their associates; perhaps the contrast made between the bright yellow pollen and their lugubrious vestment might give the idea of very active collecting, they being usually, upon returning from their foray, almost entirely disguised in the produce of their excursion. They are rather remarkable insects from their intensely black colour and their compact active forms; their square head and short clavate antennæ give them a sturdy business-like appearance. They also are silent on the wing, but being at the very van of the present subfamily, forming as it were the advanced picket of the _Apidæ_, it may be considered suitable that they should retain, by way of partial disguise, some of the characteristics of the preceding subfamily. In many respects, therefore, they closely approach _Dasypoda_: thus their legs are similarly furnished with hair, relatively as long and having the same spiral twist, and their whole habit is that of one of the _Andrenidæ_, excepting that their clavate antennæ, and the folding of their tongue in repose, separate them from that subfamily. They are local insects, but extremely abundant when fallen upon. I used to find the first species upon an elevated plateau, on the south side over-hanging the Vale of Health and its large pond at Hampstead. Every Dandelion, for a wide circuit in the vicinity, was crowded with individuals—assiduously collecting, in the case of females, but basking in sunny indolence, and revelling in the attractions of the flower, in the case of males, and, at the same time, their burrowing spot, which was not larger than half-a-dozen square yards, was swarming with them, coming and going, burrowing and provisioning. Very numerous, but not so numerous as themselves, were their pretty parasite, the _Nomada Fabriciana_, fine specimens of both sexes of which I have constantly captured; and a remarkable singularity pertaining to the latter is, that some seasons it would totally fail, and another season present itself sparsely, when, after these lapses, it would recur in all its primitive profusion, although the _Panurgus_ was every season equally present. Both these insects are found during the months of June and July, especially about the middle of the former. In their burrows, which they perforate vertically, they usually enclose about six cells, each being duly provisioned and the egg deposited, when each is separately closed and the orifice of the cylinder filled up. This species is also found in Kent and Surrey, and I have no doubt they might be discovered in most of the southern counties. The smaller species, which is a good deal like a little _Tiphia_, is remarkable for the peculiarity of the male having a projecting process upon its posterior