B
Cerceris Julii.—H. Fab.
Length, 7 to 9 millimetres.[2] Black, thickly and deeply spotted. Shield, flat. Face covered with a fine silvery down. A narrow yellow band on either side on the inner edge of the eyes. Mandibles, yellow, with brown tips. Antennæ, black above, pale russet below; lower surface of their basilar joints, yellow. [[381]]
On the prothorax two small yellow dots, some distance apart; yellow wing-scales and postscutellum. A yellow band on the third segment of the abdomen and another on the fifth segment; these two bands are deeply hollowed on the fore-edge, the first into a semicircle, the second into a triangle.
Under-part of the body, entirely black. Black hips; thighs of the hind-legs, all black; those of the two front pairs, black at the root and yellow at the end. Legs and tarsi, yellow. Wings slightly smoke-coloured.
Female.
Varieties: 1. Prothorax without yellow dots. 2. Two small yellow dots on the second segment of the abdomen. 3. Wider yellow band on the inner side of the eyes. 4. Front of shield edged yellow.
The male is unknown to me.
This Cerceris, the smallest in my district, feeds her larvæ on very small-sized Weevils, Bruchus granarius and Apion gravidum. Observed near Carpentras, where she builds her nest in September, in the soft sandstone locally known as safre. [[382]]