THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 267 



A NEW BEE OF THE GENUS BOMBOM ELECTA. 



BY T. D. A. COCKERELL, EAST LAS VEGAS, N. M. 



Bombomelecta Arizonica, n. sp. — 9 • Length about n mm., black ; 

 head, thorax and legs with dull white hair, having a faint yellowish tinge ; 

 black hair on cheeks, lower sides of face, Iabrum and mandibles ; hair of 

 pleura, except its upper part, black ; a conspicuous band of black hair 

 between the wings ; hair of anterior legs long and black, but the tarsi 

 more or less silvery, and the femora with a conspicuous tuft of white hair 

 near the end behind ; middle tibiae and tarsi largely silvery-white on the 

 outer side, but the white and black pubescence are mixed, so as to 

 produce a speckled effect ; hind tibiae and tarsi similar, except that the 

 tibiae have the outer apical half black • tegulae large, black, punctured ; 

 wings pale brownish, nervures piceous ; abdomen heart-shaped, with 

 sparse black hair, and conspicuous clear-cut patches of white hair ; 

 first segment with a broad band of yellowish -white erect or suberect hairs, 

 interrupted in the middle ; first to fifth segments with lateral patches of 

 appressed snow-white hair, that on the second segment broad and deeply 

 notched behind. Clypeus shining and strongly punctured ; front rough 

 and dull ; antenna? black, fairly long, last joint truncate ; Iabrum about 

 as broad as long ; maxillary palpi six-jointed, the last joint minute ; 

 mandibles rather slender, with a low tooth on the inner side about the 

 middle ; scutellum with two short pyramidal spines ; pygidial plate long 

 and very narrow; apical ventral segment considerably but very narrowly 

 produced ; claws of hind legs bifid, not dilated. Spurs black, gently 

 curved. 



Hab. — Tempe, Arizona, end of March, 1902, visiting flowers of 

 Sphceralcea variabilis. The flowers were also visited by Halictus and 

 the honey-bee. This species is particularly interesting because in form, 

 pubescence and colour it almost exactly imitates Melecta grandis from 

 Algeria, a specimen of which I possess through the kindness of Mr. 

 Vachal. The only obvious superficial difference is in size, the Algerian 

 bee being considerably the larger. The significance of this appears when 

 we recall that Tempe was selected as the location of the experimental 

 date-palm orchard, because its climate most resembles that of Algeria 

 and other parts of North Africa, the home of the date. B. Arizonica 

 completely breaks down the supposed difference in pubescence between 

 Melecta and Bombomelecta; among the known species it is closest to 

 B- Alfredi. 



