66 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



A DECEPTIVE BEE. 

 By T. D. A. COCKERELL. 



The time may come some day when our bee- fauna will be 

 so well known that the student can safely determine species 

 by their superficial appearance. At present, however, the sub- 

 ject is full of pitfalls, owing to the fact that specimens ap- 

 parently referable to well-known forms frequently prove upon 

 minute examination to be quite distinct, and undescribed. 

 Thus the determination of any collection takes much time 

 and care, even though it may consist exclusively of well-known 

 species. Just now, I have before me a bee received from 

 Mr. Nathan Banks with the label " Nomada modesta? ' As 

 I glanced at it, I thought it strange that so familiar and com- 

 mon a species should be identified with a query ; but upon 

 closer examination I at once saw that it was not typical mo- 

 desta, and after minute comparisons felt able to demonstrate 

 that it belonged to an entirely distinct species. I describe it 

 as follows: 



Nomada mimula, n. sp. 



Length about 10 mm. ; black with yellow markings ; legs red and 

 yellow, more or less stained with blackish ; abdomen finely and closely 

 but conspicuously punctured ; b. n. going some distance basad of t. m. ; 

 second s. m. very large, receiving first s. n. beyond the middle ; scu- 

 tellum strongly bigibbous. In size, color, and markings exactly like 

 N. modesta, except as follows : 



Clypeus and labrum yellow; yellow lateral face-marks only going 

 a short distance above level of antennae ; scape stouter, yellow in front ; 

 third antennal joint conspicuously shorter titan fourth, being about as 

 long as fifth; a yellow spot at exact summit of eye (behind it in 

 modesta) ; punctures of mesothorax, though strong, much finer and 

 more even; lateral corners of mesothorax (just in front of tegulae) 

 yellow; metathorax black without yellow spots, but with a conspicuous 

 patch of white hair on each side; tegulse larger, ferruginous marked 

 with yellow, strongly punctured ; basal nervure as described above ; 

 anterior coxa: ^mth only a rudiment of a spine; anterior and middle 

 tibiae with much yellow at both ends; hind femora much suffused with 

 blackish, especially behind, and with a yellow spot at apex in front; 

 hind tibiae with more yellow than the others, the outer margin continu- 

 ously yellow; first abdominal segment more punctured laterally, the 

 band narrowly interrupted in the middle, and incised behind on each 

 side; fifth segment yellow, with a rounded black mark on each side, 

 and a little basal one in the middle, the silvery lunule not on a dark 

 patch; venter dark reddish, with yellow markings on segments 3 to 5. 



