172 THE BEES OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS, 



Megachile shortlandi n.sp. 



Q Length about 14 mm., broad, sliaped as in M . clirysopyga 

 Smith ; black, including legs, mandibles, antennae and 

 tegulae ; head and thorax with fox-red hair, that on meso- 

 thorax thin and mixed with fuscous ; head large ; eyes dark 

 reddish ; mandibles massive, quadridentate, the third tooth 

 very broad and low ; clypeus and supraclypeal area strongly, 

 very densely punctured, the former with a broad median 

 smooth band ; lower edge of clypeus straight, but flaring ; 

 mesothorax and scutellum very densely punctured ; hind basi- 

 tarsus broadened ; hair of legs white, reddish and black ; on 

 hind tibiae and basitarsi the hair in front and on outside is 

 white or yellowish-white, and quite long, posteriorly it is 

 shorter and black, it is also black on inner side of basitarsus, 

 but the inner side of the tibiae is covered with fine white 

 tomentum ; wings strongly dusky ; marginal cell not at all 

 appendiculate ; abdomen above shining black, well punctured, 

 with short black hair ; first segment with thin fulvous hair, 

 and a patch on each side ; segments 2 to 5 with inconspicuous 

 linear fulvous hair-bands, failing in the middle : ventral 

 scopa pale fulvous on second segment, on third and fourth 

 bright red, black at sides, on fifth and sixth black. (Froggatt, 

 C 5; type). 



(^ Length slightly over 12 mm. ; mandibles tridentate ; face 

 covered with light orange hair, but upper pai't of clypeus with 

 a good deal of fuscous ; thorax above with rvifous hair, 

 strongly mixed with black on scutellum and disc of meso- 

 thorax ; anterior coxae with very short spines or tubercles ; 

 anterior tarsi simple ; hair-bands of abdomen dull white, none 

 on fovirth segment ; sixth segment descending, the margin 

 with two widely separated broad triangular teeth ; no suba- 

 pical ventral teeth ; pale tomentum on inner face of hind 

 tibiae very conspicuous. (Froggatt, C 8.) 



Hah. — Solomon Islands, July-August, 1909(Froggatt, C 5, 

 and C 8). This has a rather strong superficial resemblance to 



