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THE BEES OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS. 



By T. D. A. CocKERELL, University of Colorado, U.S.A. 



(Communicated hij W. W. Frotjyatt, F.L.tS.) 



Up to the end of 1910, only one species of bee had been 

 recorded from the Solomon Islands, so I was naturally pleased 

 to see the interesting series collected by Mr. Froggatt, in 

 1909. The recorded species {Nomacia psilocera) was not in 

 the collection, which consisted entirely of undescribed forms. 

 As is well known, Australia possesses a rich bee-fauna, in- 

 cluding many peculiar genera, which belong to the more 

 primitive section of the Apoidea. It has, in addition, especi- 

 ally in the North-east, a series of long-tongued bees of 

 Indo-Malay type, evidently representing a comparatively 

 recent invasion. New Guinea, so far as is known, possesses 

 an Indo-Malay bee-fauna, and this same fauna, vai'iously 

 differentiated as to species, spreads into the islands to the 

 East. The Solomon Islands evidently possess a strong Indo- 

 Malay element, but Mr. Froggatt's Collection brings out the 

 interesting fact that there is also a genuinely Australian 

 element, the most striking representative of which is 

 Meroglossa, now for the first time found out of Australia.* 

 It is certain that this Australian fauna must have reached 

 the Solomon Islands by way of New Guinea, and it may be 

 that further collecting in that island will reveal a number of 

 Australian types ; but it is perhaps equally likely that these, 

 or many of them, have succumbed before the Indo-Malay 



* Some of the green species of Prosopis from New Guinea, 4c., may 

 prove to belong to Meroglossa. This is especially likely in the case of P. 

 imperialia Smith. 



