TEXAN HYMENOPTERA. 281 



Melissodes brevicornis, n. sp. 



£, .—Black, densely punctured ; head clothed with a dense ochraceous pu- 

 bescence, paler on face and cheeks, short on clypeus and labrum which, with 

 base of mandibles, are pale yellow; antennae short, scarcely reaching beyond 

 tegulse, pale fulvous, more or less dark above, scape beneath pale yellow; tho- 

 rax clothed with a very dense fulvo-ochraceous pubescence, paler on metatho- 

 rax and thin on disk of mesothorax and scutellum; tegulse pale fulvous; wings 

 rather short, hyaline, slightly tinged with yellowish, apex faintly dusky, 

 nervures and stigma fulvous; legs brown black, clothed with yellowish-ochra- 

 ceous pubescence, tibiae and tarsi more or less fulvous; abdomen closelv and 

 finely punctured, first segment except apex thickly clothed with a lon^ oehra- 

 ceous pubescence, narrow basal margin of second segment, sometimes obsolete, 

 and broad apical margins of second to fifth segments clothed with a short, 

 dense, appressed, pale ochraceous pubescence. Length .38 — .46 inch. 



Three specimens. (Belfrage.) A handsome species, remarkable 

 for the short antennae. 



Melissodes albata, n. sp. 



$>. — Robust, black; head and thorax clothed with a dense white pubes- 

 cence, slightly tinged with yellowish on thorax; clypeus densely punctured, 

 almost entirely nude; antennae short, flagellum pale brown beneath; tegulse 

 honey-yellow ; wings remarkably short, hyaline, nervures fuscous, costa honey- 

 yellow ; legs clothed with white pubescence, that on coxse beneath and tips of 

 tibiae yellowish, that on tarsi within fulvous, tip of the latter pale ferruginous ; 

 apical margin of abdominal segments dull testaceous, the first segment except 

 apex clothed with a moderately long erect white pubescence, the remaining 

 segments covered with a dense, appressed, satiny-white pubescence, apex 

 tinged with fulvous, disk of apical segment broad and rounded at apex; ven- 

 ter clothed with brown-fulvous pubescence. Length .48 inch. 



% . — Closely resembles the 9 > but is smaller, narrower, the face densely pu- 

 bescent, the clypeus, labrum and base of mandibles pale yellow, and the an- 

 tennae longer than head and thorax; otherwise like the $> except the usual 

 sexual characters. Length .35 inch. 



Three specimens. (Belfrage.) Very distinct by the white pube- 

 scence, that on abdomen having a satiny or silky lustre. 



Melissodes ? ursina, n. sp. 



%. — Black, shining, clothed with a dense ochraceous pubescence; vertex 

 smooth, shining, impunctured; antennae short, not reaching beyond tegulse, 

 entirely black; thorax very densely pubescent, that on mesothorax tinged 

 with fulvous; tegulse piceous ; wings subhyaline, apical margins broadly 

 dusky, neuration as usual in Melissodes ; tibiae and tarsi densely clothed with 

 ochraceous pubescence, long on two posterior pairs, the femora and tibiae of 

 which are incrassate; abdomen oblong, convex, shining, thickly and uniformly 

 clothed with ochraceous pubescence, which is longer on basal and apical seg- 

 ments and on lateral margins of segments 2 — 6. Length .48 inch. 



Four specimens. (Belfrage; Boll.) Differs from Melis&oded By the 

 dense villosity of the whole body, by the short antennae of %> and by 



TRANS. AMER. ENT. S0C. IV. (36) NOVEMBER, 1872. 



