BEES IN THE COLLECTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

 NATIONAL MUSEUM.— 4.^ 



By T. D. A. COCKERELL 



Of the University of Colorado, Botilder. 



In order to facilitate the stud}'^ of bees, the writer has in prepara- 

 tion a catalogue of the known species, in which will be indicated as 

 far as possible the principal collections in which specimens may be 

 found. When in P^ngland during 1920 and 1921, I catalogued 

 the species in the British Museum, the Hope Museum at Oxford, and 

 the Entomological Department of the LTniversity of Cambridge. In 

 the United States, I have catalogued the bees of the United States 

 National Museum and the American Museum of Natural History. 

 These various collections contain a very large number of species, and 

 in many cases extensive series of forms not represented in all, if any, 

 of the other museums. Plans are on foot to make exchanges, whereby 

 the museums participating will be able to greatly increase the number 

 of their species. 



The British Museum contains the largest collection I have seen, 

 beautifully arranged by the late Mr. Meade-Waldo. Oxford is sur- 

 prisingly rich, but the W. Saunders collection, S. S. Saunders collec- 

 tion, Rothney collection, and many smaller lots are at present kept 

 separate. The very rich Palaearctic collection of the Rev. F. D. 

 Morice will go to Oxford. Through the kindness of Mr. Morice, I 

 was able to examine his collection, and make many notes. The S. S. 

 Saunders collection was carefully studied by Mr. Edward Saunders 

 shortly before he died, and the species named according to the latest 

 information. Many of the identifications, as they originally stood, 

 were erroneous. At Oxford I found specimens of Halictus collected 

 by Darwin on his famous voyage, in Australia and Tasmania. There 

 also may be seen the types of the species collected by Wallace in the 

 Malay Archipelago, including the gigantic MegacMle -pluto Smith. 

 Through the kindness of Professor Poulton I was able not only to 

 make many notes on the materials at Oxford, but a considerable series 



1 For previous papers in this series see Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 39, 1911, pp. 635- 

 058; vol. 40, 1911, pp. 241-264, and vol. 55, 1920, pp. 167-221. 



No. 2413.— Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 60, Art. 18. 



1 



