Sept., I9i6.] ACKERMAN : CaRPENTER-BeES OF U. S. 211 



Xylocopa orpifex Smith. 



Xylocopa orpifex Smith, Trans. Ent. Soc. London, p. 298, n. 118, 5, 3< ^874. 



Xylocopa orpifex Davidson, Ent. News, p. 151, 1893. 



Xylocopa orpifex Ashmead, Psyche, Vol. VII, p. 24, 1894. 



Xylocopa orpifex Fowler, Rept. Cal. Exp. Sta., p. 318, 189S-1901. 



Xylocopa orpifex Perez, Act. Soc. Bordeaux, LVI, p. 122, 1901. 



Xylocopa orpifex Cockerell, South Cal. Acad. Nat. Sc, No. 6, p. 87, June, 1904. 



Xylocopa orpifex Maidl, Ann. Nat. Hist. Hof.-Mus. Wien, p. 309, 191 2. 



A small black insect; length of female, 17-20 mm.; of male, 

 15-18 mm. 



Female. — Head and its hairs entirely black ; broad, almost as wide 

 as thorax, and thick; the mandibles dark, with three teeth, being bi- 

 dentate at the apex and with a small tooth on the inner margin along 

 which extends a deep longitudinal groove ; the few hairs present on 

 the mandibles are reddish brown, as is the case among most of the 

 species ; labrum small and black, consisting of one lobe somewhat 

 triangular shaped with the upper margin elongate and a small lobe 

 on either side hidden beneath; clypeus flat, with a smooth, shining, 

 unpunctured space along the lower margin, the rest with small, close 

 punctures, longitudinal carina not present; lateral foveoke not very 

 deep ; frontal shield on same plane as clypeus, well punctured ; frontal 

 carina small and pointed, having a pit on the upper surface half way 

 to the median ocellus, where it forms a heart-shaped groove reaching 

 and surrounding the median ocellus; prominent ocellar pits present, 

 situated dorso-laterally behind the posterior ocelli ; eyes not large, far 

 apart ; antennae piceous on under side of flagellum ; vertex and cheeks 

 with fewer punctures than on face, hairs black. 



Thorax black, hairs black; disk black, shining, smooth and with- 

 out hairs ; scutellum well rounded, with few punctures, especially in 

 its anterior half; post-scutellum very narrow and rather impunctate. 



Color of integument and pile of abdomen everywhere black; punc- 

 tation not close except on last segment where it is very fine and 

 abundant ; abdomen very short and robust ; epipygium not wide at 

 base, its spines very strong. 



Wings subhyaline with a very slight violet tint, and a little dark- 

 ened at their apices. Tegulx black. 



Legs black, their pile black except on inner tarsi where it is mixed 

 with reddish brown. Anterior tooth of tibial scale very pointed, pos- 

 terior tooth greatly rounded. 



