216 Journal New York Entomological Society. [^'°1- xxiv, 



Legs black, blue and purple; hairs black, brown on inner side of 

 fore tarsi. Tibial scale with edges well raised so that interior ap- 

 pears hollowed out; anterior tooth very sharp, posterior one more 

 rounded or even blunt and not as long as anterior one; form longer 

 than wide. 



Male. — Differs from the female as follows : Head, labrum, clypeus, 

 frontal shield and lateral areas of frons between clypeus and eyes as 

 high as the insertion of the antennae, yellow ; yellow hair present only 

 on yellow colored areas of head, otherwise black; head not as wide 

 as in female, face more narrowed, especially above ; mandibles smaller 

 than in female ; labrum larger ; clypeus slightly convex, lower mar- 

 ginal area not concaved ; frontal carina smaller ; eyes much larger 

 and converging above, thus forming a much narrower vertex ; ocellar 

 pits imperceptible. Punctures of abdomen more abundant through- 

 out, much finer and closer. Yellowish brown hair present on fore 

 and middle tibice; tibial scale greatly reduced. 



Type. — Location unknown to the writer. 



Distribution. — This species is distributed generally throughout the 

 United States and is also recorded from Cuba. It is the most com- 

 mon species of Xylocopa found in this country. 



Variation. — A male specimen collected at Chapel Hill, Texas, dif- 

 fers from the typical male described above as follows : Face entirely 

 black except a yellow area along the longitudinal carina of the 

 clypeus, and yellow present on the labrum. 



Drury described and figured this species (111. Nat. Hist., I, p. 96, 

 PI. 43, f. I, male, 1770) without a name in 1770. During the follow- 

 ing year (Mant. Plant. 11) Linnaeus gave the name Apis virginica 

 to this insect. Drury (111. Nat. Hist., II, 1773) furnished an appen- 

 dix of names covering his descriptions in volumes I and II. In 1806 

 Illiger placed this species in the genus Xylocopa for the first time, 

 calling it Xylocopa virginica. 



Xylocopa texana Cresson. 



Xylocopa texana Cresson, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc, IV, p. 283, 5, J', 1S72. 



Length of male and female, 22-24 "ir"- 



Female. — Head about as wide as thorax, black, showing bluish 

 purple in different lights; punctures abundant and fine especially on 

 the face; hairs black; a large punctured depression at the base of 



