218 [October, 



time very greasy, now appear to have parted with the whole of their 



grease, which has no doubt become absorbed into the vapour gone 



" afay in de Ewigkeit." 



Camden Road, London : 



September, 1896. 



[In this country most of the large private collections of exotic insects (and some 

 " British") are kept wholly in boxes witli no "cells." In such cases these naphtha- 

 line " balls " are invaluable. I am a firm believer in naphthaline as superior to 

 camphor; some 200 "balls" are always in use in my boxes (and in some drawers), 

 and every receptacle for woollen articles in the house is saturated with the fumes of 

 the sublimated form. But the use of naphthaline may be carried too far. A short 

 time ago I saw a cabinet in a certain Museum containing a very valuable type col- 

 lection of Coleoptera. It had become infested with mites, and the late Curator had 

 filled the cells with naphthaline and pasted paper over the sutures formed by the 

 covers. He died, and the condition of affairs was undiscovered for several years. 

 It was then found that the glass covers were rendered opaque by an unctuous deposit 

 on the under-side, which no doubt mainly consisted of albo-carbon : I leave the 

 question of " grease " for confirmation. No deposit was noticeable on the beetles. — 

 E. McLachlan]. 



NEW NORTH AMERICAN BEES. 

 BY T. D. A. COCKEEELL, F.E.S. 



Peosapis Schwaezii, n. sp. 

 ? . Length, 8 mm., stout, black with very pale yellow markings. Head longer 

 than broad ; punctures of front strong and very close, those of vertex and occiput 

 less 80 J an elevated flattened area between the antennae, longitudinally grooved ; 

 clypeus long, with the sides nearly parallel, granular, with large sparse shallow 

 punctures ; mandibles wholly dark ; sides of face narrowly very pale yellow, the 

 yellow extending upwards only as far as level of antennse, and at its broadest not 

 half the breadth of the distance between the antennse. Antennse wholly dark, scape 

 riigulose, cylindrical, not at all dilated ; 2nd joint of flagellum shorter than 1st or 

 3rd. Very little pubescence on head, some white hairs near the antennae and on 

 occiput and cheeks. Thorax virtually bare, except sparse white pubescence on pleura, 

 a fringe along hind border of postscutellum, failing in the middle, and a conspicuous 

 fringe along lateral edges of mctathorax. The basin of the metathorax is hoary 

 with appressed pubescence. The tubercles have a pale fringe. Prothorax all black, 

 except a yellow patch (without any dark dot) on tubercles ; tegulse wholly dark. 

 Mesothorax and scutellum minutely granular, with large and very close but not 

 confluent punctures ; pleura with the punctures more or less confluent ; postscutellum 

 with shallow punctures ; enclosed area of metathorax shining, irregularly rugulose, 

 laterally with pits, causing it to be subcancellate. Wings hyaline at bases, otherwise 

 fuliginous, including the first discoidal cell ; a hyaline line runs from base of stigma 

 diagonally across the 1st submarginal, across 2nd subraarginal at its lowest part, and 

 a little beyond ; another hyaline line starts in 1st discoidal below the basal angle of 



