BEES OF THE GENUS IMEGACHILE FROM AUSTRALIA. 165 



Megachile phenacopyga, Cockerell. 



Waroona, Western Australia, March 9th, 1908 {G. F. Ber- 

 thoud ; Froggatt, 208). A female from the same locality and 

 collector (Froggatt, 207), but collected December 26th, 1908, 

 agrees with a female " M. ignita, Sm.," from Western Australia, 

 determined by F. Smith, "it looks much like M. phenacopgga, 

 and is perhaps its female ; but if so, it cannot be M. ignita, 

 since that species was originally described from a male with 

 simple anterior tarsi. 



An argument in favour of the reference of these females to 

 ignita rather than to phenacopijga is found in the fact that they 

 have the tegument of the sixlh abdominal segment and the 

 apical part of the fifth red, which is not true of male phenaco- 

 yyga. A feature of the supposed female ignita is the presence of 

 conspicuous white lateral hair patches on abdomen ; this dis- 

 tinguishes it from M. mackayensis, henrici, &c. Smith indicates 

 no such patches for male ignita. The abdomen of the supposed 

 female ignita is of the relatively narrow, parallel- sided type, not 

 broad like that of M. chrysopyga. 



Megachile horatii, sp. n. 



^ . Length about 13 mm. ; hke M. erythropyga, Smith, but 

 larger, with hair of face pure white ; third abdominal segment (as 

 well as first and second) with lateral white hair-patches ; sixth seg- 

 ment rather more produced; face narrower, with the eyes more 

 parallel ; eyes black. 



Southern Cross, Western Australia, 1912 {Horace Broivn; 

 Froggatt, 206). 



In the white hair of the face it is like the much smaller 

 M. tomentella, Ckll. 



I must add, with regard to M. erythropyga, that I possess 

 only the male (a specimen from F. Smith's collection labelled 

 New Holland, and two collected by French in Victoria) ; Smith's 

 short description is characteristic, but it should be added that 

 the apical margin of the fourth abdominal segment, except at 

 the sides, is covered with red hair. The female was described 

 from the W. W. Saunders collection, and is presumably at 

 Oxford. Judging from the descriptions, it seems quite possible 

 that the sexes described do not belong together ; the female, in 

 fact, is probably the insect referred to above as supposed M. 

 ignita. Although the female of erythropyga has precedence of 

 place on the page, it will be better, under the circumstances, to 

 designate the male as the type. This leaves us with a series of 

 readily distinguishable males {erythropyga, ignita, phenacopyga), 

 and one (or two ?) females which will have to be connected with 

 the males by workers in the field. 



