THE ENTOMOLOGIST 



Vol. XXXVIII] JUNE, 19 05 [No. 505. 



NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN AMERICAN BEES. 

 By T. D. A. Cockerell. 



Perdita mentzeliarum, Ckll., var. lauta, n. var. 



2 . Anterior and middle femora without dark markings, or 

 slightly marked with black or blackish in front ; abdomen creamy- 

 white, with the bands much reduced, usually represented by two pairs 

 of lateral or sublateral spots on the first segment, and one pair each 

 near the hind margins of the second and third ; lateral face-marks 

 usually pointed above. 



<? . Head very large ; cheeks with a short spine ; yellow going 

 above level of antennae in median line, the process blunt. 



Hub. Collected by Professor E. 0. Wooton " on Mentzelia 



(wrightii or multiflora), five or six miles above Tularosa, New 

 Mexico, on road to mountains, end of August " ; seven females, 

 two males. Flying with them, over the same flowers, were 

 P. mentzeliarum, Ckll., two females ; P. mentzelia, Ckll., one 

 male, one female ; and several P. wootonce, Ckll. 



The mentzelia (i. e. Touterca) species of Perdita are very 

 variable. At Piaton, N. M., Aug. 29th, I took a variety of 

 P. mentzelice, much larger in both sexes than that found near 

 Tularosa, the male having a very large head, like the pulchrior 

 form of P. pallidior. At flowers of Touterea multiflora, at La 

 Cueva, Organ Mts., Sept. 2nd, Prof. C. H. T. Townsend took a 

 male P. mentzeliarum, in which the abdomen is orange, wholly 

 without bands or spots, except an arched dark band on the first 

 segment. 



Melissodes agilis, Cresson, var. subagilis, n.var. 

 $ . Length about %\ mm. ; labrum. entirely black, mandibles 

 without a yellow spot ; third submarginal cell less narrowed above ; 

 eyes (when dry) light green. 



Hab. Fort Collins, Colorado, Aug. 21st, 1903. (Colorado 

 Agricultural College.) 



By the black labrum and spotless mandibles this agrees with 

 the Mexican M. floris, Ckll. ; it differs from floris by the rufous 



entom. — JUNE, 1905. N 



