T. D. A. COCKERELL. " 63 



THE IVORTH A.MERICAIV BEES OF THE FA.^IIEY 

 ANTHOPHORIDiE. 



BY T. D. A. COCKERELL. 



The time is hardly ripe for a monographic revision of our Antho- 

 phoridae. Almost every new collection that comes to hand contains 

 undescribed species, and of many species only one sex is known. 

 Tiie material gathered for the BiologiaCentrali- Americana, which 

 will shortly be described by Col. Bingham, will add greatly to our 

 knowledge. 



In the meanwhile, however, it has become necessary to put the 

 already gathered information into better order, to facilitate further 

 progress. In 1904 I spent some time studying Smith's types at the 

 British Museum ; and in 1905 I have been able to examine types 

 or cotypes of nearly all those described by Mr. Cresson ; so that, 

 having seen authentic material of most of the forms, it has become 

 possible to construct tables for Anthophora, Melissodes, Tetralonia 

 (^Synhalonia), etc. These tables are now offered, together with a 

 check list, showing the present generic position of all the species, 

 and their distribution. I have omitted from the tables numerous 

 species described by Mr. C. Robertson, which I have not seen ; but 

 these will be found tabulated in Trans. Am. Eut. Soc. xxxi, 365 372. 

 The species of Meliasodes, Tetralonia, etc., are all thrown together 

 in one series of tables, a plan which will, I think, be found con- 

 venient. 



It is perhaps hardly necessary to say that the groups adopted in 

 these tables are largely artificial, intended merely to facilitate the 

 recognition of the species. Whenever it seemed possible that a 

 species might be looked for under more than one group, the name 

 has been gi:ven in each, with comparative notes. In the check list, 

 I have added the names of the principal flowers visited by the bees. 

 In most cases these will be found to be highly characteristic ; but 

 in some instances probably not, because bees which habitually visit 

 certain flowers may be seen occasionally on others, and the males 

 may suck where the females would never gather pollen. 



The species are for the most part strong fliers, and several are 

 very widely distributed. On the whole, however, one is surprised 



TBANS. AM, ENT. SOC. XXXII. JANUAEY, 1906. 



