15 



FOUK INTERESTING AUSTRALIAN BEES, IN THE 

 COLLECTION OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



By T. D. a. Cockerell. 



Gastropsis victorm, n. sp. 

 ^ . Length about 15i mm. ; black, shining, and punctured ; face 

 very narrow, covered with long light yellow hair ; eyes very large, con- 

 verging above ; ocelli very large, placed somewhat nearer to antennae 

 than to top of head ; occipital region very little developed ; antennae 

 ferruginous beneath, mainly black above ; scape short but not very 

 stout ; first joint of flagellum slender and greatly elongated, quite as 

 long as the next five united ; last joint truncate with rounded edges, 

 and shining beneath, the apical joints not especially swollen ; anterior 

 margin of clypeus with two shining dentiform processes, the rather 

 wide interval between them concave ; maxillary palpi six-jointed, the 

 last three joints slender, the last linear and longer than the one before; 

 blade of maxilla short, not as long as the palpus, with a fringe of 

 rather long hairs at the end ; labial palpi four-jointed, joints one and 

 four of the same length, two and three equal and shorter than one, or 

 two perhaps the shortest; paraglosste short, broad, and rounded, sub- 

 pyriform in outline ; tongue short, broad, obtuse, bristly, the upper 

 surface in the dry specimen occupied by a deep pit ; malar space prac- 

 tically obsolete ; mandibles entirely black, bidentate ; mesothorax 

 convex, with dense punctures, except on the posterior middle, where 

 they are sparse on a shining ground ; scutellum closely punctured but 

 shining ; post-scutellum large and convex ; area of metathorax finely 

 granular, triangular, with all the angles greatly produced and acute ; 

 hair of thorax yellowish white, except on hmd part of mesothorax and 

 scutellum, where it is black or fuscous ; tegulse large, rufo-piceous ; 

 wings somewhat dusky and stained with yellowish; nervures piceous, 

 stigma obsolete ; marginal cell long and narrow, slightly pointed at the 

 end ; basal nervure falling far short of transverse-medial ; second sub- 

 marginal cell very broad, only moderately contracted above, receiving 

 the first r. n. before its middle ; third s. m. a trifle larger than second, 

 but not nearly so large as first, receiving the second r. n. about its 

 middle ; legs black, hairy ; the anterior tibite, and a spot at apex of 

 their femora, red, their tarsi also mainly ferruginous, while the outer 

 margin of the tibiae is blackened ; middle tarsi dark red, with fuscous 

 'hair ; inner face of hind tibiae covered with a fine greyish-white 

 tomentum ; inner face of hind tarsi with reddish hair ; spurs ordinary, 

 hind margin of hind spur minutely ciliate ; claws deeply bidentate ; 

 abdomen broad and convex, not at all tapering or conical, shining and 

 punctured, hairy but not banded, nor are the hind margins of the 

 segments pallid ; the hair on first segment and basal half of second is 

 dull white, on the others black or fuscous, except on the two last, 

 where it is light yellow ; apical plate of abdomen truncate, not bi- 

 dentate. 



Hah. South Australia, "70.19." (type) ; Victoria, "85.108." 

 Both specimens have been in some liquid, so allowances must be 



