144 AMERICAN HYMENOPTERA. 



IlfEW AND LITTLE. KNOWN BEES. 



BY T. D. A. COCKERELL, 



(1.) Augochlora nigrocyanea n. sp. 9 .—Belongs to section with hind 

 spur of hind leg minutely ciliate. Length about 11 mm. Head and thorax dark 

 indigo-blue ; abdomen black, with green reflections on the sides of the first two 

 segments. Pubescence of head and thorax short, moderately abundant, but in- 

 conspicuous because fuscous. On the cheeks and pleura beneath it is white, but 

 sparse, and the sides of the face are very thinly clothed with very short, white 

 pubescence; front extremely closely punctured, centrally black, becoming blue 

 close to the orbits ; facial keel distinct; clypeus with large, close punctures, one 

 might say malleate ; lateral ocelli as far apart as the distance of either from the 

 eye; flagellum becoming dark fuscous; mandibles tinged with dark rufous beyond 

 the middle, strongly bidentate at tips, the teeth diverging, the lower the longer; 

 tubercles with a fringe of white hairs; mesothorax and scutellum very closely 

 punctured: postscutellum and base of metathorax a much brighter blue; base 

 of metathorax delicately, but strongly longitudinally wrinkled all over; tegulae 

 piceous, with a fulvous spot. Wings smoky, nervures and stigma piceous, mar- 

 ginal cell with a small appendicular cell at its tip ; first recurrent nervure joining 

 second submarginal cell at its extreme end. That portion of radial nervure be- 

 yond the junction with third transverso-cubital considerably the longer. Legs 

 black, with fuscous pubescence, small joints of anterior tarsi rufescent, anterior 

 femora beneath with long whitish hairs. Abdomen with excessively minute 

 punctures, only visible with a strong lens; pruinose with short, thin, whitish 

 pubescence ; sides, venter and base of first segment with thin, erect, pale fuscous 

 and whitish pubescence; dorsum of first segment nearly bare. The apparent 

 color of the pubescence differs somewhat according to the direction of the light. 



Hab.—San Rafael, Vera Cruz, Mexico, July 1 (C. H. T. Towuseud). 

 A very distinct species ; its color recalls A. tarpeia, but that is much 

 smaller. 



(2.) Augochlora seniinigra n. sp. ?. — Belongs to section with spur 

 minutely ciliate. Length about or slightly over 5 mm. Head and thorax green, 

 abdomen black, with a slight green lustre on the sides ; pubescence sparse, whitish 

 or very pale ochreous, a very few black hairs on scutellum ; face broad, minutely 

 roughened or shagreened ; clypeus with its upper margin broadly green, the rest 

 black, the lower corners produced into short denticles. The junction between 

 the black and green on the clypeus is brassy, as also is the convex, shining, supra- 

 dypeal area; labrum black, with six delicate longitudinal ridges; mandibles 

 orange-rufous with black bases: antennse black, flagellum beneath dark sepia 

 brown, second and third joints of flagellum very short. Thorax very finely and 

 closely punctured, more shining than the head, dorsally tinged, brassy; enclosure 

 of metathorax blue-green, very delicately longitudinally wrinkled ; tegulse shin- 

 ing, dark yellowish brown. Wings smoky, nervures and stigma fuscous, marginal 



