R^,roitls of fli'fs. 2(17 



M>it)achile rhodotjastra (Cockeiell). 



Botli sexes, witli the iiesf, were collected at Towiisvillc, 

 QiieeiislHiid (Cr. /'. /////), and sent to U. 8. National Museum. 

 The foinale, not priviously described, has the following 

 charactL-ra : — 



Length about 11*5 mm., of the broad and short type. 



Black, including mandibles, antennae, tegulte, and legs, but 

 abdomen above strongly metallic, with stcel-blut', greenish, 

 and lilac tints; hair ot face and trout p.ile ochreou^, of cheeks 

 white, of vertex largely black; hair of thorax mainly whitf, 

 faintly yellowish dorsally and on tubercles, but scutellum and 

 disc of meaothorax with thin black hair, the mesothorax pak- 

 haired anteriorly and conspicuously in scutellomesothoracic 

 suture, but without spots ; upper part of me.-Ojdeura with 

 black hair. Legs with pale liair, ferruginous on inner side 

 of the broad hind basitarsi. Abdomen with five narrow but 

 conspicuous white hair-bands; ventral scopa white on first 

 segment, otherwise bright ferruginous, black only at extreme 

 tip ; matidibles broad, quadridentate, with a little red liair 

 apically beneath ; clypeus ordinary, strongly punctured, with 

 a smooth median band; mesothorax and scutellum well 

 punctured, rather dull. Wings somewhat du-ky, especially 

 apically, stigma dark reddish, nervures dark fuscous. 



The nest is made of leaves, as usual. The species is rather 

 closely related to M. cahns, Ckll., from the New Hebrides. 



Meqachile, aubgen. Hackeriapm, nov. 



For some years it had been ap|)arent that certain Australian 

 forms of MegacliHe, with parallel-sided abdomen in both sexe?, 

 were very different from the typical species of the genus. 

 Some of these have been investigated by ^Ir. Henry Hacker 

 in Queensland, and he has made the surprising discoveiy 

 that they work with resin, instead of making the usual cells 

 covered with leaves. It is therefore desirable to recognize a 

 distinct subgenus — Ilaclceriapis — with MegachUe rhodura, 

 Cockerell, as the type. Other specit^s are M. /lackeri, Ckll., 

 M. mijstocea (Fabr.), M. ustulata (Sm.), &c. It is very 

 interesting to find that the resin-working instinct has been 

 independently developed in the Megachiline and Anthiiliine 

 series, in the latter shown by the genus Dianthidium. 



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