244 ME. P. CAMEKON ON [Mar. 19, 



possess this structure. Mr. Perkins mentions the remarkable fact 

 that in this species from New Britain the female is destitute of 

 the special chamber, though it exists in the closely allied 

 K. cestuans." 



The New Britain bee is closely allied to the last mentioned 

 species, from which it differs in not having the whole of the upper 

 part of the thorax covered with yellowish hair. The species may 

 be a'form of X. provida Smith, from Mysol aud Waigiou ; but I 

 cannot make out this with any degree of certainty, either from the 

 original description (Journ. Linn. Soc. vii. p. 48) or from that given 

 in his Monograph of Xylocopa in Trans. Ent. Soc. 1874, p. 274. 



5 . Black ; the hairs black, except on the thorax behind the 

 tegul^, where they are orange-yellow. The basal three joints of 

 the antennae are bare, smooth, and shining ; the rest are opaque 

 and thickly covered with a pale microscopic down ; the 3rd joint 

 is narrow "and longer than the 4th aud 5th united. The hair on 

 the head (including the face) is long, dense, and deep black. The 

 clypeus is closely and deeply punctured ; its top, centre, and a 

 curved line on the sides are smooth and shining ; its apex is dis- 

 tinctly raised and separated. The mandibular teeth are bluntly 

 rounded ; the upper is rounded and not much shorter than the 

 lower. The wings are fuscous black, with a dull greenish irides- 

 cence ; the 2nd transverse cubital nervure has on the upper two- 

 thirds a straight, oblique slope ; the lower third is not, or only 

 very sUghtly, oblique; the upper and lower halves of the 2nd re- 

 current nervures are oblique, straight, and form an angle at their 

 junction and are not roundly curved as in X. cestuans. 



Anthophora zonata Fab. 

 A common Oriental species. 



Megachile megistia, sp. nov. 



Nigra, dense nigro hirsuta ; fronte, facie clypeoque longe albo- 

 pilosis ; alis nigro-violaceis. S • 



Long. 13 mm. 



Scape of antennae almost bare ; the flagellum covered with a pale 

 microscopic down. Front and vertex closely and distinctly punc- 

 tured and covered with black hair ; the lower part of the front, 

 the face, and clypeus thickly covered with long pale fulvous hair ; 

 the clypeus is rugosely punctured. The basal half of the man- 

 dibles closely punctured; there is a large, not very sharply 

 pointed apical tooth, and a broad, bluntly pointed subapical one. 

 Thorax closely and distinctly punctured and thickly covered with 

 black hair ; the pronotum and the parts above and below the 

 tegulse with longer white hair. The upper part of the median 

 segment is opaque and shagreened ; the lower irregularly punctured. 

 Legs black, thickly covered with black hair ; the base of the 

 anterior with longer white hair ; the anterior femora in front and 

 the middle joints of the front tarsi are rufo-testaceous ; the coxae 

 are not toothed. Abdomen black ; the 4th and 5th segments edged 



