304 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



NEW BEES OF THE GENUS MELISSODES. 

 By T. D. a. Cockerell. 



(1.) Melissodes sph^ralce^, n. sp. 



^ . Length about 9^ mm., antennae 5 mm. Black, rather densely 

 covered with erect mouse-grey hair, which becomes white on the face, 

 lower part of cheeks, lower part of pleura, margins of abdominal seg- 

 ments, and legs. Head broad, clypeus wholly black, mandibles with 

 a large yellow spot without near base, face quite densely hairy. Vertex 

 shining but punctured, flagellum entirely fulvous beneath, its first 

 joint distinctly shorter than the fourth or third. Mesothorax shining, 

 with large and deep rather close punctures ; metathorax closely punc- 

 tured, except its basal middle, which is very sparsely punctured. 

 Tegulae shining brown, hairy. Wings hyaline, nervures and stigma 

 fuscous, third submarginal cell longer than first, narrowed rather more 

 than half to marginal. Legs black, tarsal joints after the first rufous. 

 First tarsal joint of all the legs with orange-rufous hairs on inner 

 side. First segment of abdomen with erect very pale grey hairs, the 

 first five segments with rather broad apical bands of appressed dull 

 white hairs, the dark areas before these bands with fuscous hairs, even 

 on the first segment. On the sixth segment the band itself becomes 

 pale fuscous. Fifth and sixth segments with a tooth on each side ; 

 apex narrowly truncate, broad at base, strongly notched on each side 

 before the end. 



Hah. Santa Fe, New Mexico ; three specimens, July 25th, 

 1895, in Mr. Boyle's garden, at flowers of Sphceralcea angustifolia. 



There is another species with a black clypeus in the male 

 found in New Mexico, M. tristis, CklL, which I have taken in the 

 Mesilla Valley and at San Marcial. It is easily known from 

 sphceralcece thus : — 



Larger, antennae longer than head and thorax, mandibles 

 with no yellow spot, pubescence of sixth abdominal 

 segment whitish ; species of the Upper Sonoran zone tristis. 



Smaller, antennae only reaching to metathorax, mandibles 

 with a light yellow spot, pubescence of sixth abdomi- 

 nal segment brown ; species of the transition zone sphcBrakece. 



M, intortay Cr., from Texas, has the clypeus black in the 

 male, but the abdomen is not banded, and the antennae are 

 shorter than in sphceralcece. 



(2.) Melissodes townsendi, n. sp. 

 S^ . Length about 15 mm., stoutly built, black, covered all over 

 with short yellowish-fulvous pubescence, which becomes white on the 

 face and lower parts of cheeks and pleura. Head broader than long, 

 inner orbital margins nearly parallel, face not very much broader than 

 the width of an eye, vertex relatively narrow, very little broader than 

 face ; pubescence of face and occiput dense but rather short ; clypeus, 



