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Show 1901.J HYMENOPTERA FROM NEW BRITAIN. 243 POLISTES ASTEROPE, Sp. nOV. Rufus, late pallide fiavo macidatus; pedibus pallide rufis, basi pallide Jlava ; alis hyalinis, apice fere violaceis, nervis, stigmateque fuscis. 2 • Long. 14 mm. Antennae rufous, covered with a white microscopic pile. Head pale yellow, rufous on the vertex ; the vertex and the upper part of the front sparsely, but distinctly punctured; there is a distinct, rather wide furrow on the lower part of the front. Clypeus longer than wide ; its apex roundly projects in the middle ; the furrow on its top is broadly curved downwards in the middle; the lateral one is oblique and is angled in the middle where it unites in the fovea. Mandibles pallid yellow, rufous round the edges ; the teeth are black. Occiput for the greater part black. Thorax pallid yellow ; the upper part of the pronotum and the centre of the mesonotum rufous ; tbe sides, the base and apex of the mesonotum are black; the inner side of the black lateral and apical parts are lined with pale yellow. Scutellums pale yellow ; the post-scutellum is lined with black behind. The furrow on the median segment is black, wide and narrowed at the top. The upper part of the mesopleura at the apex, the lower two-thirds of the metapleurae at the base, and a mark placed between the basal suture and the spiracles, and two irregular marks on the mesosternum, black. The nervures, costa, and stigma have a violaceous tinge; along the costa the colour is tinged with fulvous, along the radial cellule with violaceous. Abdomen rufo-fulvous ; all the segments are pale yellow at their apices all round ; the apex of the petiole is much more broadly marked with yellow. EHYNCHIUM BRUNNEUM Fab. One example. The black colour on the basal three segments extends to near the apex of the segments, which have only a narrow band of the rufous colour. The wings, if anything, are more richly coloured than usual. ANTHOPHILA. MELIPONA (TRIGONA). A single species of this genus, which I have not been able to identify. In view of the present very unsatisfactory state of this genus, I have not ventured to describe it. XYLOCOPA PERKINSI, sp. nov. Long. 24 mm. In Willey's ' Zoological Eesults' (p. 388), Dr. Sharp has written the following remarks:-" Mr. E. C. L. Perkins has (E. M. M., Feb. 1899, p. 38) called attention to the very extraordinary symbiosis of the female bees of the genus Koptorthosoma (Xylocopa) aud certain Acarids ; the bee being provided with a special chamber in the abdomen which is tenanted by the Acari. The males do not |
