40 Messrs. T. D. A. Cockerel! and E. Atkins on long series of examples. Species are separated, for instance, by the presence of several (six or seven) blunt bristles, or at least one, amongst many pointed bristles from those wliich possess no blunt bristle. If, however, they vary in this respect between six and one, there is no reason why tliey should not vary from six to none. So, too, with respect to colour-differences and characters based on the relative length of ]irotarsus i., in connexion at any rate with tiie distinction of L. geometricus from L. ohscurior, new species. In numerous exam} ties of L. geometricus from the Amazons, Table Moun-tain, Karachi, and Jansenville one finds every variation in coloration from pale whity grey to almost jet-black, while protarsus i. varies in length from three to four times longer than the tarsus. L. obscurior is distinguished from geome-tricus by the variation of protarsus i., three and a quarter to tliree and a half times the tarsus — that of the latter species being about four times the tarsus. The variation of colour in L. mactans, too, ranges from the central band and lateral slashes being red (as in the typical North-American form) to almost jet-black, so that one hesi-tates to separate examples even as subspecies on the strength of slight variations in this respect — as, for instance, L. insu-laris, L. insularis insularis, and L. insularis lanulifcr. The following are Dr. DaliFs new species and subspecies : — L. obscurior, sp. n., Madagascar; L. insularis, sp. n., An-tilles; L. insularis insularis, subsp. n., St. Thomas ; L, in-sularis lunulifer, subsp. n., Haiti; L.sagittifer, sp. n., Porto Alegro j L. ancorifer, sp. n., New Guinea ; L. llaJili, sp. n., ]^ismarck Archipelago ; L. luzonicus, sp. n., Philippines ; L. Stuhlmanni, sp. n., East Africa ; L. renivulvatus, sp. n., German S.W. Africa. V. — Contributions from the New Mexico Biological Station. — X III. On the Bees of the Family Nomadidse of Ashmead. ]>y T. I). A. CocKERELL and Emerson Atkins. The Nomadidge of Ashmead (Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. xxvi. p. 64) are the parasitic bees with three submarginal cells. Ashmead himself says that they have "undoubtedly originated from other bees, through ditferent lines of descent." lie adds : — " It is evident, however, that most of them are descendants from various Anthophorid bees, since they agree more nearly with these bees in venation and the characters of the nioutli-parts than with any of the others." If we admit
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