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Show I 148 INSECTA. FAMILY IV. ANTHOPHILA, Lat. The fourth and last family of the Aculeata, in the faculty of collecting the pollen of flowers( 1 ), usually possessed by the two posterior legs, presents a peculiar character which dis· tinguishes it from all other families of Insects. The first joint of the tarsi of t'hose legs is very large, strongly compressed, and forms a square palette or a reversed triangle. The maxillre and lips are most commonly very long, and compose a sort of proboscis. The ligula is most frequently shaped like the head of a lance, or resembles a very long thread, the extremity of which is downy or hairy. The larvre · feed exclusively on honey and the pollen or fecundating dust of flowers. The perfect Insect feeds on the honey of the lat· ter only. These Hymenoptera'embrace the genus APIS, Lin. Which I will divide into two sections. In the first, or that of the ANDRENETlE, La:t., the intermediate di· v~sion of the ligula is cordiform or lanceolate, shorter than its sheath, and bent underneath in some, and almost straight in others. It is composed of the genus PRO-ABEILLES, Reaumur and De Geer, or the ANDRENlE, Fab., and the MiLtTES of Kirby(2). These Insects live wlitarily, and consist of but two kinds of indi· viduals, males and females. Their mandibles are simple, or at most are terminated by two dentations; the labial palpi resemble tbeothers, which always have six joints. The ligula is divided into three pieces, ( 1) The parasitical species are not possessed of this faculty, but the form of their legs is essentially the same. They are merely destitute of hairs or brushes. (2) Monographia Apum Angli3!, u. work that has immortalized its author. HYMENOPTERA. the two lateral of which 149 Most of th fi I are very short, and . h their poste:io~~: es collect the pollen of ft~::,: fo_rm of auricles, ~:;pte ~b~e-bread),g~i;:~:::~ :~=/~:e~ft~ l~tti1e hon:;t~;~e i~~~t: 0 : o es, and frequent! . en arvre. The roads, or in the fields in :.vhl!l hhard ground, along the :o exdcavate egg ,• tl ' • tc they pl . r ers of ley then close i'he ace this paste alon . In some the middl . ~p~rture with earth. g With an . e dtVIS!On of th }' mlty, almost cordiform ' and f,o ld ed we heIgnu alat riess et.n larged at its extre- HYL.JEUs, Fab.-Prosopis , J Ul.. th Sometimes the bod y . . I . e antennre are almosIts ogf abhr ous ' a n d t h e second and third .. present b t t e same length T JOIDts of tute of h· ~ two complete cubital cells. Th. I he superior wings airs, collect no poll ese nsects bein d . nests of other H en, and appear to de . , . g esti-ymenoptet ·a of th. f . posit their ova in th proper· of Latt·eille and Fab . . Is amily. They are the H e The oth . h l'lciUs( 1 ). YL.JEus er s ave a hairy bod lon~er than the second. Th y, an~ the third joint of th cubnal cells. The f, I e supertor wings have th e antennre tinguish them by them a es. collect their stores from fl ree complete e generic name of owers. I dis- CoLLETEs, Lat. Such for instance is the C. glutineux• Jinis . ~'a't d' ~ , r succmcta L J' 2 espr:ces de me b ' ·; or the ./lbeille d Small; black . hm 1'~n.essoyeuses of Reaum I ont le nid e8/ bd ' wit whtUsh h · ur, nsect VI ·· a omen ovoid d airs; those on th h ., 'xu. . ' an the post . c t orax Wlth a white down f, . eriOt' margin of its . ' russet; darum p ' ormmg bands. Th annuh covered , anz.-has lo e male-E a· lindrical hoi . nger antennre. The f, vo aa calen-e m the grou d emale mak gummy fluid, which n 'and smears its . es a cy. slime of a Sna·l I m~y be compared to th _pa:Ietes with a h I . n this she '] e VISCid and I t e same material . pi es a series of c II g ossy ing an egg and s 'resembhng a thimble in sh e s composed of The other Andrene~:~ of t?e _paste before ment~~e, each contain-by the lanceolate figu afre dtstmguished from th ned(2)! re o the ligula. e preceding ones (1) Lat., Gen. Crust et (2) Lat., Ibid. . Insect., IV, p. 149. |