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Show • , INSECTA. 162 . d by two spines, as in Sometimes the posterior tt'b 't re are termmate EuGLossA, Lat. Fab. · nd the pseu d o-p roboscis isb a s lho ng as Wh ere the labrum 1s sq. uare, ian ate .I n . t( l) formed y t e two the body; the labial palpl term a polO ' last joints. BoMBUS, Lat. Fub. · t sversa1 t h e Pseudo-proboscis is· much· Where the labrum 1s ran 'd .. t of the labial palpt termt-and the secon JOlD • shorter than the body.' two others on its outer s~de. . . nates in a point, bearmg the I ts or Dourdons, IS apphed (m 'fhe vulgar name of these nsec . ' Bee but the Insects of which F e) to the males o f the domestlc o' re rounded, and covere d ranc uch larger, m we are now speaking are m ed in variously coloured bands. Th~y 'th hairs frequently arrang f' ently put them to death m Wl h'ld n who requ . are well known to ch 1 re c' ontam. e d W.I thin their body. They m· de r to obtain the oney . . of fifty or sixty, and some- or · commumues habit subterranean nests 10 • d' 'd als The society is dissolved t l d red m l Vl u • . . . ·11nes of two or three lUD . posed of males, thstmgu1shed f · It 1..s com on the approach o Wltlter. b d narrow mandibles, bearded, and by their sma1 1 s1• ze, reduced fe a ' tly by a dt· fference o f c,o 1o urs,• t eth and requen . d' terminated by two e ' 1 others furnished w1th man 1· . h 1 rger than t le ' ofjiemales, wh1c are a . 1 th case with those of the neuters . oon as lS a so e h bles formed hke a sp ' . e intermediate between t e 1 t as to s1ze, ar . or labourers; the at er, ays that there are two varte· 1 • R umur however s d males and fema es, ea f derate size, and the secon ' er and o a mo · ties· the first, strong . b the most lively and actm. ' . d to htm to e f h smaller, whtch app~are . f ct According to him, several o t e Huber, Jun. has vertfied thts ~ • . copulate with the males . h h tched m the sprmg f labourers whic are a . other and lay soon a ter, d d f m thelr common m ' . r that have procee e ro . t "'ecundate the ordtnary ie· but produc.m g rna1 e s on ly ' w1 h1ch are 0 1' • d t ' • • on and are destme 0 males, or those which appear late tn tne seas ' b d is almost glabrous, such as t~e ~ ( l) Even in those species ~here the. o y t . oint of the two last tarsi 19 still tata, cordata, &c., the posterior f~ce of the :r;ns!cts are unknown to us. Som.e furnished with a brush. The habits of thes. convexity or thickenin! of thelr individuals differ from others by the anterl;: outer margin, a clef\ or narrow osterior tibia:, where we also remark, near e Le eletier and Serville-:-~ncyc. ~nd longitudinal fossula. The genus AoLAbE of ~blished on similar individuals. X lOS appeal'S to have een es Method. J insect., J - r t South America. I St:e Lat., Ibid. These Apiaria: are pecu lar o liYMENOPTERA • 163 establish a new colony in the spring of the ensuing year. All the others, the little females not excepted, perish. Such of the ordinary females as have escaped the severity of the winter take advantage of the first fine weather to construct their nests. One species-Apia lapidaria-establishes itself on the surface of the earth under stones, but all the others form their habitation in it, f1·equently descending to a depth of one or two feet, in the way we are about to descl'ibe. Dry plains, fields, and hills are the localities they select. These subterranean cavities, which are of considerable extent and wider than high, have the figure of a dome. The ceiling is constructed with earth and with moss, carded by these Insects, which they transport there, fibre by fibre, entering the cavity backwards. A coating of coarse wax is laid over its walls. Sometimes a simple opening, designedly left at the bottom of the nest, serves for an entrance, and then again a winding passage covered with moss, and a foot or two long, leads to the domicil. The bottom of the cavity is lined with a layer of leaves, for the accommodation of the brood. The females first place brown, irregular, mammiliform masses of wax there, called patee by Reaumur, and which, on account of their shape and colour, he compares to truffies. Their internal cavities are destined to enclose the eggs and lal'Vre. There the latter live in society until the moment has arrived when they are to become nymphs; they then separate and spin ovoid and silken cocoons, laid verticaliy against each other. In this state the Insect is always reversed, or, like the female nymphs of the common Bee, with the head downwards; we always find these cocoons perforated infcferiorly, when the perfect Insects have left them. Reaumur says that the larvre feed on the wax which forms their dwelling; according to Huber, it merely protects them from cold and wet, their ailment consisting of a tolerably large quantity of pollen moistened with honey, with which the labourers carefully supply them; when it is consumed they perforate the cover of their cells, flp'nish them with more, and shut t.hem up again. Th~y eveq enlarge them when the increased growth of the larvre causes them to be too much confined. We also find in these nests three or four small bodies composed of brown wax, or the same matter as the patee, and shaped like tumblers or almost cylindrical pots, always open, and more or less filled with good honey. These reservoirs of the honey are not always placed in the same situation. It has been asserted that the labour-ers emplpyed tile emptf cocoons for a similar use, but this I doubt, a, they ~re of~ silken material and perforated inferiorly. The laa•vz are hatched in four or five days after the eggs have been laid, and complete theit• metamo1·phosis in the months of June and |
