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Show tNSECTA. 164 their cocoort to fa .. 1 b urers remov e the wax that clodg st h a t they produced July. Th~ ~ o It was formerly suppose orne males are among cilitate their tssue. 1 already seen that s labourers assist 1 but we 1ave . d These . labourers on y, . h e been ind1cate · h" h serve as hab1ta .. them, whose functions aTv he number of cells w tic y form irregular · h work. and t 1e the female In er d mphs increases, . 1 1 1 e particularly ob· re an ny f whlC 1 W tions to t 1e arv . the edges 0 • t Huber the Ia· 1 c1 ·n stones, on Accorchng 0 ' • combs p ace 1 l n patct.. e of Reaumur. f the ~.e mal e ' and sometime.s , serve the )row 1 fond of the ova 0 h" h they are deposit· bourers are extreme yb eak open the cells in w . lC• a most extraordi· b e even r . h contain· in h.e r a ds eneto ' sue k the milky flu ld kt ewy n attac hment of the labour· ed, m or erh ich seems to belie the h"n oh they are the protectors and nary fact, w f that race of w lC ording to this same ers for the germs o x produced by themf, ace domestic Bee, or is . The wa h t 0 our guarch~ns. s the same origin as t a des through the intervals natur1a hst, ha d honey that also transu c les live amicably to· elaborate . Several•ema h mere y f the a bd 0 m"tnal annuh. of aversion for eac • • ymptoms of some 0 nder one ro of and exh1b1.t hn o si n the a1. r or on plants, whe. re ogtehthere.r u They cop ulate ab.r to add , eTlth ee r fern 1 re much less prolific a es a them thus unl e . I havehseenof our domestic Bee. . the environs of Paris. h t ose mon m 1 ·· 1 t a~lh ~ Bowing species are com L • Reaum., Insect., V ' u, t 1 e Bo. muscoru m' • .!l.p is mfu shceo rtuhmor, ax .f' uI vous. The same colours 2 " yellowish; hairs o t ·n' "al'l the inch· vl" d uaI s. . "d . L.· Reaum., lb'1d ., I ' i ' 4. . The 1 B lapidarius; .llpu lapt ar~:~ h 'anus and colourless wmgs. ~le is black, with a re lS ab -has the front of the fem 1 Bombus a·rbustorum, F . yellow The anus The ma e- . . of the thorax • . h ead and the ·t w~o extremltles . makes its nest under pl 1e s 1 This spec1es is red as in the .ema e. 'd f stones. . L . B. souterat. n, Reaum '' lbl ., o B terrestria; .!lpi:~ terrestna, . . ' f the thorax and base of the I : Black. posterior extret~uty o l~J ';nen yell~w; anus white( I). • nes at the extremity ol Soam etoi mes the soc.l a1 Apiarire have no spl their posterior tibire. . Lin Trans., VII .Jurine ies see the Memoir of M. Huber, ~ order of Insecta. (1) For the other spec 's Breme, and Panzer on the sam oir of Lachatand on the Hymenoptera, genu of generation, see the Mem With respect to t h e·n . male organs . _ Audouin. l!YM£NOPTERA. 165 They fot·m two subgenera: APis, Lat. Or that of Bees properly so called, where the first joint of the posterior tarsi of the labourers forms a long square, and is fur· nished on the inner side with a silken down divided into transverse or striated bands. .!lpis mellifica, L.; Reaum., Insect., V, xxi-xxxviiL Blackish; scutellum and abdomen of the same colour; a transverse greyish band, formed of down, at the base of the third and fol· lowing abdominal annuli. Bees proper are much smaller and more oblong than the Bombi. Their body_is merely furnished with down in particular places, and its colours vary but little. Their communities consist of labourers or neuters, usually from fifteen to twenty t.housand in number, and sometimes extending to thirty thou· sand; of from six to eight hundred males, and in some hives of a thousand and more, called bourdons by the F.rench Apiarists(!), and faux-bourdons by Reaumur; and commonly of a single female, considered by the ancients as the king or head of the community, and styled a queen by us. The labourers, smaller than the others, have their antennre <:omposed of twelve joints, and the abdomen of six annuli; the first joint of the posterior tarsi, or the square piece (piece carree), is dilated in the form of a pointed palette, at the exterior angle of their base, and densely covered on its inner side with short fine, silky down; they are armed with a sting. 'J'hefemale pre· sents the same characters, but the abdomen of the labourers is shorter. Their mandibles are spoon-shaped, and not dentated. In the outer side of their posterior tibire is that smooth depression edged with hairs called the corbeille or basket; the silky brush of the first joint of the tarsi of the same Jegs has seven or eight transverse strire. The males and females are the largest; their mandibles are hairy and emarginated under ihe point; the proboscis is shorter, partiaularly in the males. These latter differ from the former and from the labourers in their antennre, which consist of thirteen joints; in their more rounded head and larger eyes, elongated and united above; in their smaller and more hairy mandibles, in the absence of a sting, iti the four shol't anterior legs, of which (1) Or onr Drane. .lim. Ed. |