MELECTA. 255 



species by the aid of blades of grass or slight straws 

 thrust into the aperture,, but the crumbling nature of 

 the soil frustrated ray wishes, and I abandoned the at- 

 tempt. This field of observation is widely open to the 

 exertions of observing naturalists, and the novelty of 

 their discoveries would well reward the toil of the un- 

 dertaking, for it would not be long before they gathered 

 fruit. 



Genus 15. MELECTA, Latreilk. 



(Plate XI. fig. !<??.) 



APIS ** a, Kirby. 



Gen. Char. : HEAD transverse, scarcely so wide as the 

 thorax; ocelli in a triangle on the vertex; antennae fili- 

 form, rather robust, and but slightly geniculated, the 

 scape not longer than the two following joints, the se- 

 cond joint of the flagellum the longest and clavate, the 

 rest short, nearly equal, and the terminal one laterally 



/ 



compressed at its extremity ; face flat, very pubescent ; 

 clypeus short transverse, lunulate, convex; labrum irre- 

 gularly gibbous, obovate ; mandibles strongly bidentate ; 

 tongue long, slightly expanding towards the middle and 

 thence tapering to the extremity, and with a central 

 line; paraylossa scarcely lialf the length of the tongue, 

 almost setiform, but robust at the base ; labial palpi 

 more than half the length of the tongue, the two first 

 joints membranous and very slender, the fiist longer 

 than the rest united, the second about half the length 

 of the first, and terminating acutely, the third not more 

 than one-fourth the length of the second, and inserted 

 laterally before its termination, the fourth about as long 



