CCELIOXYS. 265 



quality of the pollen with -which it supplies its own nest, 

 to be that which is best adapted for the nurture of their 

 young. It is not likely that we shall very speedily lift 

 the veil from these mysteries, but they are suggestive of 

 observation which in seeking one thing may fall upon 

 another equally interesting. 



I have usually caught these insects settled upon the 

 leaves of shrubs, especially of fruit bushes, particularly 

 that of the black currant, upon which, in a favourable lo- 

 cality, many bees, as well as numerous small fossorial 

 Hymenoptera may be found in genial weather. I have 

 never caught them upon flowers, nor do I know what 

 flowers they frequent. The end of May, if warm, and 

 throughout June, they are usually found most abun- 

 dantly. 



Genus 18. CCELIOXYS, Latreille. 



(Plate XII. fig. 1 c? ? .) 

 APIS ** c 1 a, Jirby. 



Gen. Char. : BODY subglabrous. HEAD transverse, 

 concave posteriorly to fit the anterior portion of the 

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

 form, short, subgeniculated, the basal joint of the flagel- 

 lum globose, the second subclavate, and all from the 

 second subequal, the terminal joint compressed late- 

 rally ; face flat, very pubescent ; chjpeus ovate, concavely 

 truncated in front, its surface convex ; labrum oblong, 

 with its sides parallel, but with lateral processes at its 

 articulation ; mandibles broad, quadridentate ; cibarial 

 apparatus long, the tongue very long, nearly three times 

 the length of the labium, linear but slightly inflated in 

 the centre, and thence tapering to its extremity, and 



