NEW ARRANGEMENT OF BRITISH BEES. 161 



coping of the labrum and the lateral protection of the 

 mandibles, whilst the horny sheathing of the maxillae 

 protect the softer parts folding underneath. 



In the Apid(B, or normal bees, the basal joint has the 

 same action in withdrawing the entire organ into its 

 place of rest; but the joint which gives it this power is 

 not in an analogous situation to that in the Andrenidce, 

 for it is seated short of the joint which lies at <the base 

 of the several organs of the cibarial apparatus. By 

 bending these downwards, it carries their apex back- 

 wards towards the basal fulcrum through the action of 

 these two joints, and, when there, the more delicate 

 ones are protected from abrasion or injury, by the lateral 

 overlapping of the horny skin of the maxillae. All being 

 thus withdrawn within this covering, upon the joint 

 which folds them back, seated at the base of the tongue, 

 the labrum falls, and further to strengthen this protec- 

 tion, the mandibles close over it like forceps. 



That this difference in the arrangement of the cibarial 

 apparatus points to any distinctive peculiarities of eco- 

 nomy has not been ascertained, for the habits of the Sco- 

 pulipedes greatly resemble those of the Andrenidts ; al- 

 though the habits of one of them, Ant hop hor a fur cat a, 

 are remarkably like those of the foreign genus Xylocopa, 

 in its mode of drilling wood. But the Apidce have cross 

 affinities amongst themselves, thus Ceratina resembles 

 Heriades, and some of the Osmice, in the way in which 

 it nidificates. 



The tongues of the Andrenidce are always shorter, 

 broader, and natter than those of the Apidte, in which 

 they are always long, cylindrical, and tapering. In the 

 first section of the Andrenidce, the paraglossre are ob- 

 tusely terminated at the apex, thence called lacerated, 



M 



