CERATINA. 245 



to a musical scale by associating the different species in 

 the due gradation of their varying tones. Here we have 

 one of the most musical of the tribe, not a monotonous 

 dull sleepy hum, but a fine contralto, the very Patti 

 amongst the bees. But it is rapidity of motion which 

 in them intensifies the note they chant, and the velo- 

 city of the flight of this insect is something remarkable. 

 They dart about with almost the rapidity of a flash of 

 lightning, and this swiftness of approach and retreat 

 modulates their accents. 



Under the head " Macropis " I have pointed to some 

 strong resemblances between this genus and that. 



Genus 13. CERATINA, Latreille. 



(Plate VII. fig. 3 <J ? .) 



Apis**J2, a, Kirby. 



Gen. Char. : HEAD transverse, convex, glabrous ; ocelli 

 placed in a triangle on the vertex, which is, as well as 

 the face, convex ; antenna short, subclavate, each in- 

 serted in a separate deep cavity in the centre of the face, 

 the first joint of the flagellum globose, the second the 

 longest of all and slender at its base, but all gradually 

 enlarging to the extremity; clypeus very gibbous; la- 

 brum quadrate, convex ; cibarial apparatus long ; tongue 

 long and tapering, and with a minute knob at its ex- 

 tremity ; paraglossa obsolete; labial palpi three-fourths 

 as long as the tongue, the two first joints membranous 

 and diminishing in width, the second joint rather shorter 

 than the basal one and acute at its extremity, and exter- 

 nally before its termination the two very short terminal 

 ones are inserted ; labium half the length of the tongue, 



