4QO The Habits of various Insects. 



and somewhat protruded behind the first (white) segment of the ventral face of 

 the abdomen (the rest of which is black), and a little more wool appeared under 

 the posterior margin of this segment. I am at a loss as to the meaning of this 

 curious contrivance. There is in the males of the same family an interesting 

 secondary sexual character; they are able to protrude from near the end of the 

 abdomen a pair of long hollow hairy retractile filaments, which in some species 

 exceed the whole body in length, In the beautiful Belemnia inaurata there is 

 a second pair of shorter filaments which are wanting in all the other species I 

 examined (Eunomia eagrus, Enchromia jucunda, Agyrta ccerulea, Eudide invaria, 

 Leucopsumis sp., Philoros sp., &c., the names of which I owe to the kindness 

 of Dr. A. Gerstacker, of Berlin). In some species, most distinctly in Belemnia 

 inaurata, I perceived a peculiar odour when the filaments were protruded; this, 

 I think, may serve to allure the females, which in all our species appear to be 

 much less numerous than the males. 



I mentioned to you that with our stingless honey-bees wax is secreted on 

 the dorsal side of the abdomen; now this is also the case with some of our so- 

 litary bees, for instance, Anthophora fulvifrons Sm., and with some species nearly 

 allied to that genus. These solitary bees probably use the wax only to cement 

 the materials with which they build their nests. Our species of Melipona and 

 Trigona also never employ pure wax in the construction of their cells or of the 

 large pots wherein they guard their provisions; they mix it with clay, resinous 

 substances, &c., so that in some species wax forms hardly 10 per cent, of the 

 material. The only case, as far as I know, in which pure wax is used, is 

 in the construction of a tube, which Trigona jaty Sm. builds at the entrance 

 of its nest. 



Among European Apida2, Apis and Bom bus are the only genera which 

 wet with honey the pollen they are collecting, and in consequence of this habit 

 the hairs on the outside of the tibiae of the hind-legs have disappeared. This is 

 also the case with our Meliponae, Trigonae, and Euglossae. Now Centris, Tetra- 

 pedise, Epicharis, and some others bees, collect pollen in the same way ; but not- 

 withstanding, in some species the hairs on the tibiae are developed in an extra- 

 ordinary degree. This seemed to me rather perplexing, till I lately observed 

 several species of Centris and a Tetrapedia gathering sand in the large hair- 

 brushes of the hind-tibiae, which accounts for the conservation and excessive 

 development of the hairs. 



With one of our smallest Trigonae (T. mirim n. sp.), of which I have two 

 hives in my garden, I have made a long series of observations on the construc- 

 tion of the combs, in which the young are raised. As in all other species the 

 combs are horizontal and consist of a single layer of hexagonal cells, like those 

 of wasps; but the cells are vertical. There is always in this species (other species 

 behave differently) a set of cells constructed at the same time in the circum- 

 ference of the two or three uppermost combs. When the cells are ready, they 

 are filled with food, which the bees vomit from their mouths, the queen lays an 

 egg into every cell and these are then immediately shut. The eggs at first lie 

 horizontally; but in the course of the first or second day they assume a perpen- 

 dicular position, with the ticker end turned upwards, dipping but slightly into the 



