MEXICAN BEES. 363 



dern entomologists have universally agreed in the propriety of 

 regarding the American races as constituting a distinct group 

 from the bees of the Old World. M. Latreille has gone fur- 

 ther, by subdividing the American bees into two genera ; Meli- 

 pona, in which the mandibles are not toothed ; and Trigona, 

 in which these organs are dentate. Of the propriety of this 

 subdivision, which hitherto seemed to be supported by the 

 general appearance of the insects referred to each group, the 

 examination of the bee whose nest has been just described has 

 given rise to considerable doubts. In it one of the mandibles 

 is toothed, and the other is nearly entire. Its technical cha- 

 racters, therefore, are intermediate between the two genera, 

 with a leaning toward Trigona ; but its general appearance is 

 entirely that of a Melipona, approaching very closely to that 

 of Melipona favosa, Latr., Apis favosa, Fab. That it cannot 

 be that species, or any of the nearly related ones described by 

 M. Latreille in the Observations Zoologiques, is evident from 

 the dentation of its mandible, and it may, therefore, be re- 

 garded as new to science. It is described in a note *. The 



* Melipona Beecheii. — Mel. nigrescens, margine postico segmenforum 

 abdominis quinque anteriorum flavo : mandibuld sinistra apice bi- vel tri- 

 dentatd. 

 Descr. — Corpus totum nigrescens, praster abdominis segmentorum mar- 



gines. 

 Mandibula sinistra apice bi- vel tri-dentata, dextera submutica : ambse 



pallide refescentibrunnese, basi apiceque tantum brunneo-nigris. 

 Clypeus albido-villosus, maculis tribus nigris : duse laterales elongatae, 



unica apicalis rotundata. 

 Antennce articulo primo brunneo-fusco, pallidiori: reliquis satura- 



tioribus. 

 Fades inferne albido-, superne fusco-, villosa. 

 Thorax totus rufescenti-tomentosus. 

 Abdomen rufescenti-pubescens : segmentorum quinque anteriorum mar, 



gines postici flavi. 

 Venter albido-villosus : segmentorum quinque anteriorum margines 



postici albido-flavescentes. 

 Pectus albido-tomentosum. 

 Femora tibiceque nigrae, albido-villosee, tibiae posticse macula media 



rufescenti-brunnea. 

 Tarsi fulvi, antice albido-, postice et ad apices, rufo-villosi. 

 Alee dilute rufescentes, nervis rufescentibus. 



