THE ANTHOPHILA, OR BEES. 273 



selected by some other species, whilst others again, 

 such as the V. sylvestris and V. Norvegica, make 

 their nests in the open air, suspending them from the 

 branches of trees and shrubs. The nests of the latter 

 species, which is found principally in the northern parts 

 of this country, are generally attached to pine-trees. 



Whatever ingenuity and industry may be displayed 

 by the Wasps, they are fairly rivalled, although in a 

 more peaceful fashion, by the numerous species of Bees, 

 forming the last tribe of the Hymenoptera, that of 

 the Anthophila or ^' Flower-lovers.^^ These insects, 

 like the Wasps, present us with examples of both 

 solitary and social habits ; and, as in the preceding 

 tribe, both the perfect females and neuters are pro- 

 vided with wings, and usually present a pretty close 

 resemblance to one another. Their food, in all their 

 stages, is always of a vegetable nature, — the perfect 

 insects live entirely uj)on the sweet juices of flowers, 

 and the larvse upon these, mixed with pollen. To 

 fit them for the consumption and collection of these 

 articles of diet, the Bees, or at all events most of 

 them, exhibit a characteristic structure of the mouth 

 and hinder legs. The peculiarity of the latter eon- 

 sists in the dilatation of the tibiae and of the first 

 ; joint of the tarsi in the hinder legs ; the latter forms 

 a flat plate of an oblong or more or less triangular 

 form, and both these parts are usually furnished with 

 an apparatus of hairs and bristles, adapting them for 

 the conveyance of considerable quantities of pollen. 

 The structure of the mouth has already been de- 

 scribed (p. 13). The base of the labium, or the 

 mentum, is always considerably elongated, but in 



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