INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. .69 



AntenricC filiformes, lireves, articiilo prima 



longiHHiino, incurvOj reliquis brevibus, 



aequalibus. 

 Larva apoda, mollis, gregaria intra cellulas 



hexano-ulares. 



o 



Puppa, quiescens, imagini simillima. 

 plctus, et lar\-ae et imaginis, e nectare flo- 

 rum, melle, fructibus clulcibus.» 



Character Artificialis. 



Os lingua inflexa, quinqiiefida. 

 Palpi brevissimi. 

 Antenncc iiliformes. 



In his preface to his Genera Jnseciorinn Fabricius 

 has this observation, '• Auctorum descriptiones, 

 JiguraSy nunquam ad gcnerum determinationem ad- 

 hihere valu'i. - Omnes oris partes plane omiserunt." 

 This is an assertion much too large and unqualified ; 

 and had he consulted the descriptions and figures, 

 which Swammerdam and Reaumur have given of 

 the Instrumenta cibaria in this genus, and which 

 De Geer, (whose work is a rich mine from which 

 much important information may be drawn relative 

 to every part of the history of insects) has given in 

 others ; it would, perhaps, have prevented him 

 from running into so many egregious errors. Nay, 

 had he only examined the proboscis of the hive bee, 

 or any common Bomhinatrix, he must have dis- 

 covered the inaccuracy of the characters here given. 

 But to come to particulars : this genus, like the 

 F 3 preceding 



