J3Q FAMILIiE. (Melltta. **. a.) 



conjecture, the individuals of this, and the remain- 

 ing families of the genus, render even and smooth 

 the sides of the cells which they excavate for their 

 young, and besmear them with a kind of gluten to 

 prevent their falling in. The Melitt^ now before 

 us, though possessed of all the genuine characters 

 of that genus, have a prima facie resemblance to 

 Sphex, arising principally from the paucity of their 

 hairs. This, probably, induced Linneus to con- 

 sider one species as belonging to that genus. De 

 Geer has given a figure both of the proboscis and 

 of the lip of one of these insects (h). They make 

 their nests in bare sections of banks exposed to 

 the sun and nearly vertical : these usually swarm 

 with their little burrows, which they excavate, ac- 

 cording to Reaumur, to the depth of nine or ten 

 inches, and in which they deposit their egg, in- 

 closing with it a sm.all mass of pollen moistened 

 with honey (c). They are common during the 

 {Summer months. 



* *. b. {d) 



H. F. A. Corpus oblongiusculum, villosum ; 

 Capite trunco paulo angustiori, subtriangulari ; 

 Prohoscide august^ glabra ; Lingua acuta, utrin- 

 que auriculata ; Tuho conico, apice tridentato 

 dente intermedio emarginato ; Falvidis apice bre-» 



{I) De Geer, torn. 2. p. 2. tab, 32. fig. 7, 8. I. 



(c) Reaum. torn. 0. Mem. 4. p. 96, 97. 



(nJ) Tab. 2^ 3. **. b. Hylceus and Jpis, Yah, 



vissimo; 



