FAMILI^. (Apis. •*. a.) l4i 



Subconico, aplce tridentato dentibus gequalibusj 

 Fulcro subtriangulari ; Lacimis exterioribus nullis, 

 interioribus lineari-Ianceolatis, acutis; Valvulis apice 

 lineari-Ianceolato, incurvo^, submembran^eeo ; Pal- 

 pis exterioribus sexarticulatis, interioribus articulis 

 quatuor, primo elbngato ; Stemmatihus in triangulo ; 

 Naso convexo ; Labio ovali ; Maxillis edentulis ; 

 Antennis approximatis, subclavatis, pedicello glo- 

 bose, apice articulo primo longiori, conico ; Tihiis, 

 plantlsque posticis, scopa pollinifera; Lhguiculis, 

 in omni sexu, bifidis ; Ahdomine ovali, ano fimbriato. 



Maris Caput antice truncatum. Tibia', plan- 

 taeque posticse, nudlusculse. Abdomen lanceolatumo 



Imago pollinifera. 



The present family of Apes seems to form the 

 connecting link between that genus and Melitta. 

 Its general form and habit, its palpi, posterior leg^, 

 and anal fringe, evince its affinity to the fifth family 

 of the latter; but its proboscis is that of a gentiine 

 Apis. It is distinguished from all the families, in 

 both genera, by this singularity, that the antennae 

 of the males, as well as of the females, are suljclavate. 

 The number of species belonging to it, that I have 

 liitherto seen, are but few, and I have only had an 

 opportunity of inspecting the proboscis of a male : 

 1 had extracted that organ from the only female I 

 ever possessed, but I unfortunately lost it before I 

 could put it under the lens. This sex, in the woolly 

 •covering of its posterior legs, resembles Melittd 

 Swammerdamellaj but its maxillee are without teeth, 



t and 



