APIS. — MELIPOKA. OO 9 



983. Apis florea, Fabr. Mant. Ins. i, p. 305; Dall. Torr. Cat. x, p. 591. 

 Apis lobata, Sjiiith, Cat. ii, p. 416, (S . 



Apis audreniforiiiis, Smith, Jour. Linn. Soc. ii (1858), p. 49. 

 Apis floralis, Home, Trans. Zool. Soc. vii, p. 181, pi. 22, fi'>-s. 2, 2a. 



9 . Head, thorax, and abdomen dull and opaque, very minutely 

 acicidate, slightly pubescent. Black ; the basal two abdominal 

 segments more or less red ; the pubescence on the head and thorax 

 white, on the posterior tarsi ferruginous golden ; in fine specimens 

 there are narrow transverse bands of silky white pile at the base 

 of the 2nd to the 5th abdominal segments ; wings hyaline and 

 iridescent, nervures testaceous, tegulae blai-k. 



5 similar, much larger ; the anterior and intermediate tarsi, the 

 posterior tibine and tarsi, the basal three abdominal segments, and 

 the apical margins of the 4th and 5th segments rufo-testaceous ; 

 the face and front with silky snow-white pile; the legs covered 

 with a thin, short, glittering pale pubescence. 



S larger ; black with dense long cinereous-white pubescence ; 

 the legs rufo-testaceous, the basal joint of the posterior tarsi 

 swollen, with a remarkable curved lobe at base beneath. This is 

 Apis lobata. Smith. 



Var. andreniformis has only the basal margin of the 2nd 

 abdominal segment reddish, and white pilose transverse bands at 

 the bases of segments 3-6, the rest of the abdomen black. 



Hub. Kumaun ; Sikhim ; North-West Provinces ; Bengal ; 

 Central India ; Madras ; Bangalore ; Malabar ; Assam ; Burma : 

 Tenasserim ; Ceylon ; extending in the Malayan region as far as 

 Java. 5 . Length 13 ; e.vp. 24 mm. J . Length 12 ; exp. 

 24 mm. ^. Length 8; exp. 16 mm. 



Genus MELIPONA. 



Melipona, lU. Mag. Ins. v, p. 157 (1806). 

 Trigona, Jurine, Hym. p. 245 (1807). 



Type, M. favosa, Fabr. 

 Range. Both hemispheres. 



Head transverse, flat in front; eyes narrow, consequently fore- 

 head and front broad, the orbits below reaching down to the base 

 of the mandibles ; ocelli almost in a straight line on the vertex ; 

 antennae stout, geniculate, the flagellum filiform : clypeus subtri- 



angular, flat, barely convex, its 

 anterior margin transverse or 

 subemarginate. Thorax globose ; 

 pronotum depressed below the 

 level of the mesonotum ; meso- 

 notum convex ; scutelhim sub- 

 triangular, margined and pro- 

 jecting over the postscutellum 

 and median segment, separated 

 Fig. 188.— Melipona lutea, ^ . f . from the mesonotum by a trans- 

 verse groove ; postscutellum and 

 median segment depressed, the latter rounded posteriorly ; legs 



