S HYAfENOPTERA ACULEATA. 



is called the clypeii^. Just above tbis in the ants is a 

 small triangular space called the frontal area. On to the 

 front margin of the clypens is hinged another piece or flap 

 called the lahrum ; the inandihles articulate on to the cheeks 

 at their apex, and vary very much in form and development, 

 they fold across, below, or sometimes over, the lahrum,- 

 under the labrum is the epipharynx. On the underside 

 of the head is a deep wide groove into which the cibarial 

 apparatus fits when at rest. The ceiling of this groove is 

 the posterior side of the wall of the face ; the sides of 

 the groove are sub-parallel and nearly perpendicular, and 

 unite posteriorly in a semi-circular curve, anteriorly the 

 groove is free except when closed by the mandibles 

 folding across it. Into the sides of this groove articulate the 

 cardiues, two narrow joints each slightly widened at the 

 apex. On the widened apices of these swing the lora, which 

 are two narrow joints united so as to form a /\ shaped body. 

 These vary a good deal in length and width, and in some 

 genera are wanting. From the centre of this f^ depends the 

 submenfum, a more or less triangular, sometimes hyaline 

 body. This is followed by the menhun, which is semi-tubular, 

 and forms a sheath in which lie some of the softer parts of 

 the apparatus. From each side of the apex of the meidinn 

 spring the lahialjmJpi, whose joints may be either cylindrical 

 or sheath-like, and from between them extends the llgida 

 or lingua. The ligula itself is grooved posteriorly, and its 

 anterior surface is traversed by very fine ridges set with 

 bristly hairs. In the higher J/j/f?*' there isa ladle-like organ, 

 or " houton " at the apex. The liijula may be short and bifid 

 at the apex, as in the Fossures, ants and wasps, and the early 

 genera of the Antliofhila called the ohtusilinyues, or short, 

 wide, and pointed, as in the genera Ilalictus, Andrena, etc., 

 or many times longer than wide, as in the higher Apidse. The 

 upper side of the base of the ligula is ensheathed by 

 the paraglossa\ which vary much in shape and size. All 

 the central or labial organs are laterally ensheathed by the 

 vrn.vilhe, which articulate to the widened apices of the 



