ANTHOPHILA. 173 



with the basal joints sheath-like, maxillary palpi very 

 variable in the number of their joints, mandibles very 

 variable in form ; compouud eyes large and well-developed, 

 ocelli three, antenna? simple, l3-jointed in the $ , 12-jointed 

 in the ? ; thorax broad, pronotum short and collar like, 

 wings present in both sexes, and not folded longitudinally 

 when at rest ; abdomen elongate or ovate, rounded or 

 subtruncate at the base, except in A'pis, where it is sharply 

 truncate, as in Yes])a ; seven dorsal segments visible in the 

 $ , six in the ? , ventrally the eighth segment often forms 

 the termination of the abdomen in the cj, the seventh being 

 very short, and hidden beneath the sixth, or almost so. In 

 Megachile and the genera where the anal aperture in the (J 

 is inferior, frequently only three or four segments are exposed 

 ventrally. The terminal ventral segments in the c? afford 

 excellent characteristics, as well as the genital armature, 

 which is very variable in form, pollen collecting hairs 

 sometimes situated on the ventral segments of the abdomen, 

 sometimes on the posterior tibiae and tarsi, or on the femora 

 of the ?, absent only in the inquilino genera; posterior 

 tibiffi in some genera furnished with a patella or flattened 

 disc at the extreme base outwardly, posterior metatarsi 

 more or less dilated. The tongues and mouth parts of our 

 British Anthophila will be found figured and described in 

 the Linnean Society's Journal, Zool. vol. xxiii. pp. 410- 

 432, pis. 3-10. 



The Anthophila are separable into two natural divisions, 

 the Ohtusilingues and Jcutilinciues, by the forms of their 

 tongues ; I have adopted these as primary divisions of 

 this section, although they were only created as sub- 

 divisions of the Andr€7iidce, feeling that their characteristics 

 are far more important and better deliued than those which 

 separate the two families Andrenidve and Apidse, which are 

 here treated as families of the Acidilingues. 



(2) 1. Tongue short, obtuse, bifid . . Obtusilingi-k.s. 



(1) 2. Tongue pointcJ and acute, or elongate . Acutilingues. 



