APID.E. 379 



of a lemon tint, in var. virginalis it is brownish (in this 

 latter form the hairs of the apical segments are tawny, in 

 lucorum white), armature of the c? with the sagittas slightly 

 divergent at the apex, very deep, and much flattened 

 laterally, their apices laterally bidentate ; stipites with the 

 lacinia short and transverse with a sharp angular tooth on 

 the basal side of the transverse process ; legs with black 

 hairs, or in the pale vars. of lucorum, with pale, posterior 

 metatarsi in the c? wide, gradually narrowed towards the 

 base, fringed with rather short uneven hairs, other joints 

 of the tarsi piceous. 



L. 12-22 mm. 



Very common, and generally distributed. 



APIS, Linn. 



Social; communities consisting of males, one female, and 

 ■workers. Subelongate, clothed with short pale brownish 

 hairs ; labial palpi four-jointed, maxillary palpi one-jointed, 

 eyes hairy, very large and approximate on the vertex in the 

 <J ; anterior wings with three submarginal cells, the mar- 

 ginal cell very elongate and reaching nearly to the apex of 

 the wing ; abdomen subcylindrical, truncate at the base, 

 anal aperture in the <? inferior, armature quite unlike that 

 of any other genus (see Introduction, p. 13) ; second to fifth 

 ventral plates in the J with a sub-membranous and trans- 

 parent area on each side at the base, covered by the apical 

 portion of the preceding segment, through this membranous 

 portion the wax exudes and lies in flat flakes on the surface 

 until required for use ; posterior tibice without calcaria, 

 in the ^ outwardly subconvex, in the ? subconvex and 

 very pubescent, in the 5 concave, shining, fringed laterally 

 with long hairs, forming a corbicula as in Bombus ; posterior 

 metatarsi very large, their widest part in the <? broader 

 than the apex of the tibije, their base in the $ produced out- 

 wardly into a lateral tooth. On the habits of the honey 

 bee volumes have been written, and they are so well known 



