462 MERISTIC VARIATION. [part i. 



much developed as in the workers, and this feature suggested that 

 perhaps the specimen may be a young and abnormal queen. The 

 abdomen is small and seems to have been arrested in its develop- 

 ment, but its shape is that of the abdomen of the workers. The 

 last segment of the abdomen is elongated, triangular, and slightly 

 grooved in the middle of the posterior border, so as to permit the 

 passage of the sting. The wings are more like those of a queen or 

 worker than those of a male ; for in the latter they generally 

 greatly exceed the abdomen in length. The thorax is small, 

 narrow, and contracted more than in the normal form, being also 

 less convex. The space between the wings is less than in a fully 

 developed bee. The antennas are mutilated, but seem to have 

 been normal ; but their last joints are slightly reddish brown as 

 they are in females, whether workers or queens, and not black as 

 they are in drones. The two compound eyes were completely 

 fused together in the middle line, across the place in which the 

 simple eyes ought to be found. The simple eyes are not present 

 at all. Lucas, H., Ann. Soc. Entom. France, S. 4, viii. 1868, p. 

 7: 37, PI. 



