258 INSKCTA. 



which she deposits a portion of honey, of the colour and con- 

 sistence of a black and oily grease ; it has a narcotic odour. 

 Common in the environs of Paris. 

 In the others the ligula is straight, or slightly bent under at its 

 extremity. Such are Sphecodes*, HALiCTusf , and Nomia, Lat.J 

 Here also the maxillae are more strongly geniculate than in the 

 Andrense. Thci'e are always three closed cubital cells. 



The male Sphecodes have knotted antennae ; their ligvda, as well as 

 that of the females, is almost straight, and its divisions are nearly 

 equal in length ; that in the middle is much longer in Halictus and 

 Nomia. The female Hailcti have a longitiulinal cleft at tlie poste- 

 rior extremity of the abdomen. The thighs and tibiae are inflated or 

 dilated in the male Nomias. 



The second section of the Anthophila, that of the Apiarle, Lat., 

 comprises those species in which the mediate division of the ligula is 

 at least as long as the mentum or its tubular shield, and is filiform 

 or setaceous. The maxillce and labium are much elongated, and 

 form a sort of proboscis which, when at rest, is geniculate and bent 

 under. 



The two first joints of the labial palpi most frequently resemble a 

 squamous and compressed seta that embraces the sides of the ligula ; 

 the two others are very small; the tliird is generally inserted near 

 the exterior extremity of the preceding one, which terminates in a 

 point. 



The Apiarios either live solitarily or form communities. 

 The former never consist of more than the ordinary number of 

 individuals, and each female provides singly for her young. The 

 posterior legs of their females are neither furnished with a brush on 

 the inner side of the first joint of the tarsi, nor Avith a particular de- 

 pression on the exterior side of their tibiae; this side, as well as the 

 same of the first joint of the tarsi, is most commonly and densely 

 covered with hairs. 



A first division of these solitary Bees is composed of those species 

 in which the second joint of the posterior tarsi of tlie females is in- 

 serted in the middle of the extremity of the preceding one ; the ex- 

 terior and terminal angle of the latter does not appear to be dilated or 

 to project more than in the interior, in the following subgenera. 

 We may also abstract from this group certain species — Andre- 



*Lat., Gener. Crust, et Insect., IV, 150. MM, Lepeletier and Serville have 

 formed a new genus — Encyc. Method. — allied to Sphecodes, under the donomination 

 of Rhathymus — formerly Colax — but differing from it in the projection of the scu- 

 tellum, and in the third cubital cell, which receives the two recurrent nerVures. Be- 

 sides this, the hooks of the tarsi are entire. They quote but one species, which 

 is found at Cayenne. 



t Lat., Ibid. For the habits of these Insects, see the excellent Memoir of M. 

 Walckenaer, quoted under the article Meloe. 



+|Lat., Ibid. See Encyc. Miithod., article Nomie. 



The tenth volume of the part relative to Insects, of this important work, also con- 

 tains sevei-al other articles by MM. Lepeletier and Serville, respecting the Insects of 

 this family. We would particularly notice that of the Parasites. Some of them 

 go to establish new genera, but as we have not been able to compare their characters 

 with sufficient care, we are compelled to omit or barely mention them. 



