HTMENOPTT5RA. 261 



Heriades, Spin., 



Whore the body is also elongated and almost cylindrical, but where 

 the mandibles are triangular ; the maxillary palpi consist of but two 

 joints, and the second of the labial is much shorter than that of the 

 others. These Insects, like the Chelostomre, make their nests in 

 holes of old trees *. In the four following subgenera, tlie abdomen is 

 shorter and almost triangular or forms a semi-oval. These Apiaiia; 

 are the Abeilles maconnes and the Abeillex coupeuses de fexdUes of 

 Reaumur. 



MEGACHILE,Z.a/. ANTHOPHORA,iXYLOCOPA, Fat). TrACHUSA, JuV.^ 



Where the maxillary palpi consist of two joints ; the abdomen is 

 plane above and susceptible of being elevated posteriorly, thereby 

 enabling the females to employ their sting over their body. 



M. murarium ; Xylocopa muraria. Fab,; Rcaum., Insect., 

 VI, vii, viii, 1 — 8. One of the largest species of the genus. 

 The female is black, with violet-black wings. The male is 

 covered Avith russet hairs, and the last of his abdominal annuli 

 are black. The female constructs her nest of very fine earth, 

 which she forms into a kind of mortar, applying it against walls 

 or stones, with a south exposure. It becomes extremely hard, 

 and resembles a clod of eartli. It contains from twelve to fif- 

 teen cells, in each of which is deposited some bee-bread and an 

 egg. The perfect Insect appears in the spring of the next year. 

 Another species, closely allied to the preceding one — Apissi- 

 cula, Ross. — forms its nest into a ball and places it on the 

 branches of plants. 

 Others, Megachiles, called by Reaumur AbeiUes coitpsu<!es dufeu' 

 illes, in the construction of their nests, employ perfectly oval or cir- 

 cular portions of leaves, Avhich they cut out by means of their mandi- 

 bles, with as much quickness as dexterity. These pieces are tran- 

 sported by them into straight and cylindrical holes, previously exca- 

 vated in the ground, and sometimes in walls or the decayed trunk of 

 an old tree. They line the botto.n of the cavity with these leaves, 

 and form a cell, shaped like a thimble, in which they deposit the 

 honied provision on which the larva is to feed, and an egg- ; they 

 then close the cell with a flat or slightly concave lid, also formed of 

 a portion of a leaf. A second cell is subsequently formed above the 

 first; that is followed by a third, and so on until the hole is filled. 

 Of this number is the 



31. roftce ; Apis centuncularis, L. ; Reaum., Insect., VI, x. 

 About six lines in length ; black, with a fulvous-grey down ; 

 small white and transverse spots on the superior sides of the ab- 

 domen ; inferior surface of the latter covered with fulvous 

 hairs. The male is described by Linnaeus as another species, 

 under the name of lagopoda. 



» Lat. Gener. Crust, et Insect., IV, 162. 



