264 INSKCTA. 



approximated to the following ones by the length of their paraglossae, 

 or lateral divisions of the labium, which almost equals that of the 

 labial palpi. 



Melecta. Lat. — Crocisa, Jur., 

 Where the maxillary palpi have five or six distinct joints *. 



Crocisa, Jur., 

 Where they have but three, and where the scutellum is prolonged 

 and emarginated f . 



Ox.EA, Kliig, 

 Where the labrum forms a long square, and is not semi-oval, as in the 

 preceding subgenera, and where the maxillary palpi are wanting, or 

 at least reduced to one very small joint J. 



The last of the solitary Apiariee have the first joint of their poste- 

 rior tarsi dilated inferiorly on the outer side, so that the following 

 joint is inserted nearer the inner angle of the extremity of the pre- 

 ceding one than to the opposite angle. The outer side of this first 

 joint, as well as that of the tibiae, is densely crowded with thick hairs 

 forming a sort of brush or tuft, particularly in certain species foreign 

 to Europe; and thence the term Scopidipedes, which in my Fam. 

 Nat. du Regn. Anim., I have given to this last division of the soli- 

 tary Apiarise. The imder part of their abdomen is naked, or at least 

 destitute of a silken brush. The number of cubital cells, with the 

 exception of a few species, is three, of which each of the two last re- 

 ceives a recurrent nervure. 



Sometimes the maxillary palpi consist of from four to six joints. 



In these, the mandibles exhibit one tooth at most on the inner 

 side. They fly with a lium from flower to flower, and with great ra- 

 pidity. Several males have a ])undle of hairs on the first and last 

 joint of the intermediate tarsi. Others are distinguished from their 

 females either by their long antennae, or by a more remarkable 

 thickening of the two thighs of the second p:iir of legs, or by that of the 

 two last. The anterior extremity of their head is frequently coloured 

 with yellow or white. The outer side of the tibiae and of the first 

 tarsial joint of the posterior legs, in the females, is often densely 

 pilose. They construct their nests either in the ground or in the 

 cracks and holes in old Avails. Several prefer grounds cut perpendi- 

 cularly and exposed to the sun. The cells, in which they deposit 

 their eggs, are formed of earth and shaped like a thimble, or like 

 those of the Megachiles, and extremely smooth internally. They 

 close the opening with the same material. 



* Lat., Gen. Crust, et lusect., IV, 171. For some other analogous genera, see 

 the Encyc. Method., articles Parasites and Philerhne, 



t Lat., Ibid., 172. 



X Lat., Ibid., 172; Encyc. Method., article Oxi/ee. 



The genus described by MM. Lepeletier and Serville, under the name of 

 Mouoeca, belongs to the division of the solitary brush-footed Apiariae, but I have not 

 yet been able to verify its characters. The mandibles are narrow, pointed, and 

 bidentated. Ihe radial cell is appendiculated. Each of the second and third 

 cubitals receives a recurrent nervure. The posterior tibiae aie terminated by two 

 spines, the inner one serrated. This subgenus approaches Macrocera and FJpipicharis. 



