HYMENOPTERA, 269 



Tlaey form two subgenera : 



Apis, Lat., 

 Or that of Bees properly so called, where the first joint of the poste- 

 rior tarsi of the labourers form a long^ square, and is furnished on the 

 inner side with a silken down, divided into transverse or striated 

 bands. 



Apis meliifica, L. ; Reaum., Insect., V, xxi — xxviii. Blackish ; 

 scutelluni and abdomen of the same colour ; a transverse greyish 

 band, formed of down, at the base of the third and following ab- 

 dominal annuli. 



Bees proper are much smaller and more oblong than the 

 Bombi. Their body is merely furnished with down in particu- 

 lar places, and its colours vary but little. Their communites 

 consist of labourers or neuters, usually from fifteen to twenty 

 thousand in number, and sometimes extending to thirty thousand ; 

 of from six to eight hundred males, and in some hives of a thou- 

 sand and more, called bourdons by the French Apiarists (a), 

 and faux-bourdons by Reaumur ; and commonly of a single 

 female, considered by the ancients as the king or head of the 

 community, and styled a queen by us. 



The labourers, smaller than the others, liave their antennas 

 composed of twelve joints, and the abdomen of six annuli ; the 

 first joint of the posterior tarsi, or the square piece, (piece carree), 

 is dilated in the form of a pointed pallette, at the exterior angle 

 of their base, and densely covered on its inner side with short, 

 fine, silky down ; they are armed with a sting. The female pre- 

 sents the same characters, but the abdomen of the labourers is 

 shorter. Their mandibles are spoon-shaped, and not dentated. In 

 the outer side of their posterior tibiae is that smooth depression, 

 edged with hairs, called the corbeillc, or basket; the silky brush 

 of the first joint of the tarsi of the same legs has seven or eight 

 transverse striae. 



The males and females are the largest ; their mandibles are 

 liairyand emarginated under the point; the proboscis is shorter, 

 particularly in the males. These latter differ from the former 

 and from the labourers in their antennae, which consist of thirteen 

 joints ; in their more rounded head and larger eyes, elongated 

 and united above ; in their smaller and more hairy mandibles, in 

 the absence of a sting, in the four short anterior legs, of which 

 the two first are arcuated, and finally in \he piece carree which 

 has neither palette nor silken brush. Their sexual organs re- 

 semble two horns, partly of a reddish yellow, accompanied by a 

 penis terminated en palette, and some other parts. If these or- 

 gans be forcibly protruded the Insect dies instantly. 



The interior of the abdominal cavity of the females and la- 

 bourers presents two stomachs, the intestines and poison sac. . 

 A tolerably large aperture situated at the superior base of the 

 proboscis, under the labrum, and closed by a little triangular 

 piece called langue by Reaumur, the epipharynx of Savigny, 

 transmits the aliment, and leads to a slender esophagus that tra- 



{^ (a) It is the American Drone, — Eng. Ed, 



