LEPIDOTERA. 273 



These Hymenoptcra arc found in South America. They construct 

 their nests on the tops of trees, or in their hollows. 



That of the M. amallhee is shaped like a bagpipe. The honey 

 it produces is sweet, and very agreeable to the palate, but ex- 

 tremely liquid, and is soon decomposed. The Indians extract a 

 spirit from it of which they are extravagantly fond. 

 M. Cordier, of the Ac. Roy. des Sc, and professor of geology to 

 the Jardin du Roi, has in his possession a fragment of amber con- 

 taining an individual of this species. It appears that other Meliponee 

 — Trig once, Lat. — are found in the island of Sumatra. 



ORDER X. 



LEPIDOPTERA* 



TJic tenth order of Insects terminates the series of those Avhich 

 are furnished with four wings, and presents characters exclusively 

 peculiar to it. 



Both sides of the wings are covered with small coloured scales, 

 resembling farinaceous dust, that are removed by merely coming in 

 contact with the finger. A proboscis, to which the name of lingua f 

 or tongue has been affixed, rolled spirally between two palpi, covered 

 with scales or hairs, forms the most important part of the mouth, 

 and is the instrument with which these Insects extract the nectar 

 from flowers, their only aliment. In our general observations upon 

 this class of Insects, we have seen that this proboscis or trunk is 

 composed of two tubular threads, representing the maxillae, each 

 bearing, near its external base, a very small (superior^ palpus in the 

 form of a tubercle. The aparent (inferior^ palpi, those which form 

 a sort of sheath to the proboscis, replace the labial palpi of the tri- 

 turating Insects ; they are cylindrical or conical, usually turned vip, 

 composed of three joints, and inserted in a fixed labium, which forms 

 the paries of the portion of the buccal cavity, inferior to the pro- 

 boscis. Two little and scarcely distinct, corneous, and more or less 

 ciliated pieces, situated, one on each side, on the anterior and superior 

 margin of the front of the head, near the eyes, seem to be vestiges of 

 mandibles. Finally, Ave observe, and in equally exiguous propor- 

 tions, the labrum or upper lip. 



* The Glossata, Fab. 



t The spiritrompe, according to the nomenclature of Latreillc. 



