40 BRITISH BEES. 



the under surface of the mouth and lower portion of the 

 head, the cavity of which, when folded, it fills, and even 

 then the apex of the tongue protrudes in some genera 

 beyond the sheathing maxillae. In the Andrenidcs it has 

 but two articulations, and the maxillae always cover them 

 entirely in repose. The first articulation, forming the 

 fulcrum of the whole, is always elbowed in the Apida, 

 and consequently not capable, like the rest of the joints, 

 of full linear extension. The attached diagram will give 

 a clearer conception of the mode of folding : a is the la- 

 bium, and b the tongue. 



As we have no complete description of the mode by 

 which the tongue of the bee is worked, and how it 

 gathers up its honey, I thought it desirable to be fuller 

 upon the subject than was originally my intention. 



The last portion of the trophi, also double, are the man- 

 dibles ; they articulate on each side with the cheeks ; they 

 act laterally, and are variously formed, according to the 

 2 3 economy of the in- 



r^-^vs} ^sTlZl^'^ sect. In the females 



they are usually 

 more or less toothed, 



Fig. 10. Mandibles : 1, of leaf-cutter bee Qnr | nrp penprnallAr 

 (MegacUle) ; 2, of burrower (Andrena) ; 3, of a " C 



parasite (Nomada). broad, curved, and 



toothed in the artisan bees. In Apis and Bombus they 

 are subdentate. In males they are frequently simply 

 acute, but in some species, especially in Andrena, they 

 have a long spine at the base, which points downwards 

 when they are closed. To this sex they appear to be of 

 no use beyond aiding them to stay the wayward caprice 

 or flight of their mistresses ; and, although they have 

 an analogical structure in the males of those genera 

 wherein they are much dilated and toothed, yet they do 



