266 



BRITISH BEES. 



slightly covered with a very short down ; paraglossce 

 wholly wanting ; labial palpi membranous, the two first 

 joints long, the second slightly the longest, and both 

 tapering to the extremity of the second, which is acute, 

 and has the third joint, which is very short and sub- 

 clavate, articulated before the extremity, with the ter- 

 minal one of equal length, and rounded at the apex, 

 appended to it; labium about one-third the length of 

 the tongue, its inosculation trifid and equal, and the 

 central division acute; maxillae subhastate and acumi- 

 nate, not quite so long as the tongue; maxillary palpi 

 very short, three-jointed, the basal joint the smallest, 

 the second the most robust, and the terminal one ovate. 

 THORAX subglobose; prothorax inconspicuous; mesotho- 

 rax convex ; wing-scales large ; scutellum produced hori- 

 zontally, and impending over the post-scutellum and 

 metathorax, and having at each lateral extremity an 

 acute, slightly-curved tooth projecting backwards; me- 

 tathorax abruptly truncated ; wings with two submar- 

 ginal cells and a third commenced, the first slightly the 

 longest, the second receiving both the recurrent ner- 

 vures, the first near its commencement, and the second 

 close to its termination ; legs slender, spinulose exter- 

 nally on the tibise ; claws rather long, slender, and simple. 

 ABDOMEN very conical, truncated at the base, its segments 

 slightly constricted, the apical one long, superficially ca- 

 rinated longitudinally in the centre, and much deflexed. 

 The MALE scarcely differs, excepting that the whole 

 of the front of the head is more densely pubescent ; the 

 mandibles are deeply, acutely, and nearly equally tri- 

 dentate, the terminal segment of the abdomen is va- 

 riously mucronated or toothed at its apex, these pro- 

 cesses pointing backwards, and the penultimate segment 

 is more or less produced laterally. 



