BOMBUS. 307 



ft Not parasitical. Collectors of pollen. 

 J Temporarily social. 



Genus 26. BOMBUS, Latreille. 



(Plate XV. figs. 3 and 4, and Plate XVI. figs. 1, 2, 3.) 

 APIS** *2, Kirby. 



Gen. Char. : BODY densely hirsute. HEAD small, sub- 

 globose, not so wide as the thorax ; the vertex glabrous, 

 with a longitudinal, short, deep channel, crossed in its 

 centre by a deeper transverse one, wherein the ocelli are 

 disposed in a very slightly curved line; antennae short, 

 geniculated, and filiform ; the scape half as long as the 

 flagellum, the first joint of which is globose, the se- 

 cond subclavate, the rest short and subequal, and the 

 terminal one compressed laterally; face flat, densely 

 pubescent ; clypeus subtriangular, gibbous, its base trun- 

 cated, and apex corivexly lobated, or straight and mar- 

 gined; labrum lunulate; mandibles broad at the base, 

 and obscurely tridentate ; cibarial apparatus moderate ; 

 tongue twice the length of the labium, clothed with pu- 

 bescence to within a brief distance of its apex, and ter- 

 minating in a small knob; paraglosstK about one-fourth 

 the length of the tongue, coadunate at the base, and 

 acuminate ; labial palpi three-fourths the length of the 

 tongue, broad at the base, and tapering to the extremity 

 of the acute apex of the second joint, which is about 

 one-fifth the length of the first, the two terminal joints 

 very short and articulated laterally just before the 

 end of the second; labium one-half the length of the 

 tongue, broadest at its base, and acutely produced in the 

 centre of its inosculation ; maxilla as long as the tongue, 

 subhastate and acuminate; maxillary palpi two-jointed, 

 short, sometimes equal, and slightly robust, or with the 



x 2 



