356 INSECTS. HYMENOPTERA, 



rax ; a black transverse band in the middle of the thorax ; abdo- 

 men almost naked, of a bluish black colour ; extremities of the 

 wings blackish. Europe, on flowers. Nouv. Diet. i. 500. 



TRIBE II APIARLE. 



Intermediate division of the labium filiform or setaceous, as long 

 or longer than the sheath, bent downwards, as well as the ex- 

 tremity of the jaws, at the insertion of the palpi ; jaws and 

 lip forming a long proboscis, folded downwards and upon 

 itself in repose ; labial palpi compressed, in the form of scaly 

 filaments. 



The Apiarise are distinguished from the other Hymenopterous insects by the elon- 

 gation of their jaws and lip in the form of a slender proboscis, terminating generally 

 in a downy or silky point of the labium, This last part, at the point where it 

 leaves its semitubular sheath and the jaws at the insertion of the palpi, is geniculate and 

 folded below in such a manner that in the species where these pieces are longest, the 

 spurious trunk extends along the breast. The maxillary palpi are generally very short, 

 almost setaceous or conical, and of from one to six joints ; the labial are larger, and 

 of four joints. The Apiarise resemble the other Hymen optera with stings in the ge- 

 neral form of their body and sexual differences. All have four wings, with one ra- 

 dial areola, two or three cubital areolae, and two recurrent nerves in the upper 

 wings. The abdomen is armed with a concealed sting, and is composed of six seg- 

 ments in the females and neuters ; the males have an additional segment. It is ge- 

 nerally of an ovoid form attached to the thorax by a very short pedicle. The pos- 

 terior pair of feet are largest, and very remarkable in the females and neuters, for 

 the numerous hairs and down with which the legs and the first joint of the tarsi are 

 furnished. These insects fly with rapidity, and with a humming noise, from flower 

 to flower, for the purpose of extracting by means of their proboscis, which they elon- 

 gate and sink to the bottom of the corolla, the honey of the nectaries ; and collect 

 the pollen or fine dust of the stamina upon their posterior legs. This pollen, mixed 

 with a little honey, forms the food of the larvae. The body of the larva is oblong, 

 narrowed at both extremities, white, soft, divided into twelve segments without feet, 

 with a small scaly head, and the appearance of eyes, mandibles, jaws, and a lip, and 

 on each side nine stigmata. After having acquired their full size the larvaa spin a 

 cocoon, where they are changed into pupae. In all the solitary Apiaria?, however, 

 of temperate climates, the pupaa do not undergo their last transformation till the 

 following year. 



I. Two kinds of individuals ; no neuters or workers ; pos- 

 terior feet destitute of a hairy depression on the exterior side 

 of the legs, and of a brush on the internal face of the first 

 joint of the tarsi. 



1. SOLITAKIX. 



1. First joint of the posterior tarsi not dilated at the exterior angle of its inferior ex- 

 tremity ; the following joint arising from the middle of this extremity. 



A. Labial palpi with the joints slender, linear, nearly similar in form and colour to 

 the maxillary palpi. 



Posterior feet of the females with a tuft or hairy ; no tuft on the belly. 



1. Andreiwdes. 



a. Mandibles and labrum united above. 



Gen. ROPHITES, SYSTROPHA, ANCYLOSCELES, (insects of Brazil;) PANUR- 

 GUS. 



b. Mandibles and labrum furrowed above ; third joint of the antennee much elongat- 

 ed in the females. 



Gen. XYILOCOPA. 



