HYMENOPTERA. 429 



first joint of the tarsi of these legs is very large., strongly compressed, and forms 

 a square palette or a reversed triangle. 



The maxillae and lips are most commonly very long, and compose a sort of 

 proboscis. The ligula is most frequently shaped like the head of a lance, or 

 resembles a very long thread, the extremity of which is downy or hairy. The 

 larva feed exclusively on honey and the pollen of flowers. The perfect insect 

 feeds on the honey of the latter only. 



These Hymenoptera embrace the genus 



APIS, Linnaeus, 



Or that of the Bees, which I will divide into two sections. 



In those of the first or the ANDRENET^E, Latreille, the intermediate division 

 of the ligula is cordiform or lanceolate, shorter than its 

 sheath, and bent underneath in some, and a" most straight 

 in others. 



These insects live solitarily, and consist of but two 

 kinds of individuals, males and females*. Most of the 

 females collect the pollen of flowers with the hairs of 

 their posterior legs, and with the aid of a little honey form it into a paste (bee- 

 bread), with which they feed their larvae. They excavate deep holes, and 

 frequently in hard ground, along the borders of roads, or in the fields, in which 

 they place this paste along with an egg; they then close the aperture with 

 earth. 



They form various genera, such as Hytasus, Cottetes, &c. 

 The second section of the Anthophila, that of the APIABI^E, Latreille, com- 

 prises those species in which the mediate division of the ligula is at least as 

 long as the mentum or its tubular shield, and is filiform or setaceous. The 

 maxillae and labium are much elongated, and form a sort of proboscis which, 

 when at rest, is geniculate and bent under. 



The Apiariae either live solitarily or form communities. 

 The former never consist of more than the ordinary number of individuals, 

 and each female provides singly for her young. The posterior legs of their 

 females are neither furnished with a brush OH the inner side of the first joint of 

 the tarsi, nor with a particular depression on the exterior side of their tibiae ; 

 this side, as well as the same of the first joint of the tarsi, is most commonly 

 densely covered with hairs. 



* It is a physiological circumstance of much interest that all social hymenopterous 

 insects are provided with neuters, for the due support of the community. Neuters are 

 accordingly found amongst the ants, the true wasps, the hive bees, and the humhle bees. 

 When, therefore, no neviter individuals exist we may be certain that the insects are not 

 social ; now this is precisely the case with the burrowing wasps (Odynerus), with many 

 of the Apidee and with the Andrenidae. It is true that the latter are often found congre- 

 gated thickly about some sunny bank, or other convenient place, but their sociality is of 

 no higher order than that which exists amongst the inhabitants of the same street in large 

 towns, where one person scarcely knows his next door neighbour. 



