HYMENOPTERA, 269 
They form two subgenera : 
Apis, Lat., 
Or that of Bees properly so called, where the first joint of the poste- 
rior tarsi of the labourers form a long square, and is furnished on the 
inner side with a silken down, divided into transverse or striated 
bands, 
Apis mellifica, L.; Reaum., Insect., V, xxi—xxviil. Blackish; 
scutellum and abdomen of the same colour; a transverse greyish 
band, formed of down, at the base of the third and following ab- 
dominal annuli. 
Bees proper are much smaller and more oblong than the 
Bombi. Their body is merely furnished with down in particu- 
lar places, and its colours vary but little. Their communites 
consist of labourers or neuters, usually from fifteen to twenty 
thousand in number, and sometimes extending to thirty thousand; 
of from six to eight hundred mades, and in some hives of a thou- 
sand and more, called bowrdons by the French Apiarists (a), 
and faua-bourdons by Reaumur; and commonly of a single 
Jemale, considered by the ancients as the king or head of the 
community, and styled a queen by us. 
The /abourers, smaller than the others, have their antennz 
composed of twelve joints, and the abdomen of six annuli; the 
first joint of the posterior tarsi, or the square piece, (piece carrée), 
is dilated in the form of a pointed pallette, at the exterior angle 
of their base, and densely covered on its inner side with short, 
fine, silky down; they are armed with asting. The female pre- 
sents the same characters, but the abdomen of the labourers is 
shorter. Their mandibles are spoon-shaped, and not dentated. In 
the outer side of their posterior tibiz is that smooth depression, 
edged with hairs, called the corbeille, or basket; the silky brush 
of the first joint of the tarsi of the same legs has seven or eight 
transverse striz. 
The males and females are the largest; their mandibles are 
hairy and emarginated under the point; the proboscis is shorter, 
particularly in the males. These latter differ from the former 
and from the labourers in their antenne, which consist of thirteen 
joints; in their more rounded. head and larger eyes, elongated 
and united above; in their smaller and more hairy mandibles, in 
the absence of a sting, in the four short anterior legs, of which 
the two first are arcuated, and finally in the piece carrée which 
has neither palette nor silken brush. Their sexual organs re- 
semble two horns, partly of a reddish yellow, accompanied by a 
penis terminated en palette, and some other parts. If these or- 
gans be forcibly protruded the Insect dies instantly. 
The interior of the abdominal cavity of the females and la- 
bourers presents two stomachs, the intestines and poison sac. 
A tolerably large aperture situated at the superior base of the 
proboscis, under the labrum, and closed by a little triangular 
piece called /angue by Reaumur, the epipharynx of Savigny, 
transmits the aliment, and leads to a slender esophagus that tra- 
{> (@ Itis the American Drone.—ENG. ED, 
