192 



Mellifeua. INSECTS.- 



-Akdkenid.e. 



wasp. It is widely distributcJ. From a nest of this 

 species numerous specimens of the Chrysis iymta, and 

 five of the Anomalon vesparum — an icliiieumonidous 

 insect — which are parasites, have been bred. 



VESPA AKBOREA, one of the Tree wasps, was first 

 taken by ]\Ir. Smith in 1836, near Waliefield in Yorlc- 

 shire. It hnilds its nest in fir-trees. 



VESPA SYLVESTEIS, tliongh a Tree wasp, has occa- 

 sionally been found inhabiting an underground nest. 



THE HOEHET (Vcspa crahro) is the largest of the 

 British wasps, the female being from thirteen to four- 

 teen lines long, while the workers and males are froDj 

 nine to eleven. In Hampshire it is very abundant, 

 usually building in decaying trees, sometimes under 

 the eaves of houses, and occasionally even in a bank. 

 It has been observed carrying on its building opera- 

 tions on a fine moonlight night, as briskly as during 

 the daytime. The rare Velleius d'datatus, one of the 

 Btaphylinidous beetles, is found in its nest. 



Worthy Edward Topsell, whose " native soyl " was 

 Duckworth in Huntingdonshire,* reckoned wasps and 

 hornets, and even bees, by no means interlopers among 

 serpents. He introduces them in his foolscap folio 

 history between the asp and tlie boa — the caterpillars 

 connecting the hornets with these great tropical Ophi- 

 dia — one of which, distended to a frightful extent, is 

 engaged in swallowing an infant of considerable size. 

 He evidently observed hornets at his native home, and 

 remarks that " their combes are wrought with greater 

 cunning, more exquisite art, and curious conceit, than 

 those either of wasps or bees, and these excellent de- 

 visers do make them one while in the trunks of trees, 

 and sometimes again in the earth, increasing them at 

 their pleasure with more floors and buildings, according 

 to the increase of their issue, making them smooth and 

 bright, decking and trimming them with a certain 

 tough or binding slime or gelly gathered from the 

 gummy leaves of plants." This, Master Topsell, is 

 a mistake ; careful observers now know, that wasps 

 form this binding material themselves. 



Giioup— ANTHOPHILA or MELLIFERA.— 

 Tiiii Bees. 



Well may the bees be called Anthophila, or Flower- 

 lovers, the name invented for the tribe by Latreille. 

 Without flowers they would not be Mellifcra, that 

 is, Honey-gatherers. This tribe, in all the solitary 

 species, consists of two sexes, males and females. In 

 the social species, to these two sexes is added what is 

 called a neuter or worker, which is in reality an abor- 

 tive female. The females and workers are generallj' 

 furnished with apparatus for conveying pollen : they 

 are armed with a sting. 



The antennre of the females and workers have twelve 

 joints ; in the males there are thirteen of these articu- 

 lations. The abdomen of the females consists of six 

 segments or rings, while in the males there is one more. 

 In addition to the two lateral compound eyes, they 

 have three simple eyes, called ocelli or stemmata, on 

 the crown of the head. The tongue, so important an 



* He tells us so at p. 659 of the work, of which his History 

 of Serpents forms the second book, published in 1658. 



organ in this tribe, is lanceolate, or filiform. In the 

 larva state these insects are fed on pollen or honey, 

 stored up by the parent. Several of the tribes are 

 parasitical ; that is, they collect no honey or pollen, 

 but consume food stored up for the legitimate inhabi- 

 tant of the nest. In these insects the basal joint of the 

 hind tarsi is dilated into an oblong or subtriangular 

 plate, most frequently rough on the inside, and 

 provided, except in the parasites, with instruments for 

 collecting and carrying pollen. The maxillaj and 

 labium are elongated, and often form a proboscis which 

 can be folded several times beneath the head, and ia 

 useful in reaching into the long tubes of flowers. 



Family I.— ANDRENID^. 



This family derives its name from its typical genus 

 Andrena, of the habits of which more will be said 

 hereafter. The following are the characters of this 

 family : — The mentum is elongated, the labium at its 

 extremity is small, and either spear-shaped or cordate, 

 with a small ear-shaped lobe on each side. It is either 

 straight or very slightly deflexed in some, and reflexed 

 in otliers, and considerably shorter than the tubular 

 mentum, the labium and terminal maxillary lobes not 

 forming an elongated proboscis; the labial palpi are 

 four-jointed and resemble the maxillary palpi, wdiich 

 are always six-jointed. The mandibles are simple, or 

 end in one or two notches. The antennai are elbowed, 

 the hind legs are generall)' completely clothed with 

 hairs, the trochanters and femora in the females are 

 pollenigerous, the basal joint of hind tarsi is never 

 externally dilated into an angle, and the second joint 

 of the tarsi arises from the centre of the lower edge of 

 the preceding joint. 



The insects of this family are all solitarj', and con- 

 sist of males and females ; the latter collect pollen 

 from flowers, which, with the addition of a little hone}', 

 they form into a kind of paste, which is the food of 

 their grubs. They burrow in the ground, and deposit 

 an egg on a supply of this paste sufficient for the rear- 

 ing of the grub. 



Genus Colletes. — In the genus Cullies, of which 

 there are four British species, the ocelli are placed 

 in a line on the vertex. The wings have one mar- 

 ginal and three complete submarginal cells. The 

 economy of this genus of insects was graphically de- 

 scribed by Reaumur, who found them constructing their 

 burrows in the interstices of stone walls. Our accomit 

 of the bees is chiefly compiled from Mr. Smith's mono- 

 graph of the bees of Great Britain, published in 1855. 



The Ajiis Daviesana is very abundant in many 

 sandy districts, particularly in the county of Kent. 

 These insects form burrows, which are from eight to 

 ten inches in length. At the further end they are 

 lined with a very thin, transparent, membranaceous 

 covering, resembling gold-beaters' skin. " The insect 

 having stored up a sufficient supply of pollen and honey 

 in a semifluid state, closes up the cell with a cap of 

 the same substance as the lining of the tube. This 

 cap is stretched flat across, like the parchment on a 

 drum-head ; a little within she next constructs a con- 

 cave cap, serving as the end of the cell ; her former 



